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jasonoffer's review
2.0
Potentially a great story with many of the elements I enjoy, but I found the book so disjointed and lacking any depth to the characters, world building and background. The book moved with breakneck speed throughout jumping from one POV to the next sometimes after barely a page, it was frustrating as the potential was there. The human interactions and explanations were so unbelievable and often stupid it actually started to annoy and grate on me.
Overall the issues above were a shame as the building blocks were there, but the execution left a lot to be desired.
Overall the issues above were a shame as the building blocks were there, but the execution left a lot to be desired.
megsslibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
thefussyreader's review against another edition
3.0
So this is a weird one for me. I enjoyed Godblind, and on reflection, there's very little to find fault with on the whole, but for some reason, I struggled to get into it. And it's not cause it's a bad book, actually, it's really pretty good. I love fantasy and Grimdark, epic and vast worlds with maps and multiple character perspectives. This should have been everything I wanted in a fantasy debut, but the whole time I was reading something felt off to me.
Figuring I simply wasn't in the mood for this story, I put it down for two weeks, read something else, and revisited it. I persevered because it's one of the few books I've bought during its first week of release, and if I pay full retail price, I read every god-damned word whether I like it or not.
Characters
I think the main reason it struggled to get into this book was the sheer amount of characters. Don't get me wrong, I love third person multiple perspective stories, it's actually my favourite writing style, but this book is maybe a little overkill. Throughout the course of the book, we don't see two perspectives, or three, or even four, there is a total of TEN. Yes, ten POV's.
Rillirin, Corvus, Crys, Durdil, Dom, The Blessed One, Galtas, Mace, Tara, Gilda.
This would have been fine, were we given enough time to invest in any of these characters early enough. With an average chapter length of about 3 pages (sometimes less, sometimes more) I never felt like I had enough time with any given character at any given point. They were difficult to become fond of or grow with in the beginning because I just didn't know enough about them
It took me to near on the 300-page mark to finally decide that the only characters I truly liked and cared about were Crys, Tara and Ash. I would have been happy with a story with just them. They were really likeable in the end and made an amusing trio at times. Crys and Tara felt the most developed, the ones that had actually grown and changed throughout the story, adjusting to their situations.
I'm all about characters driven stories, and although this book is, I never felt like I knew the characters, I just never had time to get close to them and I think the reason I ended up liking the three mentioned above was because to me they had the most distinctive voices.
It's interesting that the synopsis mentions Dom by name, as though he's the main characters, but I never got the impression of any one character being more important than the other. I had no idea Dom was the MC.
Plot
Oh boy, this is an intense plot to describe in a paragraph.
Two armies from two different kingdoms. We have the Mireces who worship the Red Gods and the Rilporians who worship the Gods of Light. The Mireces want to invade Rilpor and take control of the kingdom in a bloody and glorious war that will split the veil and allow their gods to re-enter the realm of reality.
So that's pretty much the basics, but there's way more going on than just that of course, naturally, there would be with ten main character's story arc to establish. Majority of those characters are Rilporian, the 'good guys', but like any religious war ever, that depends entirely on where your faith lies. Many of the characters storyline overlap and interweave, and some of them don't meet at all, but they are all working towards the same goal: to win the war.
This is a great idea. I can't fault the plot at all. It's truly fascinating. There's so much happening, betrayal and subterfuge and deceit, bravery, good intentions and true colours. Plot-wise, this is everything it needs to be for a fantasy grimdark.
Setting
I enjoyed the setting. I love anything set in an entirely different world, especially one well fleshed out. Sometimes authors create a world but then set the story in a small corner of it never expanding out. This isn't the case with Godblind. I really felt like the author made good use of the interesting world she'd created. The story literally stretched from one side of the map to the other. And the map in the front of the book is also very useful and I referred to it a lot.
So much of this world is mentioned and described, so it really does feel like it's alive, like the world continues to live around the characters, and despite the characters.
Another thing I can't fault.
Writing Style
Written very much in Third Person Multiple. I feel this story has been written with the sole intent of marketing it for TV. Each chapter is short, choppy and straight to the point, like a minute long scene in a TV show, cutting away abruptly to other characters before returning to the previous one to conclude that 'scene'. To an extent, I understand and appreciate what the author is going with this, and this medium works perfectly in TV, but to me, the style is too disjointed for a book. Because of this, I couldn't get into the pacing.
