katvou's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Outing
Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Animal death, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
meganpbell's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
In a land where gods have been outlawed, godkiller for hire Kissen, whose own family was sacrificed to a fire god, is forced to help when a young noble girl fused with the god of white lies seeks her help. Together with a loyal knight turned baker they must journey to a war and god-haunted city for answers and aid. This immersive fantasy is filled with flawed, lovable, badass characters—and the audiobook narrator sounds like Ygritte from Game of Thrones!
I really liked this one and the more I think about it the more impressed I am with it but it wasn’t a compulsive, eager-to-pick-it-back-up read for me.
I really liked this one and the more I think about it the more impressed I am with it but it wasn’t a compulsive, eager-to-pick-it-back-up read for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Minor: Animal death and Death
_teoeo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, War, Animal death, Death of parent, Police brutality, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Abortion and Trafficking
bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.75
I have heard nothing about this book anywhere – I’m pretty sure I found it through The StoryGraph’s (admittedly pretty great) recommendation algorithm. My library doesn’t even have a copy. But honestly, everybody should know about this book because it’s just so good.
First off, I’m already predisposed to like this concept. If you know anything about me, you know I’m a sucker for interesting, unique, or weird takes on deities and religion. A world where gods are formed out of human desire and sustained by their prayers and offerings, but are also outlawed by the king and hunted down and killed by god-killers, is right up my alley. There are so many fascinating little details, from the details of how a god is created to to the ways gods interact with the humans who give it life and offerings to the process of killing one. I found it fascinating, but even if you don’t, it doesn’t detract at all from the story.
And the story is pretty spectacular too. It starts out with Kissen, who lost her entire family and one of her legs to a god being petty and territorial. Fitted with a pretty cool prosthetic, she now makes a living hunting down and killing gods for coin – a bit like a Witcher if Witchers hunted gods instead of monsters. Then she meets Inara, a kid somehow bound to a small god. On their quest to figure out how to untangle the kid and the god, they join up with Elogast, a former knight on a very illegal quest from the king. Though having four point-of-view characters (Kissen, Inara, Elogast, and Inara’s god) gets annoying at times, it gets less annoying once all four are in the same spot headed in the same direction. And there really isn’t a perspective that could be removed without harming the story as a whole – as irritating as it got in the beginning, this story really does need all four narrators.
I’m not going to comment on the plot much, for a couple reasons. One is that as simple as “go to this city and ask the wild gods how to solve the problem” sounds, the actual reality is significantly more complicated than that. The other is that for as strong as the plot is (and it is very good), it’s the characters that really sang for me in this one. Guilty and disillusioned knight only recently forced to stop hiding from the world and his own feelings; sheltered and scared only child of a noblewoman, uncertain about any of this but determined to be brave; god of little white lies, bound to a single child and desperate for more; and my absolute favorite, strong and broken and furious and violent and loyal and traumatized and all-around spectacular god-killer. The plot is great and the world is spectacular, but in such a way that the characters really shine.
I didn’t know going in that this was first in a series, but I’m very glad it is. The ending left so much open – the whole “burgeoning civil war” thing, whatever the hell the king is up to, how the god got bound to Inara in the first place, why Inara has the weird powers she has, what Kissen is going to do after that ending … And above all, I want to read more. Godkiller just came out, so I’m sure book two will be a long time coming, but I’m looking forward to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, Gore, Animal death, and Death
Minor: Body horror
Mind controldokushoka's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Toxic relationship, War, Death, and Toxic friendship
hobbithopeful's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Easily taking a spot in one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, Godkiller was an emotional adventure and I loved every second of it. Was I emotionally eviscerated? Yes, but the found family trope interspersed the pages and made it easier to stomach and less heart-breaking. Kissen is such a badass heroine, I can count on my hands the number of fantasy novels with disability rep in them, and it was so cool to see it written well. When I tell you this book is queer, this book is QUEER capital q-u-e-e-r! (And queer without the trauma that usually comes with queer rep!) Truly this book shines when it comes to the characters and their relationships with each other. Whether it be witty banter, flirtations, or just fuzzy family vibes, the dialogue was just so good!
