gods

Faithbreaker

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “Hestra, god of hearths, felt the flame of Hseth’s coming.”
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Others in the series: Godkiller, Sunbringer
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, off-screen sex, and lots and lots of violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the other two, obviously.

Things aren’t going well for Middren – the rebellion against the king failed (he’s not quite as bad though), and the neighboring country of Talicia is using their newfound power through the god Hseth to conquer (though it’s more like, burn, kill, rape, and pillage) their way through MIddren. The only thing Middren can do is rally its forces – King Aren convinces Elo to be the head of the army and Aren’s right-hand man – and ask for aid from neighboring countries, and possibly the gods themselves. Kissen, Inara, and Inara’s mother are sent off to do that. Of course, if that were all, the book would be 75 pages and we’d be done.

But, Kaner is a better writer than that. She takes us on a journey, both in terms of distance and politics, as well as personally. There is so much growth in this book, it’s incredible. Kaner’s playing with ideas of religion, of forgiveness and reconciliation, of faith and what that can mean. It’s incredible.

I do have to admit that it took me a while to get into this one, mostly because it has been a year since I read Sunbringer and I needed to adjust myself back to Kaner’s writing and her world. But the trilogy is all out, so you can just plow through them one right after another, which is how this world should be experienced, I think.

Such a good series.

Sunbringer

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “Arren’s heart screamed.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Godkiller
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, plus lots of violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore. 

Spoilers for Godkiller, obviously. 

Our intrepid trio of Elo, Inara, and Kissen have separated – Kissen over the cliff after killing the god Hseth; Elo and Inara back to Kissen’s sisters to tell them of her death. Once they get there, though, they find a rebellion against a king who is overstepping his power. In fact, the hopeful ending of Godkiller is dashed, as Hseth refuses to stay dead, and Arren – our king who is only alive because he is channeling a god – decides to become a god instead. It’s complex and winding, yet utterly simple: stop the god and the king. It’s also utterly impossible.

I adored this one as much as I adored the first. I love that Kaner is playing around with the ideas in mythology without directly drawing from them. I can see hints of mythologies, but this really is its own thing. She’s got solid characters, who are grumpy and off-putting in an entirely loveable way, and she knows how to plot to keep me (at least) turning pages. And there’s representation – Elo’s Black, there’s a Deaf character, and pretty much everyone is some sort of queer, and it’s a delight. I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy. I have all the faith in the world that Kaner will stick the landing. 

Godkiller

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “Her father fell in love with a god of the sea.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a lot of violence, a lot of swearing (including f-bombs), and some off-screen sex. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Kissen has spent the past 15 years, since her family was sacrificed to the fire god Hestra and she alone survived, learning how, and actually killing gods. It helps that the king of the country she lives in has banned all worship of gods; it makes her business as a veiga is lucrative. And then one day, a 12-year-old girl, Inara, finds Kissen, asking her to help find a way to split her from the god (of white lies) that she is bonded to. Which means a journey to Blendaren, the home of the Gods. Along the way, they meet a baker-knight, who is on his own quest, and the three of them will face the city of the gods together.

Except this book is a lot more than “a godkiller, a girl, and an errant knight” go on a quest. There’s an exploration of trauma, of duty, of loyalty and honor. But there is also some bad-ass demon kicking and god fighting. I adored the characters, I loved the way they interacted, and the world Kaner built. We’re just beginning to explore the mythology of all the gods and the politics of the world, and I am here for it.

Absolutely worth the hype.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

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by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “A girl is running for her life.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a handful of swear words, including the f-bomb, some drug use, and some tasteful on-screen sex. It’s in the science fiction/fantasy section of the bookstore.

Where do I even start with this one? I put off reading it for months and months (I had an early copy) because I was afraid. Mostly because I enjoyed Schwab’s other stuff and I didn’t want this to be awful. And then I put it off because so many people came into the store asking for it, and not the usual science fiction/fantasy-type readers either. Maybe it was one of those books that was too Literary for me and I wouldn’t like it. But this past weekend, after a long week of work, it seemed just the right thing.

And it was.

It’s nominally the story of Addie LaRue, a woman who, on the eve of her wedding in 1791, makes a deal with the darkness: she wants to live a free life. The darkness, in return, takes away her ability to be seen, to be remembered. It’s her story as she flits through the ages, living, trying to figure out her curse, locked in a battle of wills with a fickle god. But it’s also a book about Humanity and Art and the little things that make life worth living. (Hint: it’s being loved, yes, but it’s More Than That, too).

And it was beautiful.

I loved Addie and her story, and Henry — the one person in Addie’s 300 years that actually remembered her, and the twists and turns. It’s a gorgeous book, full of life and heartbreak, and it’s a good thing people are buying it on their own, because I would be a wreck trying to handsell it.

Which is to say, if you haven’t read it yet, you probably should.

Muse of Nightmares

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by Laini Taylor
First sentence: “Kora and Nova had never seen a Mesarthim, but they knew all about them.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 2, 2018
Others in the series: Strange the Dreamer
Content: There’s references to sex and rape, and there’s violence. It’s in the teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Strange the Dreamer, of course.

This one picks up immediately after Strange ends. Lazlo is now one of the gods. Sarai is dead. And neither one knows what’s going to happen next. And what does happen next — which takes place over mere hours, it feels like — is completely unlike anything they expected.

Interspersed with flashbacks, where Taylor introduces a couple of new characters and explains how the gods came to be over Weep, Taylor looks at tragedy, occupation, and the choices we make when faced with fear and rage and love.

I actually think I liked this one better than Strange, primarily because it didn’t feel like  retread of old ground for Taylor. She’s come up with some interesting world-building, and even though the “bad guy” — in this case the one who started all the horror — has been long dead, his presence was still made known in the book. Taylor’s exploring — I think — the aftermath of occupation and how, even if the occupiers are long gone, there are still scars that need to be healed. On both sides, really. It’s a much more introspective book than her other ones , or at least it feels that way. There is some action, and Sarai really does play an important role in the end, but mostly it’s exploring character’s feelings of bias and prejudice and hate and revenge, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

I’m not sure this duology is for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Strange the Dreamer

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by Laini Taylor
First sentence: “On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s inferences to rape, but none action. There’s violence, and some off-screen sex. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Lazlo Strange, a peasant orphan from nowhere, has a dream. It’s about a long-gone city, that probably is mythical, and definitely is of no interest to anyone scholarly. And yet, he is drawn to them.

It was more of the same from Taylor, but that more is excellent. I love falling into her world building, and I love her language. So, while it wasn’t a wholly original story (it did feel a lot like Daughter of Smoke and Bone), it was still a delightful one to read.