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rashellnicole 's review for:
The Gods Below
by Andrea Stewart
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for letting me read an e-ARC of The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart! This book releases September 3, 2024, so you have time to preorder this book from your local library or bookstore.
No surprise, but Stewart has created another sprawling world rife with tragedy, vivid scenery, creative magic systems, and memorable characters. The world is completely ravaged after a divine war, but someone has made a pact with the god Kluehnn to help restore the lands to their former glory. Sisters Hakara and Rasha are living hundreds of years after the Shattering where Kluehnn has been restoring the realm, region by region. The lands that are restored, though, end up isolated. If someone is caught in the area as restoration occurs, there’s a 50% chance that they’ll either vanish – a sacrifice for restoration – or end up altered due to the magic. Hakara and Rasha have been running away from restoration for a while, until it finally catches up to them and they’re separated.
Ten years later, Hakara is a sinkhole diver collecting god gems as tribute for Kluehnn and Rasha is living as an acolyte in service to Kluehnn with hopes of becoming a godkiller (a ruthless group of altered who destroy any remaining gods). We also follow Sheuan as she attempts to restore her family’s status in the region by working with the Sovereign. At the same time, her cousin, Mull, is making the treacherous journey to find the realm of the gods. These POVs are occasionally interrupted with ones from the god Nioanen that take place before the present day.
My only real complaint is that a few main characters felt two-dimensional and they had unbelievable romance plots (two chapters and less than a day to fall for someone? No way, I don’t buy it). Insta-love and slow-burn when you can tell they’ll be romantic interests from the start don’t really work for me, though I moved past it. I can only hope that the characters who felt flat will have opportunities to grow and develop more deeply in the following two books. I’m more than willing to extend some grace, especially having read Stewart’s other works and loving the end results!
No surprise, but Stewart has created another sprawling world rife with tragedy, vivid scenery, creative magic systems, and memorable characters. The world is completely ravaged after a divine war, but someone has made a pact with the god Kluehnn to help restore the lands to their former glory. Sisters Hakara and Rasha are living hundreds of years after the Shattering where Kluehnn has been restoring the realm, region by region. The lands that are restored, though, end up isolated. If someone is caught in the area as restoration occurs, there’s a 50% chance that they’ll either vanish – a sacrifice for restoration – or end up altered due to the magic. Hakara and Rasha have been running away from restoration for a while, until it finally catches up to them and they’re separated.
Ten years later, Hakara is a sinkhole diver collecting god gems as tribute for Kluehnn and Rasha is living as an acolyte in service to Kluehnn with hopes of becoming a godkiller (a ruthless group of altered who destroy any remaining gods). We also follow Sheuan as she attempts to restore her family’s status in the region by working with the Sovereign. At the same time, her cousin, Mull, is making the treacherous journey to find the realm of the gods. These POVs are occasionally interrupted with ones from the god Nioanen that take place before the present day.
My only real complaint is that a few main characters felt two-dimensional and they had unbelievable romance plots (two chapters and less than a day to fall for someone? No way, I don’t buy it). Insta-love and slow-burn when you can tell they’ll be romantic interests from the start don’t really work for me, though I moved past it. I can only hope that the characters who felt flat will have opportunities to grow and develop more deeply in the following two books. I’m more than willing to extend some grace, especially having read Stewart’s other works and loving the end results!