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ems_library1's review
3.0
Thank you Tuttle Publishing and Edelweiss for an eARC copy of this book!
3/5 Stars
Wounded Little Gods is such an great story about Philippine mythology! The book was very captivating, I found myself not wanting to put the book down. Right from the first chapter Eliza has you drawn right into the story.
The pacing throughout most of the book was great, it kept you clinging to the story keeping you reading more. Though moving towards the ending, I found it a bit rushed. Solving the mystery element seemed to just happen randomly, and felt quick. If the book was a little longer where the mystery element was drawn out a little longer, it would have held suspense just a bit more. Keeping myself from feeling confused from the abrupt ending. Having the book a little longer would have helped the characters have a little more development as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed this quick read by Eliza Victoria! I highly recommend this book, especially to those who love mythology or modern fantasy books.
3/5 Stars
Wounded Little Gods is such an great story about Philippine mythology! The book was very captivating, I found myself not wanting to put the book down. Right from the first chapter Eliza has you drawn right into the story.
The pacing throughout most of the book was great, it kept you clinging to the story keeping you reading more. Though moving towards the ending, I found it a bit rushed. Solving the mystery element seemed to just happen randomly, and felt quick. If the book was a little longer where the mystery element was drawn out a little longer, it would have held suspense just a bit more. Keeping myself from feeling confused from the abrupt ending. Having the book a little longer would have helped the characters have a little more development as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed this quick read by Eliza Victoria! I highly recommend this book, especially to those who love mythology or modern fantasy books.
softly's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kriziaannacastro's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
johnreadsthings's review
5.0
As a mythology enthusiast, right off the bat, I knew I'd like this novel by Eliza Victoria. After finishing, I found that I was both right and wrong. I was right because I did like Wounded Little Gods and I was wrong because I simply didn't like it; I love this book.
It began with a mystery unraveled by the sarcastically funny Regina (who really had that attitude of an urban-minded probinsyana) and when secrets long kept were finally revealed, the readers were subjected to Victoria's incredible story-telling prowess. Her words cut deep, especially with those of the last two chapters.
It began with a mystery unraveled by the sarcastically funny Regina (who really had that attitude of an urban-minded probinsyana) and when secrets long kept were finally revealed, the readers were subjected to Victoria's incredible story-telling prowess. Her words cut deep, especially with those of the last two chapters.
pamalalala_'s review
3.0
I don't think this quite weaved to the story that was intended. The premise was interesting and it kept me reading, however, it fell a little flat and confusing in the end.
clar2d2's review
4.0
This was so good!
I recently read Dwellers by Eliza Victoria, and there were some similarities:
1. They both don't stick to the confines of a single genre, and I feel could be classified under multiple genres (though Wounded Little Gods, while it felt like a mystery too, was obviously primarily fantasy book from the very beginning; Dwellers seemed less clear cut).
2. They both progress in such a way that I found myself getting more and more curious, and asking more and more questions, as the story went on.
However, while I REALLY enjoyed Dwellers, I loved Wounded Little Gods even more, because of the following reasons:
1. While both books made me think, this book made me think a lot more. It explored some important ethical issues (which I won't mention because of spoilers), which kind of brought me back to my philosophy class and, again, really made me think.
2. I preferred the characterization here. My one main issue with Dwellers is that I found some of the characters a bit exaggerated and not very believable at times. Here, however, the characters actions seemed more realistic. For example, in general, I hate when characters in creepy or suspicious situations don't act cautious or paranoid enough; the main character here, however, remembered to check things like if the path behind her was still there and if her phone still had signal before she progressed. Oh, and she also remembered she had a phone camera and actually thought to take pictures for proof! I hate when authors sometimes "forget" these things in order to cause more problems in the story.
3. I love how everything unfolded. Something similar was done in Dwellers, wherein later on we kind of backtracked to better understand previous events and why they occurred, but I think it was done so much better here. There was even some overlap here, wherein events from previous chapters were told from another perspective, and I love how this clarified things and added more layers to the story; I found myself going back to read previous pages over again after I had learned more about what was actually happening then. I even read the first chapter again after I finished the whole book! The conclusion actually left me pretty satisfied too, which isn't something I could say about very many books (Dwellers included).
4. As an added bonus, I also like that it made use of Philippine mythology, and included a little bit of Philippine history as well!
My only complaint is that I feel that there's some inconsistency with the years.It is indicated at the beginning that the town started producing increasingly poorer and poorer harvests 10 years before the events in the story. We also later find out that started the night that Dumangan, the God of Good Harvest, died, which was supposedly when "Luciano" was 8 years old. During the events of the story though, he's already 29. How could Dumangan have died 10 years before based on the story, when he died 21 years before based on Luciano's age? :/ Please correct me if I understood anything wrong, but this is really bothering me because I hate inconsistencies, haha.
Overall though...wow. I expected this book to be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It goes without saying that I highly recommend this.
