Title: Ruthless Gods
Author: Emily A. Duncan
Publishing House: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become.
As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone… or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
A huge thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for giving me the chance to read this book as an E-Arc before the release date. All opinions, however, are completely my own.
Beware, this review will contain spoilers of the first book and some spoilers of the second one.
TW: Gruesome scenes (especially regarding eyes), blood (a lot of blood).
I read “Wicked Saints”, the first book in this trilogy, last year for our monthly book club (you can check it out here), and I really liked it, even though I have to admit I was not really blown away by it. I enjoyed the premise, but I found it not quite well executed in some parts.
So I was really curious to dive into the second novel, and I have to admit I liked it a little bit more than the first one.
We take up from where we left off at the end of the first book, and I was pretty happy to find again Malachiasz, Nadya and Serefin, the three main characters. From the start I grew really fond of Serefin and his point of view. I had the most fun reading about him and his quirky character. I love misfit characters, I admit I have the softest spot for them.
I liked Serefin in the first book but now I just completely adore him. I also really liked the romantic plot the author gave him. I don’t want to spoil, since it’s a big spoiler for me, but the cutest ship in this book was the one Serefin was in. The representation was over the top, and I love when one character doesn’t get another one is in love with them, so yeah, I was over the moon.
I think Malachiasz is still my favourite character though. I love tormented boys in fantasy books, I can’t do anything about it. In this one, though, I think the author really wanted to confuse us. I really did not know if Malachiasz was to be trusted or not. When we first see him he’s like this god-like entity that suffered from his transformation at the end of book one, but in like no time at all he comes to be himself again, at least in some parts. Sadly, I felt like some of his behaviours were really identical to some things he had done in the first book, so sometimes I found them a bit repetitive. I liked him and Nadya just fine, but I really could not deal with the fact that she just adored him even though she could not totally trust him. I totally get that you don’t choose who you fall in love with, but the boy basically betrayed her at the end of the first book and he was totally more than ready to do it again in this one. And Nadya was also basically trying to kill him to get to her own purposes, so I mean, their relationship isn’t the healthiest out there.
And please, can we talk for a minute how we came to know of the fact that Malachiasz and Serefin are actually not cousins? I don’t want to say what they truly are because it is quite a big spoiler, but I really did not see that one coming. How come no one saw it coming except for the witch? I get that she has the power but… oh well, I liked this turn of events just fine.
Even in this second book, though, I found that the world building is not the strongest part of this series, but I also think that we came to know a lot more about it. I love the Russian folklore and the blood magic, but I REALLY REALLY have to point out trigger warnings for gruesome scenes. Especially if you, like me, don’t really like anything that’s gruesome that has to do with eyes. I saw that Duncan herself mentioned it on her Goodreads page, so keep that in mind.
When Serefin takes his eye out at the end of the book I really wanted to puke. The description was really detailed, and I get that that’s a plus, I love good writing, but just, could we not have found another method? I get he had to do that, but just, no.
One thing I really enjoyed was that we also heard the voices not only of Nadya and Serefin but also of some other characters, Malachiaz included, even though like in the first book Nadya and Serefin are the main POVs.
The plot was good, it definitely brings us to something interesting that will happen in the book to come. The ending was quite shocking, even though I kind of saw what was coming next.
But overall I was pretty satisfied and I’m really interested in reading the next instalment.
Okay, guys, these were my thoughts on “Ruthless Gods”. Thank you so much for reading, see you next time!
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