You get multiple povs in this book, and I loved seeing how different characters viewed each other, and what they were thinking. Skedi ended up being one of my favorite characters, he grew on me like a cute and fuzzy moss. I was so wary about his relationship with Inara, but it very well written. (Don't we all just love complex characters!) Elogast was another character I really loved, I think I'm just a sucker for seemingly gruff knights that are secretly softies. My heart broke for him so many times, just let my man bake his bread in peace!
The world-building and lore reminded me of when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time. (No, really!) The downside to reading such a great quest story is that I LITERALLY could not read any other books for a few days after. I just kept thinking about Godkiller and how it ended! Often times in fantasy books I feel like I'm reading exposition dumps, or I get lost with all the names and lore that gets tossed around. Godkiller marvelously fed me bread crumb by bread crumb, releasing the information at an easily consumable pace that kept me hungry for more.
I have so many theories and thoughts, I am going to be counting the days until the sequel comes out! (Seriously, I'm dying here!)
A MUST READ!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins for this ARC!
You get multiple povs in this book, and I loved seeing how different characters viewed each other, and what they were thinking. Skedi ended up being one of my favorite characters, he grew on me like a cute and fuzzy moss. I was so wary about his relationship with Inara, but it very well written. (Don't we all just love complex characters!) Elogast was another character I really loved, I think I'm just a sucker for seemingly gruff knights that are secretly softies. My heart broke for him so many times, just let my man bake his bread in peace!
The world-building and lore reminded me of when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time. (No, really!) The downside to reading such a great quest story is that I LITERALLY could not read any other books for a few days after. I just kept thinking about Godkiller and how it ended! Often times in fantasy books I feel like I'm reading exposition dumps, or I get lost with all the names and lore that gets tossed around. Godkiller marvelously fed me bread crumb by bread crumb, releasing the information at an easily consumable pace that kept me hungry for more.
I have so many theories and thoughts, I am going to be counting the days until the sequel comes out! (Seriously, I'm dying here!)
A MUST READ!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins for this ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
darkefyres's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Trafficking, Body horror, and Animal death
Minor: Toxic friendship
miraclesnow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow wow wow wow.
This was a surprising book. I wasn’t sure how much I would connect to the characters, which was obviously the only draw as most of this book is just getting to know them and understanding their place in this world. Each character is very flawed, and this first book was obviously them getting over their growing pains being around other people. Each one has been alone in their own way. It wasn’t too slow as they always were actively chasing their goals and doing something, but you have to be ok with the journey and not the destination.
And boy was the destination something. Backstabs, betrayals, another b word I can’t mention because that would be a spoiler!
I think with what we’ve been given so far, and with some more pages (Cmon Hannah, the next book is gonna have to be chonkier) I think we’re seeing the start of a very interesting new fantasy series.
I hope with all my heart it grows to be bigger and more powerful than Skedi is. This review will be my offering for that wish to come to fruition.
And I gotta love me a badass bi queen.
(I put in child abuse & emotional abuse as a catch all for. It was deeply disturbing to me and the only moment I feel that was truly deserving of the adult categorization.)
This was a surprising book. I wasn’t sure how much I would connect to the characters, which was obviously the only draw as most of this book is just getting to know them and understanding their place in this world. Each character is very flawed, and this first book was obviously them getting over their growing pains being around other people. Each one has been alone in their own way. It wasn’t too slow as they always were actively chasing their goals and doing something, but you have to be ok with the journey and not the destination.
And boy was the destination something. Backstabs, betrayals, another b word I can’t mention because that would be a spoiler!
I think with what we’ve been given so far, and with some more pages (Cmon Hannah, the next book is gonna have to be chonkier) I think we’re seeing the start of a very interesting new fantasy series.
I hope with all my heart it grows to be bigger and more powerful than Skedi is. This review will be my offering for that wish to come to fruition.
And I gotta love me a badass
Spoiler
para-abled(I put in child abuse & emotional abuse as a catch all for
Spoiler
manipulation of a minor via magic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Sexual content
luckylulureads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Animal death, Death of parent, Genocide, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Grief, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Infertility
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