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The Renegade God
Bandit siblings Tia and Ketz run afoul of a notorious bounty hunter who blackmails them into doing some dirty-work: get themselves hired onto the security crew of the cargo vessel of wealthy merchant Orcris Brendi, and kidnap Brendi's exotic, rebellious daughter Hallucia. Once the twins get aboard the ship, though, the secrets and double-crosses pile up faster than the bloody corpses. It doesn't help when sparks start to fly between Ketz and Hallucia. Before long, the twins find themselves caught in the middle of a malignant conspiracy that might just be orchestrated by the gods themselves.
244 pages, Paperback
Published August 12, 2019
About the author
Matt Spencer
73 books46 followersMatt Spencer is the author of five novels, three collections, and numerous novellas and short stories. He’s been a journalist, New Orleans restaurant cook, factory worker, radio DJ, and a no-good ramblin’ bum. He's also a song lyricist, playwright, actor, martial artist, and an avid fencer. As of this writing, he lives in Brattleboro, Vermont where he works at the local homeless shelter. Follow him on Substack at @mattspencerauthor.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 13, 2019
Matt Spencer is one of those writers where you pick up his book and you know from its style that you are reading one of his and THE RENEGADE GOD is no exception. It's a bloody tour de force of intrigue and betrayals, all centered around a god's plot to gain more power at the expense of the people in the land. Spencer sets himself apart in fantasy by dispensing with the usual fantasy races, and his heroes, while anthropoid, are not themselves human. While Spencer's literary forebears are evident (Lovecraft and Robert Howard, especially), his style thoroughly belongs in the 21st century and is wholly his own. If you enjoy dark, brutal fantasy, this is definitely the novel for you.
August 5, 2019
Review originally posted here.
Matt Spencer I think, gets a sense when it’s been too long since I reviewed one his books and he just sends me one to review. I mean, maybe he actually didn’t do that, but he did send this to me out of the blue, which was a great surprise and pleasure.
Back ito his world dark fantasy world of CHANGING OF THE GUARD(that I reviewed a couple months back), we are given the sister and brother rogues, Tia and Ketz. When they piss off the wrong bounty hunter, their hands are forced onto the security force of a cargo ship manned by a wealthy merchant and his crew. When tasked to kidnap his daughter, Hallucia, the pair soon find out that they may have finally bitten off more than they could chew.
Spencer’s fantasy is always fantastically pulpy, swords swing, the blood flows, quite often with a small chuckle. Tia and Ketz are fantastic characters and bounce off one another quite well. Being twins, they may end up sounding overly similar as you read the book, but when things are said and done, I thought Spencer did a pretty decent job with fleshing out not only the twins, but the other secondary characters like the enigmatic, Hallucia.
The politics of this world are always contentious, and (quite relevant for today) driven by race, which makes this very topical in all the best ways. Spencer doesn’t steer you away from the action, so just like any other book I have read from him, there’s a disclaimer, since there are plenty of scenes with gore, violence, and allusion to sexual violence. To his credit, Spencer makes sure his female characters are some of the most capable and dangerous individuals in his books. I was pleasantly surprised by how Tia could handle herself and how Hallucia manages everything on her plate.
At the end of the day, this is another great installment in his fantasy world, and it’s encouraging that a writer can create these more episodic stories without drawing them out, like so much epic fantasy does. It makes these small jaunts all the more rewarding.
Matt Spencer I think, gets a sense when it’s been too long since I reviewed one his books and he just sends me one to review. I mean, maybe he actually didn’t do that, but he did send this to me out of the blue, which was a great surprise and pleasure.
Back ito his world dark fantasy world of CHANGING OF THE GUARD(that I reviewed a couple months back), we are given the sister and brother rogues, Tia and Ketz. When they piss off the wrong bounty hunter, their hands are forced onto the security force of a cargo ship manned by a wealthy merchant and his crew. When tasked to kidnap his daughter, Hallucia, the pair soon find out that they may have finally bitten off more than they could chew.
Spencer’s fantasy is always fantastically pulpy, swords swing, the blood flows, quite often with a small chuckle. Tia and Ketz are fantastic characters and bounce off one another quite well. Being twins, they may end up sounding overly similar as you read the book, but when things are said and done, I thought Spencer did a pretty decent job with fleshing out not only the twins, but the other secondary characters like the enigmatic, Hallucia.
