A review by peculiarb
Temple of No God by H.M. Long

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

Temple of No God picks up about 12 years after the end of Hall of Smoke (you can find my review of it here), and we follow Hessa again–this time on a quest to quiet the fractured Arpa empire, crown an emperor, and defeat the new. In that decade, Hessa has grown as a character, she's now high priestess to Thvynder and had united with the Algatt by marrying Imnir, also a high priest. While she's still a fierce warrior, now matters of family, grief and a responsibility for her people weight down on her, making her character far more complex. 

That relationship between her and Imnir is at the center of the book. Married for political reasons, Hessa tried to bring romance into their lives during their first few years together without much success, and Temple of No God follows how they deal with that years down the line. Imnir is caring and polite, though he withholds his affections for personal reasons that are explained through the story, while Hessa finds herself embittered due to his behaviour long ago. Throughout the book they must work together to secure the new emperor on the throne which allows them to reflect on their marriage and consider whether or not they want to continue living this way. 

There was a scene halfway through the book where their tribes are going through a certain ritual, and Hessa chooses to approach Imnir for both their parts in it (keeping it super vague to avoid spoilers). It's becomes a heart warming exchange of affection, as well as giving insight into both their characters and the way each is trying for intimacy of any kind after years of drifting apart. 

As such, Temple of No God is very much a character driven story. Like Hall of Smoke it contains well places action scenes to spur the plot along set in a backdrop of travelling the continent, though it lacks some of the urgency of its predecessor. Instead, Long places Hessa in the middle of a web of character relationships, using her to develop them as well. Caster is an enigmatic man whom Hessa mistrusts at first, Uspa is an outcast who Imnir has taken in as a ward and she eventually wins over Hessa as well, Mrandr is a flirtatious man with an edge that grow more apparent with every raid. I very much enjoyed experiencing all these characters through Hessa, though I would have liked to see more character development for some. 

This time the story is set in the Arpa empire as the tribes journey to the capital. Long does as good a job at worldbuilding in this one, bringing the scenes to life with startling clarity. The descriptions of the Arpa monuments and towns were immersive, while those of the dark new magic were suitably frightening as whole swaths of land had the life sucked out of them with dust and grey moths left behind. 

The plot itself was intriguing and well paced. The quest allowed for the characters to shine while the mystery behind this new devastating power was interesting. If anything I felt like it was somewhat relegated to the background at times. There were also some subplots that hinted at greater problems, though they went mostly unresolved so I'm curious as to what Long will do with those in the future. 

Overall Temple of No God by H.M. Long is a worthy sequel to Hall of Smoke and a decent standalone. Since we followed Hessa a second time, I would recommend reading the first book to get the proper context, though it's not necessary as Long explains much of it here too. The characters shined in this one, and the story of two people trying to come together despite the obstacles added a heart warming quality to the harsh viking-inspired setting.