tonimadeleine's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
conprimo's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
danielb's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The world is interesting and relatively diverse, the plot has potential to be engaging, and the characters have motives and are to varying degrees likeable (notably Bueralan, Ayae, and Meina), but it does not quite hold together. It was not difficult to make it to the end of the book, but with other books to read, personally, I am not in a rush to read the follow up.
lsneal's review
2.0
I was excited when I won an ARC of this book through the Goodreads First Reads contest, because I had heard a lot of good early reviews and was looking forward to reading for myself. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to expectations. Had I not felt some obligation to read it to the end for the sake of this review, I would have left it unfinished at the halfway point, and I almost NEVER leave a book unfinished. As it was, I had to put it down and read something else in the middle just to get back the will to continue on.
I will give this book credit for a couple of things - first, the concept of a world that is still coming to grips with the centuries-long process of the dying of all of their gods, and the fact that some of these dying gods' powers have a tendency to manifest in random people (sometimes with super-power-like results, sometimes destroying them and those around them completely) is really interesting. Second, I liked the racial and gender equity in this book. It took the time to describe EVERY character's skin color, instead of defaulting to white and only mentioning skin color if the person was an "other," and women and men occupied a variety of positions in society without that being much of an issue. So, kudos for that.
The problem was that the very interesting foundational concept and what could have been an interesting society to spend time in were not very well described or explored. Even given that the copy I reviewed was an ARC, with plenty of spelling errors and missing words that I expect will be corrected before the book actually goes to press, I was shocked at the overall low quality of the writing. There were tons of run-on and confusingly-worded sentences that I do not think were the fault of a hasty print job. Time and again, I found myself having to stop and go back to re-read a sentence or a paragraph just to try to make subjects and verbs match up, or to understand the basic gist, and this seriously detracted from the story. In addition, the story was a little thin and very choppy, jumping between multiple viewpoint characters, in the past and in the present, without much of a thread to connect the narrative. I couldn't help but compare this book to Brandon Sanderson's "Way Of Kings," with which it has a lot of superficial things in common: both are the first books of planned epic series, featuring jumps between multiple viewpoint characters, that end with a revelation that shows you that you are just getting started with understanding what is really going on in their worlds. Unfortunately, that comparison is not a good one for "The Godless." "Way Of Kings" shows how this SHOULD be done, with a really thoughtfully-imagined world that doles out enough details to let you picture the setting clearly, while also leaving questions that the reader WANTS to pursue to understand more in coming books, and with fully-developed characters that feel real. "The Godless" does none of this. I have very little idea about what the "Godless" world looks like, or its culture, before or after the dying of the gods. It's not that this wasn't attempted, it just wasn't very thorough or very good. The same goes for our characters. I felt like there was a lot of telling instead of showing what kind of people they were, and not much telling at that.
To sum up, it didn't really work for me, and I won't be continuing with the series.
I will give this book credit for a couple of things - first, the concept of a world that is still coming to grips with the centuries-long process of the dying of all of their gods, and the fact that some of these dying gods' powers have a tendency to manifest in random people (sometimes with super-power-like results, sometimes destroying them and those around them completely) is really interesting. Second, I liked the racial and gender equity in this book. It took the time to describe EVERY character's skin color, instead of defaulting to white and only mentioning skin color if the person was an "other," and women and men occupied a variety of positions in society without that being much of an issue. So, kudos for that.
