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A review by lahren
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
4.75
I had such a good time with every page of this book. I knew next to nothing about it going in, but it managed to deliver a lot of my favorite things in fantasy. This book has not one but two surly but fiercely loyal and protective main characters, strong found family vibes, a rich magic system fueled by gods and boons and curses, and even some morally grey manipulation, as a treat.
While most of this book is essentially a road trip, I thought it did an excellent job of driving the plot and keeping things interesting without getting repetitive. The structure also allowed for a good deal of character development as we watched Kissen and Elo and Inara's relationship dynamics shift and evolve as they grew to trust and rely on each other more, and it all seemed to provide a strong foundation for the burgeoning found family they started to become.
This book also has what seemed to be some really excellent disability representation, with one of the main characters being an amputee. While I cannot speak to the actual accuracy of the representation myself, it felt like Kaner put in the time and research in Kissen's portrayal to represent her disability accurately and empathetically. Kissen always felt like a real and complex person, and while her disability was shown as a part of her life, it was never the crux of who she was. We would get to see the moments — both big and small — where her amputation would make things more challenging for her, but these moments were never followed up with rhetoric about her either needing to be "fixed", nor was there the toxic perseverance mindset that is so prevalent in books claiming to represent differing abilities.
It even threw in a bit of representation with a Deaf side character, and since this is an area I have a bit more background in, it also felt well-researched in its portrayal of Deaf people and Deaf culture. It was nice to see that it didn't just opt to handle mixed company of Deaf and Hearing people by having the characters who could sign sim-com throughout those scenes (since sim-com is generally frowned upon), and it also would make it clear when the Deaf character couldn't understand the conversation being had, rather than perpetuating the misconception that Deaf people all have magic lipreading abilities and can lipread all conversations from all angles.
This book was super close to being a full 5 star for me, but the main thing that ultimately held me back was how the romance in this book was handled. While it wasn't as if it came out of nowhere, the moments we got always felt a bt shoehorned in, and I just never felt the chemistry the characters were supposed to have with each other. I was really hoping the book would go the direction of them just developing a really strong platonic bond over time, so I was honestly a bit disappointed when it was clear they were intended to be the main pairing of the book.
I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for an engaging and endearing fantasy, and I will absolutely be needing to pick up Sunbringer soon after the cliffhanger this book left off on.
While most of this book is essentially a road trip, I thought it did an excellent job of driving the plot and keeping things interesting without getting repetitive. The structure also allowed for a good deal of character development as we watched Kissen and Elo and Inara's relationship dynamics shift and evolve as they grew to trust and rely on each other more, and it all seemed to provide a strong foundation for the burgeoning found family they started to become.
This book also has what seemed to be some really excellent disability representation, with one of the main characters being an amputee. While I cannot speak to the actual accuracy of the representation myself, it felt like Kaner put in the time and research in Kissen's portrayal to represent her disability accurately and empathetically. Kissen always felt like a real and complex person, and while her disability was shown as a part of her life, it was never the crux of who she was. We would get to see the moments — both big and small — where her amputation would make things more challenging for her, but these moments were never followed up with rhetoric about her either needing to be "fixed", nor was there the toxic perseverance mindset that is so prevalent in books claiming to represent differing abilities.
It even threw in a bit of representation with a Deaf side character, and since this is an area I have a bit more background in, it also felt well-researched in its portrayal of Deaf people and Deaf culture. It was nice to see that it didn't just opt to handle mixed company of Deaf and Hearing people by having the characters who could sign sim-com throughout those scenes (since sim-com is generally frowned upon), and it also would make it clear when the Deaf character couldn't understand the conversation being had, rather than perpetuating the misconception that Deaf people all have magic lipreading abilities and can lipread all conversations from all angles.
This book was super close to being a full 5 star for me, but the main thing that ultimately held me back was how the romance in this book was handled. While it wasn't as if it came out of nowhere, the moments we got always felt a bt shoehorned in, and I just never felt the chemistry the characters were supposed to have with each other. I was really hoping the book would go the direction of them just developing a really strong platonic bond over time, so I was honestly a bit disappointed when it was clear they were intended to be the main pairing of the book.
I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for an engaging and endearing fantasy, and I will absolutely be needing to pick up Sunbringer soon after the cliffhanger this book left off on.