Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I waited to finish the series before reviewing because I couldn’t tell if it was a relatively standalone story or an introduction to an overarching storyline. Turns out it’s supposed to be a standalone, it just has a bit of a weak and anticlimactic plot. I feel like it builds itself up to be bigger than it ends up being. But the character development is strong.
Rhys took a step away from her, to give himself some room. He was angry at her again, angry about this, about all of it. He wanted to find some way to tell her why he was angry, to explain it, but she tended to believe that every conversation involving strong emotion was full of words and resolutions that were not meant, as if he were a raving drunk. She saw every stated emotion as an admission of weakness.
“So where are we going, Nyxnissa?” he asked.
She spit sen on the garage floor. “The morgue,” she said.
Rhys closed his eyes and prepared himself for the horror. The last eight years had been an unending nightmare, starting with his flight across the desert. And it will end with my flight back into the desert, he thought. The globe the queen had given them had included a detailed summary of what she was willing to pay them in return for Nikodem—alive or dead. Nikodem, the alien with the big laugh. He had known her immediately upon seeing her stills but was uncertain about how he felt about hunting her. She was just an alien, and the sum to bring her in—even split five ways—was indeed enough for all of them to retire on. If they completed this note, he could leave Nyx, and this bloody business, forever.
He had no idea what he would do, after.
When he opened his eyes, Nyx had gone.
***
Rare is the character who just fucking leaps off the page, fully formed, like Nyxnissa so Dasheem—Nyx for short. Her page one introduction in God’s War:
Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.
Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jaks hit the floor like an antique harem girl.
And it only gets more badass—and brutal—from there.
The first entry in Kameron Hurley’s Bel Dame Apocrypha, God’s War takes place on the engineered world Umayma, which is in the midst of a centuries-long war with seemingly no end in sight. What started the war isn’t the point—it’s the world that has developed around it, because of it, that matters here. The economic and militaristic systems that have been created, and the regimes that reign supreme—these are what serve as the backdrop for this vicious, impeccably crafted story.
Which is Nyx’s story, to be precise. A disgraced former bel dame—a government assassin who survives performing decapitations for cash—Nyx now earns her living as a mercenary of sorts, with a small team at her disposal. When she’s given a note from the Nasheenian queen setting a bounty on an alien named Nikodem, Nyx and her team—including the shifter Khos and the Chenjan magician Rhys—quickly find themselves pulled into an even more dangerous game than any of them had anticipated, one involving interstellar gene pirates, illegal genetic breeding between bugs and humans in an effort to create unstoppable weapons—shifters and magicians of their own design—and potentially rogue bel dames with a serious hurt on for Nyx.
While God’s War is undoubtedly Nyx’s story, Hurley effortlessly shifts perspectives throughout, giving us clear views—and reasons to care—about every member of Nyx’s team. However, it’s the magician Rhys who gets supporting-actor billing in this tale. Rhys is Nyx’s moral compass—or the closest she has to one, at any rate. As a Chenjan amongst Nasheenians, Rhys is often regarded in public with distaste or mistrust. The relationship between the Nyx and Rhys is a reflection of the dichotomous world Hurley has crafted, split between Nasheen, which is matriarchal and relatively agnostic/atheistic in structure—and significantly more militaristic—and Chenja, a male-dominated society with strict theocratic structures governing their way of life, and an overt subjugation of women.
There’s so much more to the world of God’s War than the little I’ve written above. Hurley’s universe is three-dimensional in a way so many authors simply can’t or don’t achieve. For every creation, for every idea, she explores the possibilities—the benefits and ramifications therein. It’s not enough to simply have shapeshifters and bug-wielding magicians as races and classes unto themselves; Hurley has developed a believable—and nauseatingly realistic—social hierarchy in which the shifters are forced to shield their gifts or risk prejudicial treatment, in which religious devotees like Rhys are repeatedly mocked for their beliefs, and in which the bel dames—appearing out of nowhere like demonic spectres with a flair for torture—are afforded the utmost authority.
And speaking of the bel dames: Rasheeda. Goddamn what a terrifying character. In her brutality, and her willingness to go to any length to achieve her goals, Rasheeda embodies what’s most unsettling about the bel dames—that they are forever locked in a long con, strategically weighing out all scenarios until they are either in their favour, or under their thumb.
Hurley is a master at kinetic world building. Everything in God’s War exists without needing overt justification or long drawn out explanations. The various elements piece together in a way that feels lived in, and not merely constructed out of a greatest hits package of hard sci-fi odds and ends. It’s all very smart and done on the fly, forcing the reader to either acclimate and keep pace or get the fuck out of the way.
