SOLVED. Fantasy from 2005-2008? Main character is a composer (he grew up in some kind of abbey) He makes his way to a major city. He finds work as a translator (he knows some ancient language). There is a giant bird god that's important somehow. [s]

[Kyle]

One of the themes is that there are many deities in the book. Most are not benevolent. One character (a scientist) believes something heretical like he can harness their energy for experiments. One experiment early in the book kills some Mary Sue character that was the girlfriend of some super sexy Captain of some airship. The whole book is kind of steam punk. At some point the main character is almost drowned and then thinks some river god is out to get him. The city where most of the action takes place constantly changes in the middle of the night making it impossible to map the city (which the main character tries and is considered a heretic).

[Kyle]

I remembered another scene. The girlfriend that is killed. She has a funeral at some mirror/or broken glass temple. The priests cut up her body into tiny pieces and Captain Boyfriend gets into a fight and kills a guy.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Ok, I had planned on suggesting Catastrophe's Spell and it's attending series based on what you wrote in your description. Then I read the rest of the description. I don't think after that that this is the series you want--but you still might enjoy the series.

[Tab]

Thunderer

[Kyle]

Thank you Tab.