I recently read Dwellers by Eliza Victoria, and there were some similarities:
1. They both don't stick to the confines of a single genre, and I feel could be classified under multiple genres (though Wounded Little Gods, while it felt like a mystery too, was obviously primarily fantasy book from the very beginning; Dwellers seemed less clear cut).
2. They both progress in such a way that I found myself getting more and more curious, and asking more and more questions, as the story went on.
However, while I REALLY enjoyed Dwellers, I loved Wounded Little Gods even more, because of the following reasons:
1. While both books made me think, this book made me think a lot more. It explored some important ethical issues (which I won't mention because of spoilers), which kind of brought me back to my philosophy class and, again, really made me think.
2. I preferred the characterization here. My one main issue with Dwellers is that I found some of the characters a bit exaggerated and not very believable at times. Here, however, the characters actions seemed more realistic. For example, in general, I hate when characters in creepy or suspicious situations don't act cautious or paranoid enough; the main character here, however, remembered to check things like if the path behind her was still there and if her phone still had signal before she progressed. Oh, and she also remembered she had a phone camera and actually thought to take pictures for proof! I hate when authors sometimes "forget" these things in order to cause more problems in the story.
3. I love how everything unfolded. Something similar was done in Dwellers, wherein later on we kind of backtracked to better understand previous events and why they occurred, but I think it was done so much better here. There was even some overlap here, wherein events from previous chapters were told from another perspective, and I love how this clarified things and added more layers to the story; I found myself going back to read previous pages over again after I had learned more about what was actually happening then. I even read the first chapter again after I finished the whole book! The conclusion actually left me pretty satisfied too, which isn't something I could say about very many books (Dwellers included).
4. As an added bonus, I also like that it made use of Philippine mythology, and included a little bit of Philippine history as well!
My only complaint is that I feel that there's some inconsistency with the years.
Overall though...wow. I expected this book to be good, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It goes without saying that I highly recommend this.
bookbed's review
3.0
"A solid, fascinating read on the supernatural and the natural, Wounded Little Gods is not one to miss." Continue reading our review here.
Please note: We don't use ratings but for this purpose, we tag books with three stars by default.
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Please note: We don't use ratings but for this purpose, we tag books with three stars by default.
Would like to be a reviewer/contributor to Bookbed? Sign up here!
We also accept review requests. More info here.
dee2799d's review
5.0
I have six million other books to read (not really, ten is probably a better count) and I haven't really made time for any of them, but for an Eliza Victoria novel? You bet your sweet ass I have time.
What I really love about Eliza Victoria's stories is how relate-able they are. The characters who work for BPOs, who worry about the traffic in EDSA, and who makes jokes about hipsters. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour in how Regina tries to keep track of the barrage of countryside news her parents meet her with when she goes back home. But also a lot of heartwhen she looks at her parent at the end of the novel and realises what they had gone through, and how parental love is a complex thing .
And I know what many other Filipino writers have done the same, that we have a lot of Philippine spec lit in the market that ventures into the realm of urban fantasy and (more or less) relate-able characters, but this feels different. Personally, I'm inclined to think it has to do with age and class. Regina (and a lot of characters from the author's other work) is a millennial in her 20s, still living in that brink between after-uni and the 'real world'. She still lives in a dorm shared with university students. She's earning enough that she doesn't have to worry over-much about money, but she doesn't own a condo with amazing furniture either. The in-betweens, the middle to lower middle class. This is a life I'm very very familiar with and it comforts me to see those familiar trappings in a written world. A written world with fantastic and mythic themes.
So I haven't really written anything about the plot or the storyline and I'm not gonna go into it at length (there's historical facts, eugenics, and the complexity of love and human interactions), but I just want to say that I'd love to read more novels like this.
What I really love about Eliza Victoria's stories is how relate-able they are. The characters who work for BPOs, who worry about the traffic in EDSA, and who makes jokes about hipsters. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour in how Regina tries to keep track of the barrage of countryside news her parents meet her with when she goes back home. But also a lot of heart
And I know what many other Filipino writers have done the same, that we have a lot of Philippine spec lit in the market that ventures into the realm of urban fantasy and (more or less) relate-able characters, but this feels different. Personally, I'm inclined to think it has to do with age and class. Regina (and a lot of characters from the author's other work) is a millennial in her 20s, still living in that brink between after-uni and the 'real world'. She still lives in a dorm shared with university students. She's earning enough that she doesn't have to worry over-much about money, but she doesn't own a condo with amazing furniture either. The in-betweens, the middle to lower middle class. This is a life I'm very very familiar with and it comforts me to see those familiar trappings in a written world. A written world with fantastic and mythic themes.
So I haven't really written anything about the plot or the storyline and I'm not gonna go into it at length (there's historical facts, eugenics, and the complexity of love and human interactions), but I just want to say that I'd love to read more novels like this.
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