The problem was that the very interesting foundational concept and what could have been an interesting society to spend time in were not very well described or explored. Even given that the copy I reviewed was an ARC, with plenty of spelling errors and missing words that I expect will be corrected before the book actually goes to press, I was shocked at the overall low quality of the writing. There were tons of run-on and confusingly-worded sentences that I do not think were the fault of a hasty print job. Time and again, I found myself having to stop and go back to re-read a sentence or a paragraph just to try to make subjects and verbs match up, or to understand the basic gist, and this seriously detracted from the story. In addition, the story was a little thin and very choppy, jumping between multiple viewpoint characters, in the past and in the present, without much of a thread to connect the narrative. I couldn't help but compare this book to Brandon Sanderson's "Way Of Kings," with which it has a lot of superficial things in common: both are the first books of planned epic series, featuring jumps between multiple viewpoint characters, that end with a revelation that shows you that you are just getting started with understanding what is really going on in their worlds. Unfortunately, that comparison is not a good one for "The Godless." "Way Of Kings" shows how this SHOULD be done, with a really thoughtfully-imagined world that doles out enough details to let you picture the setting clearly, while also leaving questions that the reader WANTS to pursue to understand more in coming books, and with fully-developed characters that feel real. "The Godless" does none of this. I have very little idea about what the "Godless" world looks like, or its culture, before or after the dying of the gods. It's not that this wasn't attempted, it just wasn't very thorough or very good. The same goes for our characters. I felt like there was a lot of telling instead of showing what kind of people they were, and not much telling at that.
To sum up, it didn't really work for me, and I won't be continuing with the series.
ctgt's review
5.0
You think you can give up what is inside you? What remains of the gods finds us. In wombs, in childhood, in the summers and winters of our lives. Once it has found us, only death can drive it out.
This is a book that benefited from the fact that I have been a complete slacker when it comes to writing my reviews. This was always going to be a high 4 stars but as I look over my notes and highlights(3 pages of google docs) I have to bump this to 5 stars, 10/10.
Great characters and unique, surprising worldbuilding=5 stars.
The driving moment of this story actually happened in the past, The War of the Gods.
Zaifyr had told her the Ger had sunk to his knees and began building the mountains, his cairn, after he had suffered a dying blow. Ger spoke for fifty-seven years as he built his burial mound. Priests gathered in tent cities around him and recorded every word he spoke. They wrote and rewrote and translated his words for hundreds of years, turning them into prophecies and morals.
After the gods killed each other, there were two reactions. The first was to create temples around the fallen bodies, believing that the gods had not died. There were seventy-eight gods and it was believed they would be back. The second was to look for new gods. Children, as it were. A century later, five had begun to establish themselves. Those we named Immortals.
Within this tomb there are twenty-three temples. That is what is recorded, at any rate, but I would not be surprised if there were more. Each of the buildings was built over a fissure directly over Ger’s body. It gave the priests access to the wounds that he had sustained against his brothers. For the centuries that they lived here the priests tended his wounds, attempting to heal him. It was their belief that he would rise again.
Those first men and women made the Five Kingdoms. It emerged two thousand years after the war of the Gods, a society of progression, restriction, and at times, genocide. The five who ruled did not believe they would one day be gods, but believed they were in fact gods. Any who rose with similar powers-like you or me-were given an ultimatum: to join or die.
Tensions are high in Mireea as incidents increase leading to suspicions that the kingdom of Leera may be preparing to attack. Lady Wagan of Mireea has hired on mercenary bands to help defend the city. Ayae, assistant to map maker Samuel Orlans is attacked in her workplace and her fire powers spring to life. This begins a complex tale of gods, kingdoms, cultures and religions. Some fantastic and horrific moments that at times reminded me of Malazan.
I borrowed this book from the library but have since bought a copy because if this series continues like this first book, it could rank up there with some my favorites.
10/10
This is a book that benefited from the fact that I have been a complete slacker when it comes to writing my reviews. This was always going to be a high 4 stars but as I look over my notes and highlights(3 pages of google docs) I have to bump this to 5 stars, 10/10.
Great characters and unique, surprising worldbuilding=5 stars.
The driving moment of this story actually happened in the past, The War of the Gods.
Zaifyr had told her the Ger had sunk to his knees and began building the mountains, his cairn, after he had suffered a dying blow. Ger spoke for fifty-seven years as he built his burial mound. Priests gathered in tent cities around him and recorded every word he spoke. They wrote and rewrote and translated his words for hundreds of years, turning them into prophecies and morals.
After the gods killed each other, there were two reactions. The first was to create temples around the fallen bodies, believing that the gods had not died. There were seventy-eight gods and it was believed they would be back. The second was to look for new gods. Children, as it were. A century later, five had begun to establish themselves. Those we named Immortals.
