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shamimaisreading 's review for:
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men
by Shauna Lawless
so grateful that I listened to the audiobook for this because otherwise I would have been pronouncing all the names very very incorrectly
- I know it’s super common now to compare anything to game of thrones and I know it’s annoying but like… this does feel like a worthy comparison
- obviously it’s not entirely comparable to asoiaf on every single level - I’m specifically referring to the scramble for power, the different parties vying for power and the fun little political games everyone is playing
- the political intrigue is there right from the beginning and the books starts of surprisingly plot focused - we’re playing the game from page 1, at least from gormlaiths perspective
- I do think that gormflaith kinda had a bit of a stronger pov just in the sense that it starts strong and manages to maintain that momentum - but she’s also just such an interesting character to follow - there are no allusions of goodness with her, she’s in this mostly just for power, yes there’s some other stuff going on too but like she wants her son to be king and that’s her main driver and she’s willing to do anything to put him there
- she’s very Cersei Lannister coded - the almost obsessional love for her child, to the point where I feel like she can’t really see him as his own person and can’t seperate him from the child he used to be and the person she wants him to be which is the cause of alot of the strife in their relationship later on - there’s also just the fact that she’s sooo bitchy and her inner monologue is lowkey hilarious like she’s evil and she doesn’t give a fuck
- she’s unrelentingly devoted to the protection of her child and she’s not a good person but isn’t trying to be - shes a fantastic pov character
- she’s also shown to be pretty smart and capable in her evil scheming - she’s used to getting things play out her way and it’s fun to follow along and watch her move the chess pieces across the board
- i also really liked the other characters on her side of the story - i appreciated the ghost of her relationship with her mother and then her strained relationship with her brother
- the dynamic between her and sitric is so interesting i wanna be in his head so bad
- Olaf is such a legend - I like his push pull dynamic with gormflaith a lot and I just think that’s he’s one of the smartest characters in play rn
- I liked fodlas arc too - I think she’s a really interesting character to follow because it’s clear that her perspective in life is about to come crashing down
- there’s just this honesty and integrity and innocence to her - she was a very stark and interesting contrast to gormflaith lol
- but also murchad???? now that is a man
- so excited for their eventual slowburn friends to lovers romance
- this was just very good and after listening to two Irish audiobooks consecutively my inner monologue has also turned Irish
- I know it’s super common now to compare anything to game of thrones and I know it’s annoying but like… this does feel like a worthy comparison
- obviously it’s not entirely comparable to asoiaf on every single level - I’m specifically referring to the scramble for power, the different parties vying for power and the fun little political games everyone is playing
- the political intrigue is there right from the beginning and the books starts of surprisingly plot focused - we’re playing the game from page 1, at least from gormlaiths perspective
- I do think that gormflaith kinda had a bit of a stronger pov just in the sense that it starts strong and manages to maintain that momentum - but she’s also just such an interesting character to follow - there are no allusions of goodness with her, she’s in this mostly just for power, yes there’s some other stuff going on too but like she wants her son to be king and that’s her main driver and she’s willing to do anything to put him there
- she’s very Cersei Lannister coded - the almost obsessional love for her child, to the point where I feel like she can’t really see him as his own person and can’t seperate him from the child he used to be and the person she wants him to be which is the cause of alot of the strife in their relationship later on - there’s also just the fact that she’s sooo bitchy and her inner monologue is lowkey hilarious like she’s evil and she doesn’t give a fuck
- she’s unrelentingly devoted to the protection of her child and she’s not a good person but isn’t trying to be - shes a fantastic pov character
- she’s also shown to be pretty smart and capable in her evil scheming - she’s used to getting things play out her way and it’s fun to follow along and watch her move the chess pieces across the board
- i also really liked the other characters on her side of the story - i appreciated the ghost of her relationship with her mother and then her strained relationship with her brother
- the dynamic between her and sitric is so interesting i wanna be in his head so bad
- Olaf is such a legend - I like his push pull dynamic with gormflaith a lot and I just think that’s he’s one of the smartest characters in play rn
- I liked fodlas arc too - I think she’s a really interesting character to follow because it’s clear that her perspective in life is about to come crashing down
- there’s just this honesty and integrity and innocence to her - she was a very stark and interesting contrast to gormflaith lol
- but also murchad???? now that is a man
- so excited for their eventual slowburn friends to lovers romance
- this was just very good and after listening to two Irish audiobooks consecutively my inner monologue has also turned Irish