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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Honestly, I got worn down with the POVs very early and basically skipped to the end of this book to "complete" the trilogy. It's not fair to said I read it, however, I feel like I got enough of an ending to the story to be satisfied.
Aside from the POVs, which never let me settle into the story well, this series is just too dark for me. Much like the "Dark Age" installment of the Red Rising series, there's just too much despair and suffering for me to enjoy myself while reading. I read books to escape from reality and entertain myself. Rather than escaping, I found myself constantly trying to understand why anybody would follow these red gods. We spend about half of the runtime with these evil bastards, so we should understand them a little bit. But it's just ludicrous that anybody would pray for torture and bloodshed on this scale.
I think back to another series, "The Emperor's Blades", that also had some unsavory gods in it. But that author spent a fair amount of time explaining how the Skullsworn's respect for death is what propelled them to truly savor life. They didn't worship death directly; rather they saw death as a release, a gift of completing a life lived to the fullest. Sick and twisted, for sure, but also rings a bit of truth. Just enough that I bought that devotion. This series doesn't bother explaining why Corvus' "feet are on the path". They just are and he wants them to stay firmly planted. OK...
All that being said, I did, obviously, want to stick this out for as long as I could and find out how the story ended. Ms. Stephens has a gift for writing. It's definitely a unique series, to say the least.
Aside from the POVs, which never let me settle into the story well, this series is just too dark for me. Much like the "Dark Age" installment of the Red Rising series, there's just too much despair and suffering for me to enjoy myself while reading. I read books to escape from reality and entertain myself. Rather than escaping, I found myself constantly trying to understand why anybody would follow these red gods. We spend about half of the runtime with these evil bastards, so we should understand them a little bit. But it's just ludicrous that anybody would pray for torture and bloodshed on this scale.
I think back to another series, "The Emperor's Blades", that also had some unsavory gods in it. But that author spent a fair amount of time explaining how the Skullsworn's respect for death is what propelled them to truly savor life. They didn't worship death directly; rather they saw death as a release, a gift of completing a life lived to the fullest. Sick and twisted, for sure, but also rings a bit of truth. Just enough that I bought that devotion. This series doesn't bother explaining why Corvus' "feet are on the path". They just are and he wants them to stay firmly planted. OK...
All that being said, I did, obviously, want to stick this out for as long as I could and find out how the story ended. Ms. Stephens has a gift for writing. It's definitely a unique series, to say the least.
The one thing I hate about Anna Stephens books is that she writes characters you will fall in love with… in a Grimdark fantasy setting.
This book emotionally devastated me and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. An epic ending to the Godblind trilogy.
The epilogue was beautiful and the seen between Ash and Crys before the battle with witnesses it was beautiful that I cried.
Then I cried again when we got to Tara’s chapters for a completely horrid reason.
I am all cried out but I’d do it all over again because while the HATED our villains, the heroes are worth it.
This book emotionally devastated me and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. An epic ending to the Godblind trilogy.
The epilogue was beautiful and the seen between Ash and Crys before the battle with witnesses it was beautiful that I cried.
Then I cried again when we got to Tara’s chapters for a completely horrid reason.
I am all cried out but I’d do it all over again because while the HATED our villains, the heroes are worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War
dark
medium-paced
I never actually thought I would be this invested in this series or with the characters. Yet I find myself an unravelled crying mess. This series started with great potential in Godblind, but lost me on the huge amount of characters and what came out as fragmental as result. But the potential lay in the dark plot and the world Stephen created. And she does manage to bring her characters (well most of them) to life (why else am I crying over them). Darksoul was a huge step forward because it stretched over a shorter amount of time and the characters were less over the place.
Bloodchild took it even further. It’s the longest of the bunch, with just 500 pages (my edition). It doesn’t follow as many characters as the previous books, and I’m so happy the POV’s we lost didn’t get replaced by new ones. Though there were a couple of side characters that I would have loved to see with their own POV’s because I really wanted to get inside their heads. Such as Valan, Corvus’s Second. I cared so little for him in previous books I don’t remember if he actually did anything. But now, through Tara and also The Blessed One, we got to see him much more and the way he acted made him kind of interesting through most of the book.
The book starts shortly after where Darksoul ended, with the Mireces having taken over Rilporin and the Rilporians having fled Rilpor in search for allies. And after Darksoul, they have a lot of trauma to deal with, not least Dom and Crys. And Tara’s doing the goddess’s work, infiltrating the Mireces in Rilporin. Rillirin, pregnant, struggles to keep her away from the Mireces as they believe the child will bring back the Dark Lady. I was bit worried how everything would have room to wrap up in this. But it’s a very satisfying conclusion. The ending was really fucking intense and also heart-breaking.
