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ataleofcoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
So, this narrative is a blend of 4 main characters, and in a rich and historied world. Each Character is engaging and has their own sense of drive, motivations, and agency.
The opening paragraph really sets the tone, so if that doesn't hook you in, I'd say skip the book.
The general plot is about three humans and one god trying to sneak into a sealed city where the reigning King declared war on the God's and slew the God of war some years ago.
You have Inara, a young sheltered noble girl somehow tied to Skedi, the God of White Lies. He has no memories of how he was tied to Inara, and desires his freedom. Then there's Kissen, a Godkiller by trade, who's better nature has her want to aid Inara. And lastly there is Elogast, the retired Knight Commander after the war waged on the Gods, forced out of his quiet life as a Baker to go on one last quest for the King he loves.
The world is engaging, as are it's people, it's gods, and the struggles caused by both. It's got a captivating writing style that really drew me in and made the world pop.
While I wasn't completely surprised by the big twists in story they still felt good and earned. This is spent a lot of time traveling, but it's got decent pacing and breathing of life and character moments so the journey felt like I was taking in the land and its history and present while gaining more from the characters as well. The stakes were personal and high and came together in the end.
It looks like this is going to be the first of a Trilogy, so I'm not sure when I'll get to finishing it. (The second book is out as of now, but the third looks to be slated for April) This meant there was a cliffhanger, but a very solid one.The reader knows everyone's alive and motivated to press ahead, but there's still clear room for more mysteries and the major problems aren't fully solved.
I look forward to the next book.
The opening paragraph really sets the tone, so if that doesn't hook you in, I'd say skip the book.
The general plot is about three humans and one god trying to sneak into a sealed city where the reigning King declared war on the God's and slew the God of war some years ago.
You have Inara, a young sheltered noble girl somehow tied to Skedi, the God of White Lies. He has no memories of how he was tied to Inara, and desires his freedom. Then there's Kissen, a Godkiller by trade, who's better nature has her want to aid Inara. And lastly there is Elogast, the retired Knight Commander after the war waged on the Gods, forced out of his quiet life as a Baker to go on one last quest for the King he loves.
The world is engaging, as are it's people, it's gods, and the struggles caused by both. It's got a captivating writing style that really drew me in and made the world pop.
While I wasn't completely surprised by the big twists in story they still felt good and earned. This is spent a lot of time traveling, but it's got decent pacing and breathing of life and character moments so the journey felt like I was taking in the land and its history and present while gaining more from the characters as well. The stakes were personal and high and came together in the end.
It looks like this is going to be the first of a Trilogy, so I'm not sure when I'll get to finishing it. (The second book is out as of now, but the third looks to be slated for April) This meant there was a cliffhanger, but a very solid one.
I look forward to the next book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Death and Trafficking
woolerys's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
4.5
Writing - 4/5
Plot - 4/5
Characters - 5/5
World-building - 4/5
Personal tastes - 5/5
TOTAL: 4.4
The pacing is a snowball effect, with a slow start but by the end all the disparate threads come together for an epic finale (at least 0.5 points of my rating come exclusively from Kissen's ending specifically—so good!). I really liked the characters and their relationships, which develop in a series of fits and starts as they want more and more to like and trust each other and yet have trouble doing so (understandably, given each person’s secrets and background). Skedi especially strikes a good balance between sympathetic and cute, and mildly terrifying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death and Trafficking
sn8man's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and War
Minor: Physical abuse and Trafficking
aggressive_nostalgia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and War
Minor: Ableism
xcelxdx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.5
Been meaning to pick this book up for ages but was slightly apprehensive I would be disappointed due to the (quiet-ish) hype for this book. Wow I am so glad I picked it up. It was surprisingly easy for a fantasy book to enter the world. The characters were exciting (once I figured out how many POVs there were). The plot twist at the end was both predictable and not which is always great. I loved getting to know the characters and watching them learn to trust and love each other over the course of the book. I think every page was justified in furthering the characters or plot of the book and I was not able to put it down once I got to the last 30-50 pages. The multi POVs became a good storytelling took especially here. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and unravelling more of the secrets/plotting. I was wondering why kissen still had a gods boon from presumably osidisen as I thought she was saved by his promise. What an unexpected and convenient surprise that she’d saved it up. I wonder if Hseth was truly killed by the sea god, Kissen seems to think so but is it so easy to kill wild fire? At least if she comes back it should be a reduced form. Strange how after so much destruction it was not so complicated an end
Seeing each of the four characters’ different perspectives on the complicated relationships between gods and humans; worshippers, non-believers, and god killers was thought provoking. Where would I fall if I lived in this workd, is it so easy to resist temptation of a gods promise. How far would each of us go for it people in this book went horrifically far
