Godkiller (Fallen Gods, 1); Hannah Kaner

It’s taken me a minute to really organize my thoughts when it comes to “Godkiller”. And even then, they don’t seem very organized… Anyway, with a book with 4 (yes, four) POV characters, I wasn’t really expecting the story to be as good as the gorgeous cover suggested. Especially when one of the main characters is a very angry woman. I love angry women! But it’s so rare for an author to write an angry woman without her being unlikable as a character, or for them to have no morals when it comes to their vengeance and are therefore kind of the villain. Not so in this book! Kissen’s anger is righteous and beautiful and so constant that she’s learned to power through the trauma while not ignoring the atrocities she survived. I instantly loved her! But she’s only part of the reason why this is probably my favorite read of the year. Coming in at just under the wire for 2024, too.

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In a book where gods are (or, were) as common as blades of grass, I expected to be constantly confused in regards to world building. However, Kaner develops her world like a gentle incline to where I never got confused or overly exhausted by learning about the gods, and how or why the humans of this realm had to go to war with them to begin with.
 
Outside of the gods, there is no magic in the world. But prayer and boons, and offerings to a god (even a god of white lies, or sandals) can hold tremendous power or have advantages to the person offering the gift. But some of these gods demand more, demand blood and starvation, and became so strong, that the humans rebelled. I loved that humans could do that, that the gods aren’t completely immortal. While some deserved to be wiped out, many are just harmless, cute little guys that you can’t help but pity. Even after learning the horror that Kissen survived and why she became such a famed godkiller. Same goes for Elo, even as a knight who fought for freedom, you can see how things went too far but the love and loyalty he has to his king brought such guilt, that winning kind of feels like losing. Not to mention the relationship Skedi and Inara have! Skedi was the hardest for me to warm up to, but that’s intentional so when his slow character arc finally comes into full effect, it gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies. Honestly, it’s been such a long time since an author managed to weave such good world building and character arcs to hit all my personal buttons when it comes to fantasy and character growth, that I could probably gush about it all day. But I won’t. I could. But I shouldn’t… But anyway, honestly, the character arcs and how each grows both individually and together as a friend unit? *Chef’s kiss*.

The representation in this book was also very well handled. Kissen and Elo deal with their trauma in very different ways, where you can see the severity of PTSD based on how much time has passed, as well as phantom limb syndrome and how Kissen manages through that. There are a lot of characters with various disabilities but all were just as strong and capable as others and I loved that portrayal, too. Not to mention all the found family that’s in this book, and I am a huge sucker for the found family trope! The last thing I will say is this: it’s been a very long time since a book has made me want to read the sequel immediately, but “Godkiller” managed it very easily. If that doesn’t tell you why this book is getting 5 stars, then I don’t know what else I can say… But for me, personally, I can’t wait to dive back into this series!