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katerockstrom's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
lirlond's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
classy4116's review against another edition
I just found the writing style uninteresting.
ashryn's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
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? No
4.0
This was a fun read, great for a long weekend or holiday when you just want to escape into something easy. Comfort food
bookish_benny's review against another edition
3.0
I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher for an honest review.
Against All Gods is the first book in The Age of Bronze series from Miles Cameron. It should be an explosive story about mortals clashing with gods but unfortunately this fell short of the mark.
2.5 (rounded up to 3)
I'm a fan of The Boys tv show and so when I read the synopsis for Against All Gods I was really excited to get into this. There were some things I did like so let me start with those first:
I liked the action scenes when they did occur. Split between many POVs (more on that in a moment) it flowed well with slick action. The fighting descriptions were accurate and believable, showing you the fight. You would have the first person engaging in a fight, then it would move to the next POV to tell the next part of the fight. I thought this worked extremely well given the large cast of characters and kept the momentum by shifting the focus evenly between them.
I liked the premise a lot. Gods kill someone's daughter, the father is p*ssed off and wants revenge. Slowly others who are also angry at the gods find themselves drawn together mysteriously for the same goal; to kill the gods.
That's it. Now I'm about to go into is why I didn't like this book and I don't like giving reviews that list what I didn't enjoy but this is, as always, an honest review of my experience with the book, someone else's experience might be different.
Firstly, some of the chapters in this book are over 50 pages long. That's about 1/9th of the book. I counted two chapters over 50 pages but there might have been more. This is just too long, even with the multiple POVs for me to sit and enjoy. I just felt like it was never-ending before I got a break.
There were too many characters for me. Between five and eight at times and then you have the gods. There were a lot. I found this confusing and it really threw me off. I had to keep flicking back through the pages to see who was who or who had just done what action recently. To be fair though, there is a very detailed glossary at the start but I would have to keep going back to see who was who and this pulls me out of the story.
Something that would have helped a lot with the multiple POVs would have been character building. I found that the gods had character to them, a personality, but the mortal POVs mostly felt like husks with one defining factor about them, their 'origin' story, and nothing else to really separate them until the last 5-10% of the book. It felt like a Joe Abercrombie book but with little character development. Not much plot in there either.
You know what the storyline is, revenge against the gods but the plot throughout the book was non-existent for so long that many parts just felt sluggish to get through (on top of the huge chapters). There were honestly times I felt like I wanted to DNF this book but I pursued because the concept idea, The Boys meets Greek Mythology is brilliant! Unfortunately it just didn't pay off.
Also, there is one part I think a lot of people won't like. "She wasn't pretty despite her massive breasts". I just felt like this didn't need to be in there. I'm never one to jump on my soapbox about a minor thing in a book but I felt like this was not needed and seemed to suggest that the beauty of someone is relevant to their breast size? It wasn't told from a POV of a character and so felt to me to be coming from the author's voice.
I really wanted Against All Gods to be this amazing story that would take me away to the Bronze Age. What starts as a comical, smart, dark fantasy turns into a historical fiction story that seems to change the prose between sections of mortals and gods. The final 5-10% was actually really good and if that was the same throughout the whole book then it would have resided with me on a 4* level I think.
Against All Gods is the first book in The Age of Bronze series from Miles Cameron. It should be an explosive story about mortals clashing with gods but unfortunately this fell short of the mark.
2.5 (rounded up to 3)
I'm a fan of The Boys tv show and so when I read the synopsis for Against All Gods I was really excited to get into this. There were some things I did like so let me start with those first:
I liked the action scenes when they did occur. Split between many POVs (more on that in a moment) it flowed well with slick action. The fighting descriptions were accurate and believable, showing you the fight. You would have the first person engaging in a fight, then it would move to the next POV to tell the next part of the fight. I thought this worked extremely well given the large cast of characters and kept the momentum by shifting the focus evenly between them.
I liked the premise a lot. Gods kill someone's daughter, the father is p*ssed off and wants revenge. Slowly others who are also angry at the gods find themselves drawn together mysteriously for the same goal; to kill the gods.
That's it. Now I'm about to go into is why I didn't like this book and I don't like giving reviews that list what I didn't enjoy but this is, as always, an honest review of my experience with the book, someone else's experience might be different.
Firstly, some of the chapters in this book are over 50 pages long. That's about 1/9th of the book. I counted two chapters over 50 pages but there might have been more. This is just too long, even with the multiple POVs for me to sit and enjoy. I just felt like it was never-ending before I got a break.
