A review by rychelereads
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

3.0

[Paranormal YA, horror elements, magical elements, queer native indigenous youth and mental health representation, reference to transphobia and abuse involving minors, read the trigger warnings, flashbacks/hallucinations/delusions is how we learn of the “other." representation: native indigenous Seminole youth, trans youth, queer native youth living in a very small poor georgia town in the bible belt. youth mental health. indigenous land acknowledgement Mvskoke.]

The first half of the book has some fun quotes, an interesting main character who is neither hero nor villain and whose moral trajectory is uncertain which makes their journey really fun, and a quick pace with gorgeously descriptive writing. It is easy to digest.

I like that the manifestation of magic is also language interpretation, which makes the lyrical quality of the words stand out: examples
Spoiler “life finds a way,” death has superspeed because “you don’t always see it coming,” “may death evade you forever” as a wish for Death to never truly die by the Magician’s blade and as a curse for immortality with this burden.


I annotated throughout the read and had a fun time doing it. There was a little bit of a heist feeling to the lore and uncovering of gods which upped the pacing.

I did think the early discussions of trauma were glossed over much like someone who has experienced extreme trauma might do to cope, which felt like representation. I like that the books mc’s immediate reaction to the soulmate idea is to end the cycle and still desire a human life of choice where they live out who they want to be with whom they wish. Gem almost has a Howl vibe if Howl didn't know he has powers yet and Sophie had to come show him but Sophie was like a powerful star summoner already or something.

It's not just a teen story, a young adult story; I think its very relatable to anyone who has ever, is in the middle of, or will ever go through a moment or moments of having to find themselves, especially against the backdrop of crisis, of relationships, of change, of facing the unknown future, of the reality of being in a situation you don’t desire while desperately yearning for what you don’t have thinking that if you did have it you’d be better off. Also the generational trauma aspect is thoroughly explored.

I kind of like having an unreliable narrator partly because memories still loading and partly because as the memories load we see that one of the throughlines of this characters personality is cowardice. Alongside with their love for being as human as is godly possible, it makes their decisions both undrstandable at the individual level and disagreeable at the god level.

Then we get to the second half of the book. It is an abrupt change in pace, change in character voice almost, and the action feels like there's almost no consequence to it. I was waiting at the half-way mark for the book to earn its 5th star, and instead it lost a star. I never felt connected to Gem's feelings for either Enzo or Rory, or Gem's overall decision making. It’s tell not show so the intense panic doesn’t really grip me like I think it should. With regard to feelings, things shift suddenly towards "intense" in a way I don’t think the characters or story earned yet. Also as Gem remembers more and reveals more to the readers, the less likable their character. They’re not even an antihero to root for or with vengeance I understand, they’re just a selfish character who thinks the stand on some moral high ground of balance but they really don’t. Idk the Magician, the Mountain, the Shade are just bad guys tbh, they’re entire history of actions was damn everyone else for their own means, and I still don’t know why the shade is supposedly owed something.

A lot of their death battles don’t actually end in much agony for the characters themselves. Even the like second to last one at poppy’s family home. And they all sort of fight a lot then walk away from each other, bit weird with the stakes.

Overall, I think the book tries to tie itself around this idea of breaking the cycles of abuse, and maybe making a statement about violence and living simply to survive rather than to truly enjoy what it means to be human. But I don’t know that I really understood that through the story telling without direct quotes.

Then the ending is a little confusing. This is sort of the antihero’s journey to remaining the antihero. Or the antihero’s journey to remembering they are the antihero and then contemplating not being that anymore and life and love etc and then in the end choosing to just lean in to what they were at the beginning.

I’ll give it 3 stars but I won’t read further.