The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath

In general, I quite enjoyed this one. It has some issues with its structure, but the story and world building was pretty impressive. We are introduced to a world in the aftermath of a war between gods. The victorious god set up a storm of chaos and then went into hiding, leaving the mortal denizens of the world to deal with the monsters that come out of the storm. When something new comes out of the storm and starts kidnapping talented children, the motions of the book are set in motion - a mothers quest for her daughter. The overall story and world are dark and mysterious with some interesting underlying tensions. There is a pervading sense of moral uncertainty here - are the denizens behind the storm wall truly evil? The shades of grey here are subtle.

Where I struggled quite a lot is the structure. There is a lot of jumping around between time periods and POVs with often very little sign posting as to what is happening. This can be quite jarring in places, happening mid chapter and with no real indication as to what is happening in the text. It was badly in need of clearer structuring and better indication in the text when we are jumping between time zones/characters.

The story is well worth a read if you can get passed the messy structure!