There were too many characters for me. Between five and eight at times and then you have the gods. There were a lot. I found this confusing and it really threw me off. I had to keep flicking back through the pages to see who was who or who had just done what action recently. To be fair though, there is a very detailed glossary at the start but I would have to keep going back to see who was who and this pulls me out of the story.
Something that would have helped a lot with the multiple POVs would have been character building. I found that the gods had character to them, a personality, but the mortal POVs mostly felt like husks with one defining factor about them, their 'origin' story, and nothing else to really separate them until the last 5-10% of the book. It felt like a Joe Abercrombie book but with little character development. Not much plot in there either.
You know what the storyline is, revenge against the gods but the plot throughout the book was non-existent for so long that many parts just felt sluggish to get through (on top of the huge chapters). There were honestly times I felt like I wanted to DNF this book but I pursued because the concept idea, The Boys meets Greek Mythology is brilliant! Unfortunately it just didn't pay off.
Also, there is one part I think a lot of people won't like. "She wasn't pretty despite her massive breasts". I just felt like this didn't need to be in there. I'm never one to jump on my soapbox about a minor thing in a book but I felt like this was not needed and seemed to suggest that the beauty of someone is relevant to their breast size? It wasn't told from a POV of a character and so felt to me to be coming from the author's voice.
I really wanted Against All Gods to be this amazing story that would take me away to the Bronze Age. What starts as a comical, smart, dark fantasy turns into a historical fiction story that seems to change the prose between sections of mortals and gods. The final 5-10% was actually really good and if that was the same throughout the whole book then it would have resided with me on a 4* level I think.
thegreatape's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Exactly what I was hoping for from Miles Cameron: an epic in a world build with his trademark detail that makes it feel alive. A bit ponderous at times, but dang I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
zephharben's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
char1enn's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.5
keightmaclean's review against another edition
5.0
A rich new world from Miles Cameron, bringing together an incredible cast of characters from all walks of life to rise up against a pantheon of gods that always kept me guessing.
claras_bookshelf's review against another edition
2.0
A world filled with extravagant, self-involved gods and the havoc they wreak on humans, who seek to overthrow them...
I wanted to enjoy this more than I actually did. The worldbuilding was well-developed and I could see just how much effort Cameron had put into researching the historical elements of this book, but I couldn't bring myself to be wowed by it. I did appreciate the description and research put into the Bronze Age and the portrayal of the gods, which I felt rang true to expectations.
One of the things that made me uncomfortable was the description of women, where their breasts were mentioned more than it was really necessary to, mainly to signify attractiveness but are even mentioned in descriptions of demonic creatures that are meant to be unattractive, where you'd think that the POV character would have better things than to notice that!
It was obvious that this was written for the male gaze, because even the one queer POV character, Era, is thirsted over by Pollon and Zos, both straight men who are aware of her sexual orientation, something that felt like a weird choice for me, as it didn't seem necessary for the plot progression. In addition, the book kickstarts Gamash's journey by having his pregnant daughter die, which is another trope that tends to be a bit overused, where women die for male characters' growth.
While there was a lot of action and worldbuilding, the characters fell a bit short for me, as I found it difficult to connect with them. Even though some of them express their anger at the situation they find themselves in, they never do so to the extent that makes me feel their desperation or makes me want to root for their success enough to be invested. To me, the human element was what let me down, and ultimately made it hard for me to truly enjoy this book.
*I received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to enjoy this more than I actually did. The worldbuilding was well-developed and I could see just how much effort Cameron had put into researching the historical elements of this book, but I couldn't bring myself to be wowed by it. I did appreciate the description and research put into the Bronze Age and the portrayal of the gods, which I felt rang true to expectations.
One of the things that made me uncomfortable was the description of women, where their breasts were mentioned more than it was really necessary to, mainly to signify attractiveness but are even mentioned in descriptions of demonic creatures that are meant to be unattractive, where you'd think that the POV character would have better things than to notice that!
It was obvious that this was written for the male gaze, because even the one queer POV character, Era, is thirsted over by Pollon and Zos, both straight men who are aware of her sexual orientation, something that felt like a weird choice for me, as it didn't seem necessary for the plot progression. In addition, the book kickstarts Gamash's journey by having his pregnant daughter die, which is another trope that tends to be a bit overused, where women die for male characters' growth.
While there was a lot of action and worldbuilding, the characters fell a bit short for me, as I found it difficult to connect with them. Even though some of them express their anger at the situation they find themselves in, they never do so to the extent that makes me feel their desperation or makes me want to root for their success enough to be invested. To me, the human element was what let me down, and ultimately made it hard for me to truly enjoy this book.
*I received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.