Shadow of the Gods [May 15, 2021]

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

This is a Buddy Read for The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne starting May 15, 2021.

[Rob]

Thanks for posting Niki!

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Rob wrote: "Thanks for posting Niki!"

Yw :)

[Krina || Amazeofwords]

This is going to be epic. I can't wait to read this.

[Brian]

I'm excited. I just finished Faithful and Fallen this week.

[Claudia]

Ooh, hope I can join this one!

[Rob]

I read chapter 1 this morning.

Not really spoilery at all, but I'll use the tags anyway. (view spoiler)[Really glad I recently read Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. This is definitely a Norse-based world borrowing some of the myths while changing some names. Starting up with a mystery and right away not shy on gore.

Like Gwynne's other books, chapters aren't numbered or named, simply the POV name. So we meet our first main POV, Orka who seems to be anywhere from her 20s to late 30s, wife of Thorkel and mom to Breca.
It starts out in the year "297", so don't know if I'm reading a prologue or just diving in without a prologue. I think the latter. (hide spoiler)]

[Claudia]

I’ve read the first three chapters now and I really like the setting already!

@Rob ah cool, I haven’t read Norse Myth yet but it’s on my TBR list too 🤩 hope I can get to that one soon!

[Robert]

I'm having a hard time with some of these names, ect....! Pronouncing them in my head, I sound like a fool.

[Rob]

I'm up to chapter 6. We have 3 points of view (I think that is it for the book. The huge number of POVs for Gwynne's first series was both a joy and a point of confusion/not remembering all of them several years down the road after having read it).

Not sure what to really make of any of them yet, don't know their motivations or history, the magic of the world, etc. My rule has always been it takes the first 100 or so pages to get into a new series anyway, so we'll see what happens.

[Brian]

Chapter 6 as well. You are right, Gwynn does love multiple POVs and it’s sometimes hard to keep track. At least the one there aren’t for characters names starting with C like in Banished Lands. That was frustrating when I first started Malice.

[Rob]

just over a hundred pages in and the veils on a few characters are gradually lifting and things are picking up

[Rob]

how is it going for everyone? I have about 120 pages until the end. Like all Gwynne books, it flows well and the action has picked up. He's gotten better at dropping nuggets of information along the way without any long data dumps that disrupt the flow of the book. But then again, since it is such a short time period taking place over the story we're not getting anything at depth about the characters.

(view spoiler)[Just still wondering how our three characters will interact. (hide spoiler)]

[Brian]

I am about the same. 150 pages left I’m hoping to finish on a few plane rides. Gwynn”s strength is making great characters for sure. I will say My only complaint is the over use of the term, “thought cage .” Lol.

[Rob]

Ha, I meant to say the same thing. If I read that one more time......

[Claudia]

I’m on 58% and having a wonderful time with this book 😬

[Rob]

Does anyone have a favorite POV? I probably enjoy Varg the most.

I finished last week btw.

Last page 'o book (view spoiler)[Gwynne's disinclination to explain how Orka became such a great fighter and casually dropping they used to have another leader turned out to be not all that surprising that she was Skullsplitter. Thorkel being the brother was a bit of a surprise though. (hide spoiler)]

[Brian]

I’m torn between Orka and Varg. She’s such a bad ass

[[deleted user]]

Rob wrote: "Does anyone have a favorite POV? I probably enjoy Varg the most.

I finished last week btw.

Last page 'o book [spoilers removed]"

I loved Varg and Orka but Elvar's chapters were weird. I loved what happened in her chapters (plot-wise) but her character and the Battle-Grim weren't for me.

[Stephen]

I pre-ordered the ebook but when I saw that narrator Colin Mace did the audio for the book, I added the Audible version so I Whispersync the last half of the book. Just added to the enjoyment of the tale.

[Robert]

Is the narration good?

[Rob]

Yes, the narration on audio was solid. I listened and read the physical book.

[Claudia]

I just finished! wow that was good, I had a fantastic time. My favourite plot was Orka since the start. Elvar took about half of the book to be come interesting for me and Varg is a solid middle 😊

[Robert]

I'm about 30% in, I am loving it so far! But does the pace pick up?