SLEIGH BELLS (A series that you want to ring out the praise for)

My Five Word TL:DR Review : Even Better Than The First

Almost a year ago today I posted my review for The Shadow of the Gods.  It was gushing.  TSofGs was an absolutely fantastic start to series, I gave it an unabashed 5* for the absolute joy in reading that it inspired in me.  So, how did The Hunger of the Gods stack up?  It was even better.  I don’t know how that’s possible but there you go – does that mean I rated the first book too highly?  Not at all it simply means that I’m going to have to start adding extra little stars to this series.  Be aware that this review may contain spoilers for book 1 so bear that in mind before reading.

To avoid this review turning into a dissertation I’m going to give only a brief overview of the plot here.  We continue immediately where book 1 left off with the release of a dragon God.  I mean, seriously, people, who would ever have thought that was a good idea?  But, here we are, Lik-Rifa is released and has a vision of a new age wrought in blood.  Meanwhile, Orka remains steadfast in the hunt for her son and has some fearsome company in her quest.  The Bloodsworn have their very own mission with one of their own, Varg, having his own side quest and then we have Elvar and the Battle-grim, determined to win fame and glory and make daring rescues of their own.

I mean, on the face of it, when you spell it all out in that way, it seems like there’s a lot going on here but in actual fact it doesn’t feel overly complicated or busy when you’re reading.  If anything it’s quite the opposite, it just all comes together so very well.  I enjoyed all the switches in storylines and can genuinely say that this is such an exciting read because of that.  There’s a lot of action, battles, politics and squirm-inducing critters but at the same time Gwynne takes the time to weave in the history and lore of the place and develop the characters really successfully as the story moves forward.  The motivations are all so believable and there’s an epic sense of scope, particularly when you look at the Gods.  In fact, let’s just take a moment to look at this aspect of the story.  Clearly, this won’t be the first time that seasoned fantasy readers will have encountered Gods on this scale with all the sibling rivalry involved but what I love here is that all the Gods have their own natures linked to particular animals and over time, through interactions with humans, some of these traits have been passed on – such descendants being known as the Tainted.  I love this aspect of the story and the way it changes the nature of the battles involved.

Gwynne is an author who excels at action scenes and all them are breathtakingly described.  I had my heart in my throat every time shields locked wondering whether any favourites would fall under the axe, and I’m not going to lie, this is an author who isn’t shy of killing off some of his people so don’t become complacent in that respect because anything can happen.  But, it’s not all action.  There’s wonderful moments of camaraderie and banter, or cunning snippets of other scenes playing out and weaving the story together.  The pacing is just so well planned and I loved the way that as the story progresses you have these shorter chapters that really pack a punch.  I mean in one respect, as the tension rose I found myself thinking ‘nooooooo’ when we jumped pov just as something tantalising was revealed, everything became so intense and yet at the same time I have to acknowledge it drove my reading on into the early hours with the age old ‘just one more chapter’.

I don’t know what more I can say, I feel like I’m waxing lyrical about this and I’m in danger of going overboard with the praise but I can’t help myself.  I’m having such a good time with this series that I don’t want anyone to miss out.  A fantastic storyline, amazing characters, pacing perfection, sublime writing, some downright icky characters – all I can say right now is the thing with the tongues!  Why, just why was there a need to go there?  If you love fantasy and you’re not reading this series then I implore you, do yourself a favour and get on board.  I have so much emotion right now – I’m watching Gwynne and thinking it’s going to be a long wait for the next book.

That is all.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 5* (I would actually give it 5.5 if I could!)

IMAGE CREDITS: tree wolf image by chic2view on 123RF.com