The politics of this world are always contentious, and (quite relevant for today) driven by race, which makes this very topical in all the best ways. Spencer doesn’t steer you away from the action, so just like any other book I have read from him, there’s a disclaimer, since there are plenty of scenes with gore, violence, and allusion to sexual violence. To his credit, Spencer makes sure his female characters are some of the most capable and dangerous individuals in his books. I was pleasantly surprised by how Tia could handle herself and how Hallucia manages everything on her plate.
At the end of the day, this is another great installment in his fantasy world, and it’s encouraging that a writer can create these more episodic stories without drawing them out, like so much epic fantasy does. It makes these small jaunts all the more rewarding.
July 25, 2019
A fantasy on a planet with multiple humanoid species, magic, gods, action. What’s not to like?
Tia and Ketz are twins on a planet torn with inter-species and inter-god conflicts. Matt Spencer quickly sucks the reader into a world where nothing is as it seems on the surface. Violence, treachery and some nobility clash. The twins are trapped into a bargain with a less than savory sheriff. They need to use their skills and wits to emerge alive.
Well written, this novel had me hooked from page 1.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Tia and Ketz are twins on a planet torn with inter-species and inter-god conflicts. Matt Spencer quickly sucks the reader into a world where nothing is as it seems on the surface. Violence, treachery and some nobility clash. The twins are trapped into a bargain with a less than savory sheriff. They need to use their skills and wits to emerge alive.
Well written, this novel had me hooked from page 1.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
November 24, 2021
This book shows that a genius mind has written it. The story revolves around Tia and Ketz who are twins and are forced to do some dirty work for the bounty hunter, the work is to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy merchant; Hallucia from the cargo ship. As the story moves on further they find out that they have messed with the wrong people creating deadly chaos and getting stuck in a web of conspiracies.
The author is a genius at works building and character development, no doubt for that. This book had some great and clean world-building done. As always I felt like an action movie playing in my head that is full of conspiracy and adventure. The writing style is always On The Damn Point. No unnecessary info dump, no grammatical errors, no problems at all. The writing style was so good. One thing I appreciate about the author other than his real-life type of imagination is his writing because it is always so nicely done.
I fell instantly in love with this book and also went crazy over its gore, violence, and headstrong characterization. The female characterization was so awesome that I believe I wanted to be like them. The development of the characters both antagonists and protagonists were perfectly done.
Overall, this book was one big blast that made me swoon over it with headstrong and dangerous female leads and a perfect story and background. The book is a must-read for all fantasy lovers out there and it is worth trying at least once.
The author is a genius at works building and character development, no doubt for that. This book had some great and clean world-building done. As always I felt like an action movie playing in my head that is full of conspiracy and adventure. The writing style is always On The Damn Point. No unnecessary info dump, no grammatical errors, no problems at all. The writing style was so good. One thing I appreciate about the author other than his real-life type of imagination is his writing because it is always so nicely done.
I fell instantly in love with this book and also went crazy over its gore, violence, and headstrong characterization. The female characterization was so awesome that I believe I wanted to be like them. The development of the characters both antagonists and protagonists were perfectly done.
Overall, this book was one big blast that made me swoon over it with headstrong and dangerous female leads and a perfect story and background. The book is a must-read for all fantasy lovers out there and it is worth trying at least once.
August 12, 2019
I received this book from the author himself and it was a fun read. The concept is unique and the world building is very well done. I do wish the characters were a little more three dimensional, but they were still fun to get to know. Tia and Ketz are a great battle team. Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone looking to diversity their fantasy collection a bit.
Merged review:
I received this book from the author himself and it was a fun read. The concept is unique and the world building is very well done. I do wish the characters were a little more three dimensional, but they were still fun to get to know. Tia and Ketz are a great battle team. Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone looking to diversity their fantasy collection a bit.
Merged review:
I received this book from the author himself and it was a fun read. The concept is unique and the world building is very well done. I do wish the characters were a little more three dimensional, but they were still fun to get to know. Tia and Ketz are a great battle team. Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone looking to diversity their fantasy collection a bit.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews