Godkiller

GODKILLER BY HANNAH KANER3.5-4/5 Stars* Medium Spoilers As different strangers on different quests come together to unite, we are treated to a glimpse into their magical, downtrodden world and their lives: (my reading experience was elevated by the ending, which might be bringing the star rating higher than it otherwise would be) _________________Godkiller by Hannah Kaner is a quest-heavy fantasy that focuses on the adventure and journey to the end goal than the end goal itself. To me, this is a rather cozy book; there is little within that will surprise you (besides one little thing at the end, maybe) and it doesn't offer many thrills beyond the action-packed prologue and ending, both of which can quickly get your adrenaline spiking. Two of the major criticisms against this book that I've seen so far is that the characters' voices are samey and that the pacing is slow; as someone who liked this book, both complaints are true. This book, after the prologue, does slow its pace almost immediately, continuing the prologue's action with a small fight that is quickly resolved–something characteristic of most conflicts within this story. If you are looking for action and that's what you enjoy, this is not the book for you. Likewise, if you have a hard time remembering POVs, the multiple perspectives we encounter here can be a bit confusing.Pesonally, while I agree that the POVs weren't too distinct or full of personality, I do think that this aids with ease of reading. I'm trying to get out of a pretty much life-long reading slump and this book, unlike many others, was very easy to read. The language isn't necessarily simple, but the prose flows in a way that is simply wonderful for me. It balances description and action and dialogue very well, still painting a vivid image of the world without being bulky or pretentious. This may come at a cost of voice and continuity. I do not mind the lack of characteristic voices, as the book is in third-person POV at all times and we never use the pronoun ‘I', and thus are always more disconnected from the characters than in some other stories. However, there is a small issue with this POV; sometimes we seem to detach from the characters mid-chapter for a line or so to get a glimpse into the others' thoughts and feelings and backstories, or somehow know more than a character would realistically be aware of. This isn't too egregious since it doesn't happen all too often, but it is something I noticed happening (especially in later chapters) that did make me pause and ask the characters “how the fuck do you know that?”While the pacing is slow, I think that the readers who care about character dynamics more will still find this book very interesting. There is a big focus on the world, its history, and its people, but this is by and far a book where character dynamics are at the forefront. The cast of main characters are in close-quarters all the time, and thanks to the head-hopping we're able to explore each. Not to mention there is a good amount of banter and interactions that I find to be well-written enough to get me very much invested; if not in the characters themselves, then in the relationships between them. I don't like kids much, so Inara didn't grow on me much, and because Skediceth has to be hidden a lot (and gets the least POVs I'm pretty sure), he also didn't get to be on the page much. Still, I like them thanks to how they interact and play off of each other and the two protagonists I did grow to care a lot about, Kissen and Elogast. I love that Kissen is allowed to be flawed and a pain in the ass, someone bitter and angry yet still full of love and capable of vulnerability. I love that she is strong both physically and mentally, willing to make mistakes and own them and move through them. Elogast has one of the most compelling emotional states to me personally, a man bound by guilt and duty to his ‘brother' to a point where he is willing to sacrifice himself to keep his family alive. The characters are absolutely the highlight of this story, and I didn't find fault in them even though their voices weren't completely unique. I didn't really have issues remembering who's POV we were in, but I do know that some reviewers were, so do keep that in mind if you're interested in the book.The world, and especially the way the gods worked, are very interesting. The magic system is very much wishy-washy, but as someone who completely prefers hard magic over soft magic, I found that I didn't mind the lack of explanation here. After all, the magic is contained to the gods; our characters cannot pull magic out of their ass (for the most part) and Skediceth, the god that *does have the most obvious magic powers, is only a very small god of white lies; of course he cannot do much. This lack of magical characters made it easy to not care about the lack of a proper explanation or rigorous limits for magic, since the magic was exclusively divine, and there were very many compelling reasons as to why the characters neither turned to gods and why the gods would not have answered their prayers.While this book is very enjoyable, and the ending is, i find, a good and exciting one, this is in no fucking way a surprising novel. If you keep your brain turned on whilst reading, you will most likely be able to predict many, many things this book throws at you. There aren't many surprises once you pick up the hints, so I found myself very coming up with theories about what may be going on with Inara and her fatherlessness, as well as with Inara and Skediceth, and there simply weren't that many mysteries beyond that. The one thing that surprised me was revealed at the end, with Arren, Elogast's kind-of adopted brother. Because we know nothing of him and see him on page once, his later involvement and betrayal did come as a surprise to me. I completely forgot he existed (kind of; I obviously knew he existed and sent Elogast on his quest, but I kind of forgot he mattered). So the surprise was both ‘oh, Arren is here?' and ‘oh, Arren is here'. It did feel like it came a little bit out of the blue, though to be honest, I also just was not reading this book critically or even all that closely. Regardless, there was an element of surprise mostly because of how little we know Arren. He's such a minor character in the beginning, basically there for a couple of pages before he's gone, that him being The Big Bad is just very out of the blue. The only hint that there's more to him than meets the eye is his fiery hearth-heart, but him being powered by divine magic as a result of his foolishness and the desperation of Elogast doesn't really count as foreshadowing or hinting for me. Overall it's just kind of out of the blue. Especially for me, to whom Arren didn't really exist.I do think this book is overall very solid. The ending especially god my blood pumping and I am definitely going to read the sequel once I get my hands on it. However, this is not a fast-paced book, and it is not a particularly thrilling book, nor does it have that much fighting in it. If those are the things one looks for in a novel, then this one's better skipped But if you are a reader that enjoys characters and character dynamics, and that likes to see and explore the setting, I think you will find this book to be a cozy read with some fun scenes thrown in to spice things up. It was enjoyable for me, at least!