The dialogue was fantastic though. Not a single line was cliche, and I one o the reasons why I love Grimdarks is the colourful use of language. I know profanity isn't everyone's cup of tea, but to me, it's just more realistic and adds to the grit.
The descriptions and writing quality, in general, was really very good, it's simply a number of characters and their lack of development that makes the whole thing feel rushed.
Final Impression
A great book that could have been outstanding. This has many raving reviews and I'm glad that it hit the mark for so many.
I may continue this series, as my main issue was not knowing the characters, but hopefully, I won't feel that way with the second book and the characters will feel more familiar to me. I really do want to like this series, s perhaps I'll give it a second chance.
Figuring I simply wasn't in the mood for this story, I put it down for two weeks, read something else, and revisited it. I persevered because it's one of the few books I've bought during its first week of release, and if I pay full retail price, I read every god-damned word whether I like it or not.
Characters
I think the main reason it struggled to get into this book was the sheer amount of characters. Don't get me wrong, I love third person multiple perspective stories, it's actually my favourite writing style, but this book is maybe a little overkill. Throughout the course of the book, we don't see two perspectives, or three, or even four, there is a total of TEN. Yes, ten POV's.
Rillirin, Corvus, Crys, Durdil, Dom, The Blessed One, Galtas, Mace, Tara, Gilda.
This would have been fine, were we given enough time to invest in any of these characters early enough. With an average chapter length of about 3 pages (sometimes less, sometimes more) I never felt like I had enough time with any given character at any given point. They were difficult to become fond of or grow with in the beginning because I just didn't know enough about them
It took me to near on the 300-page mark to finally decide that the only characters I truly liked and cared about were Crys, Tara and Ash. I would have been happy with a story with just them. They were really likeable in the end and made an amusing trio at times. Crys and Tara felt the most developed, the ones that had actually grown and changed throughout the story, adjusting to their situations.
I'm all about characters driven stories, and although this book is, I never felt like I knew the characters, I just never had time to get close to them and I think the reason I ended up liking the three mentioned above was because to me they had the most distinctive voices.
It's interesting that the synopsis mentions Dom by name, as though he's the main characters, but I never got the impression of any one character being more important than the other. I had no idea Dom was the MC.
Plot
Oh boy, this is an intense plot to describe in a paragraph.
Two armies from two different kingdoms. We have the Mireces who worship the Red Gods and the Rilporians who worship the Gods of Light. The Mireces want to invade Rilpor and take control of the kingdom in a bloody and glorious war that will split the veil and allow their gods to re-enter the realm of reality.
So that's pretty much the basics, but there's way more going on than just that of course, naturally, there would be with ten main character's story arc to establish. Majority of those characters are Rilporian, the 'good guys', but like any religious war ever, that depends entirely on where your faith lies. Many of the characters storyline overlap and interweave, and some of them don't meet at all, but they are all working towards the same goal: to win the war.
This is a great idea. I can't fault the plot at all. It's truly fascinating. There's so much happening, betrayal and subterfuge and deceit, bravery, good intentions and true colours. Plot-wise, this is everything it needs to be for a fantasy grimdark.
Setting
I enjoyed the setting. I love anything set in an entirely different world, especially one well fleshed out. Sometimes authors create a world but then set the story in a small corner of it never expanding out. This isn't the case with Godblind. I really felt like the author made good use of the interesting world she'd created. The story literally stretched from one side of the map to the other. And the map in the front of the book is also very useful and I referred to it a lot.
So much of this world is mentioned and described, so it really does feel like it's alive, like the world continues to live around the characters, and despite the characters.
Another thing I can't fault.
Writing Style
Written very much in Third Person Multiple. I feel this story has been written with the sole intent of marketing it for TV. Each chapter is short, choppy and straight to the point, like a minute long scene in a TV show, cutting away abruptly to other characters before returning to the previous one to conclude that 'scene'. To an extent, I understand and appreciate what the author is going with this, and this medium works perfectly in TV, but to me, the style is too disjointed for a book. Because of this, I couldn't get into the pacing.
The dialogue was fantastic though. Not a single line was cliche, and I one o the reasons why I love Grimdarks is the colourful use of language. I know profanity isn't everyone's cup of tea, but to me, it's just more realistic and adds to the grit.
The descriptions and writing quality, in general, was really very good, it's simply a number of characters and their lack of development that makes the whole thing feel rushed.
