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A review by bethanycrowepowell
What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm a huge fan of Hodge's work, and this is her best yet--delivering the wholly reimagined folktale she excels at with deeply felt questions about heroism and faith.
Lia thinks she's saving her world when she enters the briar to kill the sorceror Ruven. When she encounters a boy who recognizes too much about her own need to be a hero, she still kills him. But nothing is as simple as she was raised to believe--not saving the nation she loves, not being devoted to the gods, and certainly not forgotting the boy she killed. Because he's now haunting her, and their theological differences can't trump the way he alone understands what it is to be used when you want desperately to matter.
This is a dark fairy tale rich with complexity, haunting imagery, and a heroine so earnest it hurts.
Lia thinks she's saving her world when she enters the briar to kill the sorceror Ruven. When she encounters a boy who recognizes too much about her own need to be a hero, she still kills him. But nothing is as simple as she was raised to believe--not saving the nation she loves, not being devoted to the gods, and certainly not forgotting the boy she killed. Because he's now haunting her, and their theological differences can't trump the way he alone understands what it is to be used when you want desperately to matter.
This is a dark fairy tale rich with complexity, haunting imagery, and a heroine so earnest it hurts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Religious bigotry