Reviews - Godkiller | The StoryGraph

10.5k reviews for:

Godkiller

Hannah Kaner

3.96 AVERAGE

sunnyraysydney's review against another edition

5.0

Not what I expected. The books are lyrical and at the same time modern. Romantic is there but not taking over the plot, and the characters grow. I really liked this!

peachedparchment's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny 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: N/A

I listened to this book on audio and as someone who notoriously never finishes an audiobook, this one kept me engaged! Godkiller follows the path of Kissen, Inara (and Skedi), and Elogast as they make their way to the closed off dying city of the gods, Blenradden. While each is headed there for their own reasons, they form an unlikely band kept together mainly for survival until they grow into something more.

For context, several years prior there was a very bloody war between the gods and the humans. I won't say much, as to not spoil things, but now the kingdom (and its monarchy) is against gods - enough to the point that Godkillers exist (Veiga). The city where this bloody battle went down is called Blenradden and dying gods with no shrines or no worshippers are slowly fading out of existence there.

I'll be the first to say it: I love a found family trope and this book feels just like that. Without giving any spoilers, it isn't like Six of Crows or anything, but it does give a warm feeling to experience the journey these characters go on. Our first main character Kissen, who I love, is disabled, an orphan, and a Veiga. Our first experience with her is her in her prime killing gods and damn is she good at it. One of my favorite parts of this entire book is Kissen's growth throughout it. Hannah Kaner does a fantastic job at slowly peeking through the layers of her personality while describing her backstory so you really feel for her.

Inara is a young girl who has Skedi, the god of white lies, attached to her. Through a series of unfortunate events, she finds herself travelling with Kissen to Blenradden for the sake of Skedi. While being very integral parts of this story, I admit I liked Inara and Skedi the least. I think it was due to the fact that the parts involving her were simply less complex in comparison to the emotion that Kissen/Elogast managed to invoke. However, her relationship with Skedi was incredibly interesting, especially with how that relationship affected Inara herself.

Finally, Elogast (otherwise known as Elo) is a now baker/retired knight who is on the trip to Blenradden to try and save the life of his estranged childhood best friend/the current King who he is madly in love with. First off, damn dude that is an unfortunate situation. I loved Elo's character so so much throughout this book. His stiff demeanor at first, the way he uses baking and bread as metaphors, his dedication.
There is much I could say about Elo, but I'll let you read the book and find out yourself.

I really enjoyed this book. My biggest gripe probably has to be how slow the beginning was. I almost DNF'ed it after about an hour and a half into the book because I wasn't really feeling it. That being said, the book really does pick up and I am so so glad I did not DNF it.

As a side note, the audiobook was fantastic. The narrator did a great job and truly kept me engaged and listening.