A lot of shit is going down in this book. It was actually bit exhausting at points. The characters are suffering. Which is also exhausting. Because I was suffering. The pacing is really good. And the fewer characters makes it less jumpy. And the grimdark continues, with battles, torture, gore, death, trauma.
All the characters has come such a long way. Rillirin has grown so freaking much since the beginning of the first book where she could barely look someone in the eye to telling the Blessed One “fuck your face” right up her face. My Tara is super brave and bad-ass, as usual. I grieve a little that Gilda barely was in the book because she’s brave and wise. And my preciouses Dom and Crys. Both broken and having to deal with what happened in Darksoul. Crys having to cope with Foxy inside him and the fact he might die to end the war. Also his relationship with Ash is the preciousest thing ever in this series. Dom being so broken and unhinged.
There’s still a few bumps down this road, which is why it’s not up among the 5 stars. It’s a little to do with that there’s still a few characters I still don’t like following their POV’s. I also wish the books, all of them, had been longer.
I’m so happy I didn’t ditch series after being partly disappointed with book one, because this series is a great grimdark series.
Bloodchild took it even further. It’s the longest of the bunch, with just 500 pages (my edition). It doesn’t follow as many characters as the previous books, and I’m so happy the POV’s we lost didn’t get replaced by new ones. Though there were a couple of side characters that I would have loved to see with their own POV’s because I really wanted to get inside their heads. Such as Valan, Corvus’s Second. I cared so little for him in previous books I don’t remember if he actually did anything. But now, through Tara and also The Blessed One, we got to see him much more and the way he acted made him kind of interesting through most of the book.
Spoiler
Then he got into torture-mode and I was like, “Really, Valan? I thought we had something going on here.”The book starts shortly after where Darksoul ended, with the Mireces having taken over Rilporin and the Rilporians having fled Rilpor in search for allies. And after Darksoul, they have a lot of trauma to deal with, not least Dom and Crys. And Tara’s doing the goddess’s work, infiltrating the Mireces in Rilporin. Rillirin, pregnant, struggles to keep her away from the Mireces as they believe the child will bring back the Dark Lady. I was bit worried how everything would have room to wrap up in this. But it’s a very satisfying conclusion. The ending was really fucking intense and also heart-breaking.
A lot of shit is going down in this book. It was actually bit exhausting at points. The characters are suffering. Which is also exhausting. Because I was suffering. The pacing is really good. And the fewer characters makes it less jumpy. And the grimdark continues, with battles, torture, gore, death, trauma.
All the characters has come such a long way. Rillirin has grown so freaking much since the beginning of the first book where she could barely look someone in the eye to telling the Blessed One “fuck your face” right up her face. My Tara is super brave and bad-ass, as usual. I grieve a little that Gilda barely was in the book because she’s brave and wise. And my preciouses Dom and Crys. Both broken and having to deal with what happened in Darksoul. Crys having to cope with Foxy inside him and the fact he might die to end the war. Also his relationship with Ash is the preciousest thing ever in this series. Dom being so broken and unhinged.
There’s still a few bumps down this road, which is why it’s not up among the 5 stars. It’s a little to do with that there’s still a few characters I still don’t like following their POV’s. I also wish the books, all of them, had been longer.
I’m so happy I didn’t ditch series after being partly disappointed with book one, because this series is a great grimdark series.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Anna Stephens Godblind trilogy is one of the most blood soaked sets of grimdark fantasy out there. This the, the final outing, does not disappoint. The Red Gods that she has created are some of the most vicious and nasty I have read, gods of pain and pleasure that demand rivers of blood from their followers.
Being the final book the main focus is the buildup to and execution of the final battle between the dark gods, and the good ones. The final battle does not disappoint and takes up a portion of this novel. It is decidedly epic and well written.
This focus on the final conflict does move the story away from some of the character building seen so far, but that is really a fairly minor gripe.
Visceral, bloody and brutal, this is the closing book that this series needed
Being the final book the main focus is the buildup to and execution of the final battle between the dark gods, and the good ones. The final battle does not disappoint and takes up a portion of this novel. It is decidedly epic and well written.
This focus on the final conflict does move the story away from some of the character building seen so far, but that is really a fairly minor gripe.
Visceral, bloody and brutal, this is the closing book that this series needed
3.5 stars... was interesting and a good ending to the series, but didn't give me the emotional ending I was looking for
By far my favorite installment of this series. I really want more, but I also know that the story has to end somewhere. The way Stephens crafted a story so bold and em captivating is beyond me. I’m excited to read her future works, and hopefully she throws us a Novella or two about how Gilgoras is doing past the events of this book!