A review by starrysteph
We Are the Origin by C.M. Lockhart

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

If you enjoy defiant & hardcore main characters, complex relationships between mortals and gods, and unique world building & creation stories, then you should pick up We Are the Origin.

Brandi is a skilled assassin, serving her queendom and her goddess with a magical bow and an aim that never misses. She was raised to be a shadow and to NEVER question orders to send someone to the gods. Until her orders from the throne clash against her orders from the goddess of life, Freya.

Now she’s being asked to turn against the fellow assassins she views as family and tuck a (mostly incompetent) princess under her wing as she takes on her biggest enemy yet. One the gods themselves can’t even fight … and one who threatens the existence of her entire world.

Luckily, Brandi is up for the challenge.

If you like a female main character that never backs down, knows her power, swims around in moral murkiness, is kinda mean (complimentary), and kills those that cross her between blinks … you’re going to adore Brandi.

The supporting characters are each so different and so interesting. Jack’s journey from a scrappy boy who only trusted himself to becoming Brandi’s reliable partner was really sweet. The fellow shadows piqued my curiosity, though we didn’t get as much backstory on them. Sarah is the most frustrating one by far because she is fully flailing, but her group also needs to learn to treat her with compassion and throw her a bone every once in a while if she’s going to be part of the team. 

I appreciated all the forms of love shown here. There’s polyamorous romantic love, there’s folks who have found their soulmate, there’s found family love, there’s worship love, and so much more. I thought the depth of love shown between Brandi and Jack was touching, and was curious about how all these venn diagrams of love between mortals and gods both challenged and supported each other.

I was less interested in the budding romance between Sarah and Noble, mostly because it felt a bit more shallow and silly compared to the stakes of everything else. (Also I don’t really like romance plotlines, so it’s for sure personal as well.) My other biggest stumble was that the language was clunky at times. The sentences didn’t always flow, and sometimes tenses (or other things) would make me have to reread a paragraph a couple of times.

There is a lot of set up here for the rest of the series (also just making sure everyone knows that this IS a series because it isn’t quite clear from the description), and I’m hungry for more. We collect our group of protagonists throughout the course of the book and every one of them has major growth to do. They all have super different personal journeys in store and I can’t wait.

This story was fresh, vibrant, and compelling. 

CW: death (parent), murder, injury, violence, blood, grief, suicide, torture, toxic relationship

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)