Hall of Smoke

Hall of Smoke is told from the first-person perspective of Hessa, a priestess of the Goddess of War who is trying to set things right after having failed her deity by disobeying her order to kill a man. On her quest to regain her goddess' favor, Hessa becomes entangled in a war between the gods and discovers there's far more to her world and the history of its deities than she's been taught.

I really appreciated how Hessa's story managed to feel different to me in a lot of ways: the way her story unfolds and heads down some unpredictable paths, how it doesn't treat death and destruction lightly, how there is no romance. It's not a single factor but a blend of things that makes it seem fresh and unexpected, despite the cultures and gods not seeming all that original to me. (This isn't to say that's a bad thing, just that those did not feel especially different to me.)

There were a couple of stretches in the first half that were dull to me, and I didn't love it since the other characters tended to come and go and it didn't have the depth of friendships/relationships that are a big part of why I enjoy reading. But a strong beginning and second half, combined with all the ways it seemed atypical, made it a 3.5 star book for me and one that has me curious about the upcoming standalone sequel set about a decade later.

Longer, Wordier Review on My Website