SOLVED. Fantasy about Gods walking the earth, a man who spawns a shadow that kills everything it touches tethered to him when he breaks a bone, and a young girl at school with a dog that only she can see

[Rachel]

Ok so I read this book in high school, probably 2000-2005 somewhere. It was popular enough to be translated to Dutch. I know it was written by a man because it made some odd remarks about women sometimes. In terms of plot I don't remember the main storyline, there was something about immortal gods walking the earth, one of them bled out into the soil somewhere, he is now bound to live there. The main character (I think) is a man who at some point gains or learns about his ability to spawn a shadow monster that kills everything it touches, he has to break a bone (usually a finger) to respawn it again. He is ambivalent about that ability... And then there was also a younger girl who starts in a school where she is bullied, she has a (maybe robot) dog that only she can see, he is tethered to her and if she goes far from him she becomes ill. At one point she says something like the dog is too ugly to be mad at.

This has been bothering me for years, please someone put me out of my misery! :D

[Kris]

Rachel, is this book for teens or adults?

[Rachel]

Hi Kris, honestly I don't remember, i read it as a teen but I read many adult books as a teen... I think it was more adult than young adult.

[Rachel]

It's solved; apparently it's the Godslayer series by James Clemens :)