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A review by sinamile
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
5.0
CW/TW: animal death, hunting, graphic description of gore, graphic description of violence, death, blood, slavery, abuse, child death, child murder, kidnapping, PTSD, vomiting, arachnophobia, torture, beheading,
I'm not exactly a liar, I do love short chapters and most of the time I enjoy them over long chapters. BUT when a long chapter is done right, I do enjoy it very much.
My issue is when five pages are dedicated to info dumping where it's not done naturally, you know, where we're being told and not shown. That's where my biggest issue with long chapters lies. And I suppose it isn't just long chapters because it could very well happen with short chapters too.
HOWEVER, I have now noted that long chapters can be just as great as short chapters when they aren't clogged with information that can be presented over a few books. I've noticed a few authors who do this, clog up a book with information that just increases surface area instead of build the story. I can name one but I'd rather not because I don't want it to come across as hating, because it's not, because I actually like the author's writing.
But yeah, the point: this book has long-ish chapters but they aren't clogged with information I don't care about. Sure it's fighting every chapter, but I rather enjoyed that. Do I wish there was less of it sometimes? Sure do. But I didn't hate it, so I'm not complaining too much. Could've been worse, the fight scenes could've been boring, or repetitive. So.
But the story itself is so good and filled with so much drama. Like with most of the books I've read this month, it doesn't let you rest.
I was weary about having three POVs at first, but as I got into the story I found that I enjoyed each POV in different ways. Sure, sometimes my one brain cell would get confused about who is who in the zoo and a character would get mentioned and I'd think they were from a different POV and it would just throw the whole thing. But it didn't take away from the story, actually, I still enjoyed the book very much.
Norse mythology intrigues me and this story was very intriguing. The way in which it pulls from Nordic myth and makes its own is interesting and made me enjoy it immensely.
My biggest issue with this one is the monster things that the characters encounter. On a quick Google search I found that skraeling were what Vikings called Inuit people. So you can only imagine how I was feeling the whole time the skraeling were being mentioned and they were those monstrous things that needed to be killed. Now, I don't know enough to make a full comment on things, because the name could actually turn out to be a slur, but my point still stands. It ain't good that an entire race was turns into monsters that need to be killed, so.
There's a death that, upon reflection, is so unnecessary that I kind of feel angry about it. I'm sitting here, thinking: Why though? Why that character, why like that, why at that moment? I'm thinking about it and I'm just like, nonsense. I wasn't even shocked when the death happened because it just feels like the character was written to die and then the way in which they do die is just why and also, meh-anyway-move-along-ish. It's very disappointing, obvious and also kind of boring. I'm.... sad?
The ending of chapter 50 had me so confused I had to take a moment to sit down and just calculate. I felt like that meme of the woman with the math problems all around her because I too felt confused as heck. Like WTF my good people, WTF!??!?!? Like i don't know if me and my own brain cell miseed the hints or what but I was in shocked when it happened. That's not to say that it was bad, but I personally missed the hints, I guess.
The overall story was aurally really enjoyable, I liked what I got and am definitely going to keep reading. The best reveal for me though were the last few lines of the last chapter. Like I knew they were all connected, I just didn't know how connected till those last few lines. I can't wait till they're all together because I know things are going to go sideways on an exponential level and I am ready for it.
I did enjoy this book very much and cannot wait for the next one.
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I'm not exactly a liar, I do love short chapters and most of the time I enjoy them over long chapters. BUT when a long chapter is done right, I do enjoy it very much.
My issue is when five pages are dedicated to info dumping where it's not done naturally, you know, where we're being told and not shown. That's where my biggest issue with long chapters lies. And I suppose it isn't just long chapters because it could very well happen with short chapters too.
HOWEVER, I have now noted that long chapters can be just as great as short chapters when they aren't clogged with information that can be presented over a few books. I've noticed a few authors who do this, clog up a book with information that just increases surface area instead of build the story. I can name one but I'd rather not because I don't want it to come across as hating, because it's not, because I actually like the author's writing.
But yeah, the point: this book has long-ish chapters but they aren't clogged with information I don't care about. Sure it's fighting every chapter, but I rather enjoyed that. Do I wish there was less of it sometimes? Sure do. But I didn't hate it, so I'm not complaining too much. Could've been worse, the fight scenes could've been boring, or repetitive. So.
But the story itself is so good and filled with so much drama. Like with most of the books I've read this month, it doesn't let you rest.
I was weary about having three POVs at first, but as I got into the story I found that I enjoyed each POV in different ways. Sure, sometimes my one brain cell would get confused about who is who in the zoo and a character would get mentioned and I'd think they were from a different POV and it would just throw the whole thing. But it didn't take away from the story, actually, I still enjoyed the book very much.
Norse mythology intrigues me and this story was very intriguing. The way in which it pulls from Nordic myth and makes its own is interesting and made me enjoy it immensely.
My biggest issue with this one is the monster things that the characters encounter. On a quick Google search I found that skraeling were what Vikings called Inuit people. So you can only imagine how I was feeling the whole time the skraeling were being mentioned and they were those monstrous things that needed to be killed. Now, I don't know enough to make a full comment on things, because the name could actually turn out to be a slur, but my point still stands. It ain't good that an entire race was turns into monsters that need to be killed, so.
There's a death that, upon reflection, is so unnecessary that I kind of feel angry about it. I'm sitting here, thinking: Why though? Why that character, why like that, why at that moment? I'm thinking about it and I'm just like, nonsense. I wasn't even shocked when the death happened because it just feels like the character was written to die and then the way in which they do die is just why and also, meh-anyway-move-along-ish. It's very disappointing, obvious and also kind of boring. I'm.... sad?
The ending of chapter 50 had me so confused I had to take a moment to sit down and just calculate. I felt like that meme of the woman with the math problems all around her because I too felt confused as heck. Like WTF my good people, WTF!??!?!? Like i don't know if me and my own brain cell miseed the hints or what but I was in shocked when it happened. That's not to say that it was bad, but I personally missed the hints, I guess.
The overall story was aurally really enjoyable, I liked what I got and am definitely going to keep reading. The best reveal for me though were the last few lines of the last chapter. Like I knew they were all connected, I just didn't know how connected till those last few lines. I can't wait till they're all together because I know things are going to go sideways on an exponential level and I am ready for it.
I did enjoy this book very much and cannot wait for the next one.
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“You said he was going to be free,” Lif breathed.
“Aye, free of this life,” Orka grated.