Final Impression
A great book that could have been outstanding. This has many raving reviews and I'm glad that it hit the mark for so many.
I may continue this series, as my main issue was not knowing the characters, but hopefully, I won't feel that way with the second book and the characters will feel more familiar to me. I really do want to like this series, s perhaps I'll give it a second chance.
rek'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Great start. Waiting for book 2 to arrive.
eliclare's review
4.0
So I just picked this book up because it was recommended to me on Amazon. I rarely do that nowadays and I was pleasantly surprised. I would give around a 4.25 stars. I am quite pleased with it.
1. Plot
Overall the plot was good, the pacing was very quick which was helped along by the super short chapters so nothing ever felt like it dragged which was good. I really enjoyed the progression of the plot especially the section at the end where they are in the tunnels. I thought that that was really well written; Stephens is really good at writing battle scenes, they were easy to follow and I didn't get overwhelmed. I only have one issue, (which isn't an issue right now more so something I just am worried is going to happen), this felt like a finale to me, with the super intense battles and I am worried that the next 2 books are just going to be more of the same thing. I hope that books 2 has a more disvtiguinishable individual plot line instead of just having the 3 books meld together in endless strings of battles. But I won't pass judgement on that until I read book 2 of course. Also, I feel like considering 5/10 of the characters were fighting on the frontline some of them should have died? Especially since literally everyone else was dying? (Not that I am really upset about that (although Corvus is welcome to die)) but still.
2. Writing
For a debut, the writing is really good. It was compelling and I was engaged. I would like there to be a little more showing not telling but overall I was very impressed. I think in maybe a future series, this one being very plot based, I would like to see Stephens focusing on her characters a little more, because she clearly has a lot of potential for that.
3. Characters. (I am going to talk about them in the order they are introduced)
Rillerin: I really liked her. She isn't super unique or individual in terms of fantasy heroines, but she was brave and strong and I wanted her to do well. I feel a little as though her emotions were overlooked sometimes, she seemed to not react to everything as strongly as I feel like she should have, especially considering her history, but overall a good character. I also really liked the relationship progression with Dom. I am STRESSED for them though. She is a character I bet survives the whole series.
Corvus: I hated him. From his first chapter I thought he was disgusting (but hey, that is what we are supposed to think). Also suddenly he mends his and Lanta's relationship or something? That seemed sudden, I was like where did the animosity go? Nope, despised him. I have no more to say. Ugh.
Crys: Probably tied for my favourite character? I'm not really sure who I liked the best. His personality was nice to follow, and I know that he isn't the youngest, (maybe 27?) but his perspective felt younger which was nice in contrast to some of the others. I also liked him and Ash a lot. I am STRESSED for them too.
Durdil: I grew on me, and I liked how smart he was, but overall I am not super attached. His and Mace's narrative voices were too similar I think.
Dom: I actually liked him a lot more than I thought I would originally. He is probably the character who is having a really bad time right now, and I just really feel for him. Kinda worried his is going to turn out to be evil? Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
The Blessed One: No.
Galtas: My least favourite character. Absolutely despised him. He was repulsive.
Mace: Liked him well enough. Don't really have any strong feelings.
Tara: Really liked her. I loved the bit where she is talking to Crys about Ash. I thought that was a clever insert of today's society about how women feel. Really appreciated it. I hope we see more of her in future books, she was really more of a minor character.
Gilda: Again, she grew on me a lot. My favourite scene in the entire book is when she punches Lanta in the face. That was awesome. I am wondering whether she is going to survive to know what happened to her family. I am worried for her (and now that I am thinking about family, really stressed for Crys too).
(Also I hated Rivil)
Overall, a really solid book and I am excited to read the next one.
1. Plot
Overall the plot was good, the pacing was very quick which was helped along by the super short chapters so nothing ever felt like it dragged which was good. I really enjoyed the progression of the plot especially the section at the end where they are in the tunnels. I thought that that was really well written; Stephens is really good at writing battle scenes, they were easy to follow and I didn't get overwhelmed. I only have one issue, (which isn't an issue right now more so something I just am worried is going to happen), this felt like a finale to me, with the super intense battles and I am worried that the next 2 books are just going to be more of the same thing. I hope that books 2 has a more disvtiguinishable individual plot line instead of just having the 3 books meld together in endless strings of battles. But I won't pass judgement on that until I read book 2 of course. Also, I feel like considering 5/10 of the characters were fighting on the frontline some of them should have died? Especially since literally everyone else was dying? (Not that I am really upset about that (although Corvus is welcome to die)) but still.
