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A review by libraryofpeculiar
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
3.0
The Shadow of the Gods started off really good for me, but then my enthusism started to fall, and I just didn't care about a single thing.
In the beginning, I was really connected to all the characters (especially Orka), and I wanted to know all about them. I wanted to know all about the world and the plot... But somewhere around 30-40%, I just stopped carrying about it all.
Orka remained the most interesting POV to me and is probably the reason I finished it. She's so badass and I love the idea of a strong fighter momma going after people who wronged her family. Like an absolute icon right there! Elvar, I did not give a single fuck about. I didn't connect to her at all, and I just couldn't get myself to care about what would happen to her. I literally hated seeing her name in the chapters. Varg was... eh? His POV wasn't boring, but I didn't particularly care either. I didn't see the point of his character, tho I can't say he had no potential. If this book was only about Orka I'd be giving it 5 stars.
The book itself wasn't bad. The pace was a bit slow and the book was too long, it definitely could be 100 pages shorter and nothing would be lost. Characters quite realistic, and their had their ideals, mission that had them going through the book. The writing was also quite good. Probably one of the rarest fantasy books by a male author where female characters aren't sexualized, which I quite enjoyed. Next thing, too much of everything. Too many names, characters, creatures for me to grasp and remember in one book. Andnat one point I just stopped trying to remember it all which led to the main problem of me stopping to care about the whole book. Anything that happened was ok whatever to me... and that's not how I wanna feel while reading.
I should probably mention that lately, I'm feeling quite disconnected from fantasy and can't really get myself to enjoy it. I was super enthusiastic when I started this one because I was enjoying it. It started off like a pure 5/5 and then just dropped to 3/5 and didn't go back up. I'm quite saddened, actually. But despite that, I think I'll give the second book a try.
I would recommend this to epic andnhigh fantasy fans.
In the beginning, I was really connected to all the characters (especially Orka), and I wanted to know all about them. I wanted to know all about the world and the plot... But somewhere around 30-40%, I just stopped carrying about it all.
Orka remained the most interesting POV to me and is probably the reason I finished it. She's so badass and I love the idea of a strong fighter momma going after people who wronged her family. Like an absolute icon right there! Elvar, I did not give a single fuck about. I didn't connect to her at all, and I just couldn't get myself to care about what would happen to her. I literally hated seeing her name in the chapters. Varg was... eh? His POV wasn't boring, but I didn't particularly care either. I didn't see the point of his character, tho I can't say he had no potential. If this book was only about Orka I'd be giving it 5 stars.
The book itself wasn't bad. The pace was a bit slow and the book was too long, it definitely could be 100 pages shorter and nothing would be lost. Characters quite realistic, and their had their ideals, mission that had them going through the book. The writing was also quite good. Probably one of the rarest fantasy books by a male author where female characters aren't sexualized, which I quite enjoyed. Next thing, too much of everything. Too many names, characters, creatures for me to grasp and remember in one book. Andnat one point I just stopped trying to remember it all which led to the main problem of me stopping to care about the whole book. Anything that happened was ok whatever to me... and that's not how I wanna feel while reading.
I should probably mention that lately, I'm feeling quite disconnected from fantasy and can't really get myself to enjoy it. I was super enthusiastic when I started this one because I was enjoying it. It started off like a pure 5/5 and then just dropped to 3/5 and didn't go back up. I'm quite saddened, actually. But despite that, I think I'll give the second book a try.
I would recommend this to epic andnhigh fantasy fans.