Emily A. Duncan has certainly driven this story into some dark and painful depths. Of course, who doesn’t love the exquisite darkness that she’s created for our darling but monstrous characters? I turned each page with dread for what would happen, and for all of those moments where these characters descend further into this dark madness they’re longing to stop, there are moments of lucid calm before the storm. Where you get stolen pieces of romance, whispers of promises that you know are only being made to be broken. Oh, I don’t know that anyone is going to make it out of this unscathed. Least of all the reader.
Before I continue with this review, I do want to mention that there is some body horror, and body harming. If you’re sensitive to that sort of trigger, then you definitely want to read this with caution. My trypophobia definitely didn’t love some parts of this book. Also, I’m about to get into some spoilers for Wicked Saints, so if you haven’t read that, don’t read this!
Nadya isn’t sure she trusts her magic any more. Serefin is fighting the voice inside his head for control, and Malachiasz is at odds with who-or what he has become. With their group continuing to be torn apart, the girl, the pince, and the monster continue to find their fates irrevocably intertwined. Their pawns of a much larger game, with unseeing hands and forces moving them along. Those voices that Serefin hears, the ones Nadya isn’t sure are Gods anymore, and the ones Malachiasz longs to meet will no longer be silenced.
This book reminds me a little of the introduction to the Series of Unfortunate Events movie (the one with Jim Carey as Count Olaf). Not so much the happy beginning, but the inevitable force that everything being told to us is quite frankly, not going to end well. Those tendrils of darkness we were hoping to desperately keep at bay in Wicked Saints have only served to rise in full force in Ruthless Gods. They’re bent on destruction and chaos, and our beloved girl, prince, and monster have set every single event into motion. Now, we’ll have to wait and see who will emerge triumphant from the darkness the least unscarred.
I won’t lie, I ADORED getting little interludes sporadically through the story that inserted someone else’s perspective. I especially loved seeing Malachiasz’s perspective. Not as much a fan of the monster he’s contending with, that part definitely gave me physical goosebumps, but the sad boy, I definitely wanted to comfort. Serefin too, but gosh, this poor prince is going through the ringer this time. I thought he went through enough trauma in Wicked Saints, seeing as he *SPOILER* died, but no! Definitely needed all the comfort after reading what he goes through. Lord, I don’t know how I’m going to make it out of the next book with all my sanity intact.
Sweet little Nadya. I loved reading what happens to her the most. The prince and our monster have already tasted darkness long before all of this happened. Nadya on the other hand, is just starting to realise that the dark world she thought was horrible can get much worse, and there are things in the darkness that have been waiting for her. Some of that darkness is tied to her as well, and I had this perverse delight in knowing that we’ll likely find out what that is in the next book. While everyone is having to process trauma, I feel like Nadya is having to process the most, if that makes any sense. She’s not really hearing the voices of the Gods anymore, she’s been betrayed by someone she thought she could have loved, plus the other stuff that happens that I can’t talk about because of spoilers. All I know is that this young woman really needs a plate of good food, and potentially a long, cleansing bath.
The magic system in this book continues to fascinate me, because I feel like there’s still so much that we don’t know and are yet to find out. However, there are some pretty big reveals that happen magic-wise that truly left me mind boggled. Those darn Gods. Still not the biggest fan of blood magic, but I appreciate the fact that the practice of it does have consequences. Actually, anything you do in this story…has consequences. I honestly feel like re-reading because I feel like I might have missed something that will likely come up again later.
Ruthless Gods is 100 pages longer than Wicked Saints, which means that there’s definitely more anguish to suffer at the hands of Emily Duncan. The pacing felt a little different than that of Wicked Saints. I think it’s potentially because while in Wicked Saints, the characters were in different paths but converged, now they’re on the same path but definitely on the verge of divergence. Seeing those paths beginning to fracture (even though they’re still entwined), was definitely riveting. By the end, you’ll be dying to read the next book. I won’t lie, body horror, and forests that hide deadly things aren’t quite my favourite stories, but there’s something about them that is very lovely all the same. It works particularly well in this world. I’m ready to find out what will happen next in this world, and I encourage you to add this to your TBR.
Ruthless Gods is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Darkness never works alone…
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.