2. Writing
For a debut, the writing is really good. It was compelling and I was engaged. I would like there to be a little more showing not telling but overall I was very impressed. I think in maybe a future series, this one being very plot based, I would like to see Stephens focusing on her characters a little more, because she clearly has a lot of potential for that.
3. Characters. (I am going to talk about them in the order they are introduced)
Rillerin: I really liked her. She isn't super unique or individual in terms of fantasy heroines, but she was brave and strong and I wanted her to do well. I feel a little as though her emotions were overlooked sometimes, she seemed to not react to everything as strongly as I feel like she should have, especially considering her history, but overall a good character. I also really liked the relationship progression with Dom. I am STRESSED for them though. She is a character I bet survives the whole series.
Corvus: I hated him. From his first chapter I thought he was disgusting (but hey, that is what we are supposed to think). Also suddenly he mends his and Lanta's relationship or something? That seemed sudden, I was like where did the animosity go? Nope, despised him. I have no more to say. Ugh.
Crys: Probably tied for my favourite character? I'm not really sure who I liked the best. His personality was nice to follow, and I know that he isn't the youngest, (maybe 27?) but his perspective felt younger which was nice in contrast to some of the others. I also liked him and Ash a lot. I am STRESSED for them too.
Durdil: I grew on me, and I liked how smart he was, but overall I am not super attached. His and Mace's narrative voices were too similar I think.
Dom: I actually liked him a lot more than I thought I would originally. He is probably the character who is having a really bad time right now, and I just really feel for him. Kinda worried his is going to turn out to be evil? Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
The Blessed One: No.
Galtas: My least favourite character. Absolutely despised him. He was repulsive.
Mace: Liked him well enough. Don't really have any strong feelings.
Tara: Really liked her. I loved the bit where she is talking to Crys about Ash. I thought that was a clever insert of today's society about how women feel. Really appreciated it. I hope we see more of her in future books, she was really more of a minor character.
Gilda: Again, she grew on me a lot. My favourite scene in the entire book is when she punches Lanta in the face. That was awesome. I am wondering whether she is going to survive to know what happened to her family. I am worried for her (and now that I am thinking about family, really stressed for Crys too).
(Also I hated Rivil)
Overall, a really solid book and I am excited to read the next one.
rhodamack09's review against another edition
3.0
This review was originally posted on StrupagI'd heard a lot of great things about this book prior to picking it up. Fantasy told from the perspectives of multiple characters, Gods trying to regain entry to the world, people and cultures with their own beliefs, men vying to be King, it all sounded pretty good. And it was. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, maybe even up to 70% but then I kind of got bored, which surprised me as the last part of the book has fighting, battles, action. Yet I got bored of reading passages of fighting, injury, blood, death. Why? Well, I've been trying to figure that out. I think there was just too much description, too many fight scenes and I just lost interest. Also, I'm not sure that I really cared about any of the characters, except Crys.
Believe me, I'm really disappointed, I wanted to love this. Indeed to begin with I was absorbed by the story and the world. I kept hoping I'd get back to that but it just didn't happen for me.
If you've read this I'd love to know your thoughts. I think I'm definitely in the minority with this. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood?
All that said, this is a creative book - I enjoyed the world building and concepts, but sadly it didn't hold my attention.
Believe me, I'm really disappointed, I wanted to love this. Indeed to begin with I was absorbed by the story and the world. I kept hoping I'd get back to that but it just didn't happen for me.
If you've read this I'd love to know your thoughts. I think I'm definitely in the minority with this. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood?
All that said, this is a creative book - I enjoyed the world building and concepts, but sadly it didn't hold my attention.
mswarning's review
3.0
Hard to rate, somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. The crucifixion scene is gnarly.. in a good way. I feel weird typing that sentence lol.
cupiscent's review against another edition
Yeah nah, not for me. Too much talking and stuff happening, not enough emotion, meaning and depth of world; and, after a lovely opening line, not enough style to keep my interest lacking the other stuff. Will definitely appeal to those who like plenty of warlike barbarians and guard captains doing their things with swords and honour (or lack thereof).
sreepurna's review
4.0
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Things I loved about this book:
*So we all know that fantasy is basically The Genre right now, whether it’s the Game of Thrones TV show based on the ASOIAF series or the Throne of Glass series popular among young adults. And do I want more of this genre? Hell yes.