Seeing each of the four characters’ different perspectives on the complicated relationships between gods and humans; worshippers, non-believers, and god killers was thought provoking. Where would I fall if I lived in this workd, is it so easy to resist temptation of a gods promise. How far would each of us go for it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Trafficking, and Grief
avacadosocks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Trafficking
callistag1's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child abuse and Trafficking
crows_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Trafficking
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-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? Yes
5.0
One of my favorite things in GODKILLER is that all of the characters change in very significant ways, prompted by their interactions with each other, but no one changes into any other character's ideal. They bend without breaking, they fit in with each other on the road without wholly molding to one another. Inara is a little girl with a god, Skediceth, living inside her. She seeks out a godkiller to try and find a way to free Skediceth from her, to let them both live separately, no longer intertwined. Kissen, a godkiller, seems to have already changed enough by not killing Skediceth when she meets him, but as they journey together it becomes apparent that being a godkiller doesn't actually mean that she kills every god she meets. Instead, Kissen kills the ones who are making life worse for people, the ones she's paid to kill. Elogast is on a mission from his best friend and king, Arren, to go to a city whose gods he tried to kill, to get one of them to become the king's new heart. Publicly, the king wants all the gods dead, or at least no longer worshipped, so Elogast must keep this mission secret, for the sake of the king. All four of them and up in the same pilgrimage caravan, traveling together with a few others, braving the dangers of the road and the patrolling knights. Skediceth is a god of white lies, untruths that are meant to mitigate harm and make things feel better, even if reality doesn't change because of them. Because he's a god, he's able to affect how lies are perceived, how readily they are believed. This makes things much easier as they travel, deflecting questions and averting gazes, making some trouble never manifest at all.
There's a narrative focus on the way all of the characters have been marked by the gods, changed by them, for good or ill. Kissen has a prosthetic leg fashioned from leather and metal, replacing the flesh leg she lost as a child when the other villagers tried to sacrifice her family to a fire god. She uses the prosthesis when the situation calls for two legs (as travelling and fighting tend to do). Most discussion of her legs is logistical, such as when she's cut in the leg while fighting and just needs to repair or replace the prosthesis, instead of having been injured in her flesh. I like the matter-of-fact handling of it. While there was someone in her past who exploited her and other children like her, the narrative only briefly discusses that time of her life. Now, she has two legs, it's just that the lower part of one of them can detach from the rest of her.
As the first book in the series, Godkiller feels very complete, able to stand alone. It invites a sequel with the way that it changes the situations of the main characters by the end, and I want to know what they do next. It's more open than a standalone without giving me a cliffhanger, which is perfect. The main characters are all very different with competing motivations that have all placed them together for now, but they don't know if they can trust each other. The worldbuilding and characterization work together seamlessly to make an engaging story that isn't afraid to have a slow burn in the middle. Most of it takes place during this pilgrimage, complemented by a much slower story pace. It helps to create a sense of time, that this journey really does take a while, one measured in days or perhaps weeks though not months.
There's a narrative focus on the way all of the characters have been marked by the gods, changed by them, for good or ill. Kissen has a prosthetic leg fashioned from leather and metal, replacing the flesh leg she lost as a child when the other villagers tried to sacrifice her family to a fire god. She uses the prosthesis when the situation calls for two legs (as travelling and fighting tend to do). Most discussion of her legs is logistical, such as when she's cut in the leg while fighting and just needs to repair or replace the prosthesis, instead of having been injured in her flesh. I like the matter-of-fact handling of it. While there was someone in her past who exploited her and other children like her, the narrative only briefly discusses that time of her life. Now, she has two legs, it's just that the lower part of one of them can detach from the rest of her.
As the first book in the series, Godkiller feels very complete, able to stand alone. It invites a sequel with the way that it changes the situations of the main characters by the end, and I want to know what they do next. It's more open than a standalone without giving me a cliffhanger, which is perfect. The main characters are all very different with competing motivations that have all placed them together for now, but they don't know if they can trust each other. The worldbuilding and characterization work together seamlessly to make an engaging story that isn't afraid to have a slow burn in the middle. Most of it takes place during this pilgrimage, complemented by a much slower story pace. It helps to create a sense of time, that this journey really does take a while, one measured in days or perhaps weeks though not months.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Self harm, Sexual content, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Slavery, Excrement, and Trafficking
kirjakimalainen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Great disablility representation and people just casually being gay without it making a fuss. Loved the story too and was invested in the characters and their goals.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse and Trafficking