Beyond the systems that have been put in place, Hurley’s plotting also excels. The novel is like the best of heist/criminal underworld narratives, with backstabbings and double crosses at every turn, but all filtered through an intricate, embattled, occasionally twisted, otherworldly lens. The plot never stalls, never really falters. Hurley delights in continuously turns the crank, ratcheting up the tension at every turn, and when you don’t think it can get any worse it gets fucking worse.
Though I’m sure it’s pretty obvious, I’ll spell it out anyway: I absolutely fucking loved this book. I had to search high and low for my copy—and in the end resorted to ordering the trilogy online—but it was worth it, and I encourage others to do the same. Highly recommended.
“So where are we going, Nyxnissa?” he asked.
She spit sen on the garage floor. “The morgue,” she said.
Rhys closed his eyes and prepared himself for the horror. The last eight years had been an unending nightmare, starting with his flight across the desert. And it will end with my flight back into the desert, he thought. The globe the queen had given them had included a detailed summary of what she was willing to pay them in return for Nikodem—alive or dead. Nikodem, the alien with the big laugh. He had known her immediately upon seeing her stills but was uncertain about how he felt about hunting her. She was just an alien, and the sum to bring her in—even split five ways—was indeed enough for all of them to retire on. If they completed this note, he could leave Nyx, and this bloody business, forever.
He had no idea what he would do, after.
When he opened his eyes, Nyx had gone.
***
Rare is the character who just fucking leaps off the page, fully formed, like Nyxnissa so Dasheem—Nyx for short. Her page one introduction in God’s War:
Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.
Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jaks hit the floor like an antique harem girl.
And it only gets more badass—and brutal—from there.
The first entry in Kameron Hurley’s Bel Dame Apocrypha, God’s War takes place on the engineered world Umayma, which is in the midst of a centuries-long war with seemingly no end in sight. What started the war isn’t the point—it’s the world that has developed around it, because of it, that matters here. The economic and militaristic systems that have been created, and the regimes that reign supreme—these are what serve as the backdrop for this vicious, impeccably crafted story.
Which is Nyx’s story, to be precise. A disgraced former bel dame—a government assassin who survives performing decapitations for cash—Nyx now earns her living as a mercenary of sorts, with a small team at her disposal. When she’s given a note from the Nasheenian queen setting a bounty on an alien named Nikodem, Nyx and her team—including the shifter Khos and the Chenjan magician Rhys—quickly find themselves pulled into an even more dangerous game than any of them had anticipated, one involving interstellar gene pirates, illegal genetic breeding between bugs and humans in an effort to create unstoppable weapons—shifters and magicians of their own design—and potentially rogue bel dames with a serious hurt on for Nyx.
While God’s War is undoubtedly Nyx’s story, Hurley effortlessly shifts perspectives throughout, giving us clear views—and reasons to care—about every member of Nyx’s team. However, it’s the magician Rhys who gets supporting-actor billing in this tale. Rhys is Nyx’s moral compass—or the closest she has to one, at any rate. As a Chenjan amongst Nasheenians, Rhys is often regarded in public with distaste or mistrust. The relationship between the Nyx and Rhys is a reflection of the dichotomous world Hurley has crafted, split between Nasheen, which is matriarchal and relatively agnostic/atheistic in structure—and significantly more militaristic—and Chenja, a male-dominated society with strict theocratic structures governing their way of life, and an overt subjugation of women.
There’s so much more to the world of God’s War than the little I’ve written above. Hurley’s universe is three-dimensional in a way so many authors simply can’t or don’t achieve. For every creation, for every idea, she explores the possibilities—the benefits and ramifications therein. It’s not enough to simply have shapeshifters and bug-wielding magicians as races and classes unto themselves; Hurley has developed a believable—and nauseatingly realistic—social hierarchy in which the shifters are forced to shield their gifts or risk prejudicial treatment, in which religious devotees like Rhys are repeatedly mocked for their beliefs, and in which the bel dames—appearing out of nowhere like demonic spectres with a flair for torture—are afforded the utmost authority.
And speaking of the bel dames: Rasheeda. Goddamn what a terrifying character. In her brutality, and her willingness to go to any length to achieve her goals, Rasheeda embodies what’s most unsettling about the bel dames—that they are forever locked in a long con, strategically weighing out all scenarios until they are either in their favour, or under their thumb.