*The characters in this series are AMAZING. I especially loved how realistic Rillirin’s character is, how she is not unnaturally strong and bad-ass like your general heroine these days. Her strength comes from within, and it’s quiet, but it’s world-changing. Lesson: You don’t necessarily need to be an athletic, beautiful assassin to be a strong woman.
*THE SHIPS. I really didn’t expect romance in this book, but it was there and it was beautiful and heart-wrenching and soul-shattering. Call me biased, but I am obsessed with the tender little moments in the otherwise dark and grim world of Godblind.
*Honestly, I didn’t really like the book in the beginning, but it kept getting better and the ending just kind of drove me crazy. I need the second book real bad (and that’s when you know the book was worth the read).
Things I didn’t like:
*The beginning was a bit slow paced.
*Some parts were really, really gruesome. (This is probably not a bad thing for everyone, but everyone has a tolerance limit and this almost pushed mine. Also, when it wasn’t like it was necessary to be that gruesome for plot development, only the shock factor I guess.)
*A lot of the story was pretty close to ASOIAF (but that isn’t REALLY a bad thing for me because I love good old Martin’s books).
Overall:
If you like fantasy, and can stomach a bit of gore in books, this debut is a must-read. It is raw and gritty and in fandom-language, “gives you the right feels”. But it’s also intelligent, realistic and thought-provoking. If you are having a boring weekend which needs some spicing up, this is the book you need.
Things I loved about this book:
*So we all know that fantasy is basically The Genre right now, whether it’s the Game of Thrones TV show based on the ASOIAF series or the Throne of Glass series popular among young adults. And do I want more of this genre? Hell yes.
*The characters in this series are AMAZING. I especially loved how realistic Rillirin’s character is, how she is not unnaturally strong and bad-ass like your general heroine these days. Her strength comes from within, and it’s quiet, but it’s world-changing. Lesson: You don’t necessarily need to be an athletic, beautiful assassin to be a strong woman.
*THE SHIPS. I really didn’t expect romance in this book, but it was there and it was beautiful and heart-wrenching and soul-shattering. Call me biased, but I am obsessed with the tender little moments in the otherwise dark and grim world of Godblind.
*Honestly, I didn’t really like the book in the beginning, but it kept getting better and the ending just kind of drove me crazy. I need the second book real bad (and that’s when you know the book was worth the read).
Things I didn’t like:
*The beginning was a bit slow paced.
*Some parts were really, really gruesome. (This is probably not a bad thing for everyone, but everyone has a tolerance limit and this almost pushed mine. Also, when it wasn’t like it was necessary to be that gruesome for plot development, only the shock factor I guess.)
*A lot of the story was pretty close to ASOIAF (but that isn’t REALLY a bad thing for me because I love good old Martin’s books).
Overall:
If you like fantasy, and can stomach a bit of gore in books, this debut is a must-read. It is raw and gritty and in fandom-language, “gives you the right feels”. But it’s also intelligent, realistic and thought-provoking. If you are having a boring weekend which needs some spicing up, this is the book you need.
sabrielreads's review
4.0
3.75 stars.
I'm conflicted about this book.
On one hand it was a fairly quick read (maybe because of the short chapters), but some things happened that were very jarring and felt forced, like most of the romance.
We didnt really get to see many feelings, it was as if the story was being told by an external narrator. It would have been nice to have seen behind that veil a bit more, since I felt both the new romances in this book came out of pretty much nowhere.
I didnt really connect with any of the characters except for Crys, and we didnt get to see much reasoning behind WHY the bad guys did what they did, other than for power (which is a perfectly fine reason, but I'd prefer it to be more clear it's the ONLY reason).
I'm not excited enough to read the next book straight away which leaves me disappointed really.
I'm conflicted about this book.
On one hand it was a fairly quick read (maybe because of the short chapters), but some things happened that were very jarring and felt forced, like most of the romance.
We didnt really get to see many feelings, it was as if the story was being told by an external narrator. It would have been nice to have seen behind that veil a bit more, since I felt both the new romances in this book came out of pretty much nowhere.
I didnt really connect with any of the characters except for Crys, and we didnt get to see much reasoning behind WHY the bad guys did what they did, other than for power (which is a perfectly fine reason, but I'd prefer it to be more clear it's the ONLY reason).
I'm not excited enough to read the next book straight away which leaves me disappointed really.