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holajola 's review for:
The Shadow of the Gods
by John Gwynne
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“It was a long read, but if you stick to it, it eventually turns out amazing.”
I really wish I could give this five stars. I was really excited when I bought the book. I saw the pretty cover, the Norse mentioned in the blurb, and heard the amazing recommendation from the girl running a little book event.
I enjoyed the plot. I liked the main characters. I liked their thoughts and personalities. The writing was decent, if sometimes a bit choppy/difficult with the spells and change in languages. And at the end of the book, I was super invested.
And that’s where I can’t rate five stars. I just couldn’t get *into* reading it. I could read five to ten pages at a time, grow bored and distracted and put the book down for a week. Then I would pick it up, read five more pages—maybe a chapter— and then wait for the next week when I grew interested again. Around 300 pages, I was thinking of dnfing, struggling to convince myself to rate this as a 3 stars since I liked the action, liked the characters, liked the plot. I just couldn’t sit down and read it as I would a book I was interested in.
Don’t get me wrong, I did eventually get into it. About 400 pages in. After that point, I was so invested. Everything was so worth the wait. I will continue reading the series, and I hope the next books are just as amazing as those final 80 pages.
For anyone wanting to read this series, is on the fence just testing the waters using reviews, I DO recommend it but note that this book reads similarly to a prologue. That’s not a bad thing, but as the very nice bookseller told me: It was a long read, but if you stick to it, it eventually turns out amazing.
I really wish I could give this five stars. I was really excited when I bought the book. I saw the pretty cover, the Norse mentioned in the blurb, and heard the amazing recommendation from the girl running a little book event.
I enjoyed the plot. I liked the main characters. I liked their thoughts and personalities. The writing was decent, if sometimes a bit choppy/difficult with the spells and change in languages. And at the end of the book, I was super invested.
And that’s where I can’t rate five stars. I just couldn’t get *into* reading it. I could read five to ten pages at a time, grow bored and distracted and put the book down for a week. Then I would pick it up, read five more pages—maybe a chapter— and then wait for the next week when I grew interested again. Around 300 pages, I was thinking of dnfing, struggling to convince myself to rate this as a 3 stars since I liked the action, liked the characters, liked the plot. I just couldn’t sit down and read it as I would a book I was interested in.
Don’t get me wrong, I did eventually get into it. About 400 pages in. After that point, I was so invested. Everything was so worth the wait. I will continue reading the series, and I hope the next books are just as amazing as those final 80 pages.
For anyone wanting to read this series, is on the fence just testing the waters using reviews, I DO recommend it but note that this book reads similarly to a prologue. That’s not a bad thing, but as the very nice bookseller told me: It was a long read, but if you stick to it, it eventually turns out amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
In regards to child abuse, there is only one mention of parental child abuse in the beginning of the book. There are other instances throughout the rest of the book that are not parental.