Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

94 reviews

poetry_shaman's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery and Kidnapping

tristen's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

In The Shadow of the Gods we follow along with 3 POV’s: Orka, a mother & warrior; Varg, an ex-thrall seeking vengeance; and Elvar, a young mercenary craving battle-fame. All this set in a Norse-inspired world of violence and battle where hesitation means death. 

 

This book was everything I could ever want from a fantasy novel and more. This was also my first John Gwynne book, and I have to say I totally understand now what everyone raves about. His writing is just *chefs kiss*. The amount of tabs I used while annotating was absolutely ridiculous, and it was purely because there were so many lines I absolutely loved. 

 

Though the most impressive thing, I feel, is that there was never a moment where I was disappointed to read a characters POV. Which is saying something considering there were 3 different POV’s going on. But I genuinely loved and was interested in them all. Not to mention the many side characters I am absolutely in love with. 

 

Besides the characters, whom I loved, I also believe the plot was insanely good. I was always intrigued with each of the story lines, and I especially loved the plot twists here and there. And the ending was just perfect. Though I will say I’m so glad and thankful to have received an e-ARC of The Hunger of the Gods because this book left me immediately wanting more. 

 

So, would I recommend? Yes, yes, and yes! Those who like an action-driven fantasy with Norse elements will especially love this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit

green_bone's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Cursing

pvbobrien'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery and Kidnapping

orange4orange's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse

meliroo's review

adventurous slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mirrorballmusings's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, and Kidnapping

sepideh_dsamani's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

humanpuke's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This is a fantastic read. Gwynne does not hold your hand as he throws you into this intricately crafted, Norse-inspired fantasy world. It’s brutal, dark, and completely unforgiving. Gwynne does a great job of creating high stakes for crafted characters that you hate and characters that you love. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

thecatreads's review

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, and Murder