Review: Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan

Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This wasn't nearly as bloody as the first book, but the imagery is still just as gruesome and disturbing.  Much like the first book, this has some confusing plotlines that are left open ended, but we get another book that will hopefully tie up the remaining lose ends.  This book does a good job telling us more about the Kalyazi Gods that were such a mystery in book 1, and I understand the magic system a little better but still not 100%.  I might have to re-read both books to really understand it fully to this point.  I did like the addition of some of the Slavic folklore, which I happen to find fascinating.

I started with a print ARC of this, but because it is on the longer side and Duncan writes with a lot of description I switched over to the audiobook.   If you listened to the audiobooks they changed the pronunciation of Malachiasz name between book 1 and book 2.  I found that completely irritating.  I want consistency between my audiobooks, and pronunciation of names, especially unique ones. 

I felt the pacing of this book was much better than the first book, but it is still on the slower side.  Unlike the first book where there is action and fighting, there is a lot of travelling and setting up for what happens at the end.  The end is where everything kind of comes together for all of the characters and all of the secrets, lies, and betrayals come to fruition.  This is mainly told from the perspectives of Serafin and Nadya, but every so often we get a chapter told from one of the side characters or even Malachiasz/The Black Vulture.  I didn't really feel the extra POVs were necessary to move the plot along, but they must be important to the remainder of the story.  Multiple POVs are never my favorite as they tend to make a story disjointed and slow the plot down.  I found this to be the case here.

I do have a criticism, Duncan uses the word eldritch far too often.  While it is the perfect descriptor, it is used too often at the end of the book many and often within the same chapter.  Spacing this unique word out would have made for a much more powerful impact.  That is true for any adjective, anytime you use it too many times in a short amount of time it loses its impact.  While this is just one example, her descriptions of things are often repetitive.  Most readers won't mind or even notice, but if I'm giving and honest review the prose could have used a bit more help in the editing department.

Much like my review of Wicked Saints, I have some negatives to point out, but I still really enjoyed this book.  I actually thought Ruthless Gods was significantly better than the first book.  I thought the flow was better and the characters were more developed as the book went on.  I see a lot of comparisons to The Grisha Trilogy in other reviews, which I haven't read so I can't make the comparison.  This does leave us with a bit of a cliffhanger, and I was excited to find out this is a trilogy.  I originally was under the impression this was a duology so I am happy to find out that there is more to this series.  I want to know more about this group and how things end up for all of them as there are still so many unanswered questions.

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Review: Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this as an audio book. Both narrators did an excellent job distinguishing all of the characters and giving them similar but unique accents so you could tell them apart. I read a couple of reviews that the pacing might be a little off and I recommend the audiobook as I felt the pacing was fine in the audio.

This is told from alternating perspectives Nadya and Serafin. Nadya is a Kalyazi cleric who has the unique ablity to communicate with the gods of her culture and they grant her spells to guide her magic. Serafin on the other hand is her enemy; he is a Tranavian blood mage and set to kill Nadya and all Kalyazi. Serafin is a powerful mage and also the High Prince. When Serafin attacks the monastery Nadya has been hiding and training in, she must flee in the hopes that she will still be of some use to her people if she can survive. During her escape she encounters Malachiasz, a former blood mage and his two companions Rashid and Parajihan. Nadya isn’t sure of what to make of the trio, but they quickly become allies in the face of dying by the hands of the Travanians. As Nadya tries to infiltrate the Travanian court to kill her enemy, Serafin is called home to find a wife. They both get caught up in court politics and find themselves in the middle of something much more sinister.

This is pretty dark and violent. If you are squeamish, stay away from this one. There is mention of blood in pretty much every scene. There are many bloody fight scenes. There is an unnecessary insta-love triangle sort ofthing forming between Serafin and Nadya and Malachiasz. She likes them both pretty much instantly upon meeting them but fights her feelings because they are the enemy. I don’t think it was entirely needed to move the plot along. I could have done without it, and I think the outcome could have been the same without it. It also takes away from Nadya as a strong female lead and makes it more about the boys than her. I also didn’t feel the chemistry between any of the romantic pairings.

In the end the magic system was so interesting, but I feel like I missed something when the book was over. I hope that the magic both the divine and the blood magic are explored more in the next book. There was a ton of information and detail presented to the reader. Unfortunately none of it was ties back together to give you a clear picture on the rules of each magic system, the gods, and what actually happened at the end. I’m hoping we will get some more answers in the next book. I’d like to see the magic system explained a bit more and the cleric’s relationship and to the gods explained clearly.

After proofreading this review it kind of sounds like I didn’t really like this book, believe me I did. I really like the concept of the lore and mythology; I hope we get more of it. The magic system is cool, I just don’t understand it. The world building was done pretty well, and while the characters still have a good way to grow I think we have a good foundation set for them. I’m looking forward to the next book and hope we get some answers.


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