John Gwynne: The Shadow of the Gods

In the first book in a series, John Gwynne takes readers on an Epic Journey of vengeance, betrayal, glory, epic battles and blood lust.

What does one say about The Shadow of the Gods? It has quite a bit of hype around it and I know for me I had high expectations going into this book. I am trying to think of the last time that I have read a fantasy book that is based on Norse mythology and it has been years but I do not remember enjoying it half as much as I enjoyed this book. 

I will say that I struggled to begin with when I started this book I was very much drawn to one POV over the other two and I was frustrated with not having more of that POV. That said the further you read in the book Gwynne knows how to draw a reader. Gwynne has writing style is very immersive, you feel what the characters feel, you see what they see, you become part of the story. That said I did not find that Gwynne went so far in his writing style that it became hard to read/understand what was going on, but I will say the world building was a little bit complicated to begin with but I was able to figure it out but my confusion may be due to the fact I do not  know much about Norse Mythology or culture.

This book has three different POV and one would be hard pressed to pick one POV that they enjoyed more than other. Though if I had to choose, I would pick Orka and her quest for rescue and vengeance.

As i kept reading I kept wondering how Gwynne was going to bring the POV together. I enjoyed that each POV was different, each is on their quest for mainly different reasons and each has a very distinct personality so that one can not confuse one over the other. Once again Orka was my favourite with her bloodlust, powerful ability with multiple weapons and full on mother/female rage on display.

The Bloodsworn are an interesting group and I wanted to know more about the other members of the group. I enjoyed the process that Varg goes through to become part of the group, the battles he faces and the comradery he begins to form with the other members. Varg also is on a quest for information and vengeance that he will everything in his power to achieve and he does not stray from these often.

For the first part of the book I felt like Elvar's story and motivation for being part of her Battle-Grim group were not really there. It felt like she did not have any desire in the world other than finding glory and maybe some sort of tale written about her. These just seemed more fickle than the other two POV that we have in the book and therefore harder to get into, but by the end of the book I was looking forward to her chapters as well.

I love the idea of the different Gods, and that there are still pieces of them scattered around this world, not just in their bones and weapons but in people who carry their blood. These people are often enslaved for their gifts and they are treated like slaves. Anyone who seems to have any bit of power seems to be sought after at any cost so that they can be controlled by others.

The last 10% of this book are amazing and crazy and heartbreaking all at the same time. Each character gets there last bit that is going to set up some major things in the second book, I can already tell.

This book is more on the High Fantasy side of things, so if High Fantasy is not your thing you may struggle with it. I cant wait to read the next book in this series, and I hope it picks up right after this one left off with that ending.

Enjoy!!!

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