Within this tomb there are twenty-three temples. That is what is recorded, at any rate, but I would not be surprised if there were more. Each of the buildings was built over a fissure directly over Ger’s body. It gave the priests access to the wounds that he had sustained against his brothers. For the centuries that they lived here the priests tended his wounds, attempting to heal him. It was their belief that he would rise again.
Those first men and women made the Five Kingdoms. It emerged two thousand years after the war of the Gods, a society of progression, restriction, and at times, genocide. The five who ruled did not believe they would one day be gods, but believed they were in fact gods. Any who rose with similar powers-like you or me-were given an ultimatum: to join or die.
Tensions are high in Mireea as incidents increase leading to suspicions that the kingdom of Leera may be preparing to attack. Lady Wagan of Mireea has hired on mercenary bands to help defend the city. Ayae, assistant to map maker Samuel Orlans is attacked in her workplace and her fire powers spring to life. This begins a complex tale of gods, kingdoms, cultures and religions. Some fantastic and horrific moments that at times reminded me of Malazan.
I borrowed this book from the library but have since bought a copy because if this series continues like this first book, it could rank up there with some my favorites.
10/10
rossc's review
3.0
DNF at 38%
The premise is intriguing enough, but I just didn’t care for any character
The premise is intriguing enough, but I just didn’t care for any character
lizshayne's review
2.0
I really don't remember the last time I was this spectacularly "meh" about anything. Not because I can point to anything wrong with the book, just because I had really no feelings about it. There's nothing to point to about the characters or plot being off, the story is, at least in theory, interesting. The people should be likeable. But it was a slog to finish and I couldn't bring myself to care about anyone or anything happening.
Which is disappointing as I've heard good things about this book and I can see all the reasons it might be appealing. It just...wasn't.
Which is disappointing as I've heard good things about this book and I can see all the reasons it might be appealing. It just...wasn't.
hadaad's review
I see what you're trying to do with The Godless, Ben Peek. Trying to keep the story going forward while seamlessly integrating backstory in order to provide motivation and characterization without jarring the reader. Sadly, for the most part, this was not successful. I found myself having to re-read passages because I couldn't tell when they were supposed to have happened. With a lot of stories, I wouldn't have given as much time as I did to The Godless. I would have walked away.
And I did walk away, because the due date came up for me to return the book, and I had to return it or face the stern gaze of the librarian as I paid my fine. But I borrowed it again when it came out, and I finished it, even though I had to go back a hundred pages to get back to the story I recognized.
The reason it was worth going back was, generally, the world. I like what Peek has set up there. Despite my whining about backstory, it does add depth to the characters, and I ended up caring more about what happened with them, particularly Burelan and Ayae. Zaifyr I could have taken or left, though he drove a large part of the story.
When there was action, it was sweet, mostly because of the long stretches without, and nothing in particular stood out as being something that would keep me from reading more.
I do plan to continue the series, but I've got a lot on my list right now, so maybe in a couple of months, provided I don't suddenly find more on there.
And I did walk away, because the due date came up for me to return the book, and I had to return it or face the stern gaze of the librarian as I paid my fine. But I borrowed it again when it came out, and I finished it, even though I had to go back a hundred pages to get back to the story I recognized.
The reason it was worth going back was, generally, the world. I like what Peek has set up there. Despite my whining about backstory, it does add depth to the characters, and I ended up caring more about what happened with them, particularly Burelan and Ayae. Zaifyr I could have taken or left, though he drove a large part of the story.
When there was action, it was sweet, mostly because of the long stretches without, and nothing in particular stood out as being something that would keep me from reading more.
I do plan to continue the series, but I've got a lot on my list right now, so maybe in a couple of months, provided I don't suddenly find more on there.
tomlloyd's review
2.0
Just couldn't get into it, I was aiming to read at least 200 pages because it was a debut, but it just didn't work for me so I ground to a halt about 150. Can't quite put my finger on why, but the style and story just left me a bit cold - so while not being actually bad other than minor annoyances, my reading time is so limited that continuing wasn't worthwhile.
wyvernfriend's review
3.0
very meh, didn't really care about what was going on and probably too many characters with similar names, didn't really engage me. Plus I've read a few too many books with dying gods recently.
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