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A review by nghia
Downfall of the Gods by K.J. Parker
3.0
Another witty, sardonic K.J. Parker novella, this one a story of Greek gods and goddess with their serial numbers filed off. This one mocks the ridiculousness of both Greek gods in particular but also religion and faith more broadly.
At times earnest and thoughtful -- at one point Archias asks the Goddess why she isn't going to save a certain village from the imminent rape and predation of Viking-style raiders. She points out that the Vikings are also praying to her. How does she decide which side to help? And the raiders are only raiding because they have to:
The whole thing felt a bit disjointed and the somewhat-expected-trademark K.J. Parker clever-plot-twist ending felt a bit forced this time. There's a big pilgrimage where the Goddess is, for reasons she herself can't even explain, following along in (mostly) non-godly ways while Archias tries to find the Land of the Dead. It humanizes her and starts to build the glimmer of sympathy for humans...but then the whole thing kind of gets dropped and disappears as Parker rushes towards his Clever Plot Twist Ending.
To the gods all things are possible, so I kept my temper.
At times earnest and thoughtful -- at one point Archias asks the Goddess why she isn't going to save a certain village from the imminent rape and predation of Viking-style raiders. She points out that the Vikings are also praying to her. How does she decide which side to help? And the raiders are only raiding because they have to:
For centuries they were peaceful shepherds, grazing their sheep and goats on the hillsides of their native fjords. But the sheep and the goats cropped the grass too close, the winds blew all the topsoil away, and now they go hungry. In desperation, about fifty years ago, they took to their ships and sailed into the terrifying realm of my uncle Thaumastus, in the wild hope of finding something out there to keep their families alive. After weeks of being hurled around by storms in open boats they made landfall on the north coast of your stupid Empire. They were stunned at what they found. Here were people who had so much, when they had nothing at all.
The whole thing felt a bit disjointed and the somewhat-expected-trademark K.J. Parker clever-plot-twist ending felt a bit forced this time. There's a big pilgrimage where the Goddess is, for reasons she herself can't even explain, following along in (mostly) non-godly ways while Archias tries to find the Land of the Dead. It humanizes her and starts to build the glimmer of sympathy for humans...but then the whole thing kind of gets dropped and disappears as Parker rushes towards his Clever Plot Twist Ending.