Hurley is a master at kinetic world building. Everything in God’s War exists without needing overt justification or long drawn out explanations. The various elements piece together in a way that feels lived in, and not merely constructed out of a greatest hits package of hard sci-fi odds and ends. It’s all very smart and done on the fly, forcing the reader to either acclimate and keep pace or get the fuck out of the way.
Beyond the systems that have been put in place, Hurley’s plotting also excels. The novel is like the best of heist/criminal underworld narratives, with backstabbings and double crosses at every turn, but all filtered through an intricate, embattled, occasionally twisted, otherworldly lens. The plot never stalls, never really falters. Hurley delights in continuously turns the crank, ratcheting up the tension at every turn, and when you don’t think it can get any worse it gets fucking worse.
Though I’m sure it’s pretty obvious, I’ll spell it out anyway: I absolutely fucking loved this book. I had to search high and low for my copy—and in the end resorted to ordering the trilogy online—but it was worth it, and I encourage others to do the same. Highly recommended.
Good things: Distinct characters, legitimate flaws, GREAT at setting the setting's tone, interesting and unique world
Bad things: Plot was a hot mess as were a LOT of motivations, hard to follow internal logic, weird ass time jump in the beginning, took half the book to really get going
Really bad things: Basically just poorly done China Mieville.
Bad things: Plot was a hot mess as were a LOT of motivations, hard to follow internal logic, weird ass time jump in the beginning, took half the book to really get going
Really bad things: Basically just poorly done China Mieville.
La reseña completa en http://inthenevernever.blogspot.com/2020/01/la-guerra-de-dios-de-kameron-hurley.html
“Algunos días, Nyx era una bel dame: una asesina a sueldo del gobierno, mortífera, respetada y honrada. Otros días no era más que una carnicera, una cazadora: una mujer sin nada que perder”.
Un mundo inhóspito, una guerra santa, secretos, conspiraciones y una cazarrecompensas con una misión que podría cambiarlo todo… La guerra de Dios, de Kameron Hurley, es un libro brutal en muchos sentidos. Repleto de violencia, pero, sobre todo, de crítica social. Hurley nos presenta un mundo complejo y fascinante, que junta de manera muy inteligente fantasía y ciencia ficción. Un libro con una magia extraña que usa a los insectos de manera creativa y que nos presenta a una protagonista y unos personajes de los que no se podrán olvidar.
“Algunos días, Nyx era una bel dame: una asesina a sueldo del gobierno, mortífera, respetada y honrada. Otros días no era más que una carnicera, una cazadora: una mujer sin nada que perder”.
Un mundo inhóspito, una guerra santa, secretos, conspiraciones y una cazarrecompensas con una misión que podría cambiarlo todo… La guerra de Dios, de Kameron Hurley, es un libro brutal en muchos sentidos. Repleto de violencia, pero, sobre todo, de crítica social. Hurley nos presenta un mundo complejo y fascinante, que junta de manera muy inteligente fantasía y ciencia ficción. Un libro con una magia extraña que usa a los insectos de manera creativa y que nos presenta a una protagonista y unos personajes de los que no se podrán olvidar.
Unlike anything I've read before, God's War paints a vivid yet destroyed image of a spectacularly morbid world. Nyx is the heroine such a world has birthed. She's tough, she's scarred, she's morally corrupt, and she's a survivor.
Would recommend for darker Kate Daniels fans.
Would recommend for darker Kate Daniels fans.
Wow, what a great book. This is a very layered story. On the the surface it is page-turning action and lots of violence but there are also the important relationship stories running underneath. Overlaying that loom questions of racial and cultural hegemony. It is a lot to pack into a relatively short book, but I think it was done very well.
There are two more books in this series, and I definitely plan to read them. Although this book stands well on its own, there are lots of questions left unanswered.
There are two more books in this series, and I definitely plan to read them. Although this book stands well on its own, there are lots of questions left unanswered.
Really solid. Deserves a longer review when I'm not on mobile.
I confess that I bought this initially for the "kick ass" cover. I am happy to say that it delivered a "kick ass" story as well. Our lead character Nyx is a very brutal and violent woman on a very brutal and violent planet. The world was well crafted, drawing on a very plausible colonial mutation of radical Islam, with conflicting ideologies, mired in a horrendous war. I also thought the organic bug technology, the magicians' manipulation of those bugs and the internal politics of each country were effective and interesting. All in all, an excellent read.