This is a grimdark fantasy and as such how much you enjoy it may depend on your tolerance for murder, rape, torture and so on. Ahem.

The plot is complex and dark (in short: people following the Red Gods (in other words they're on the dark 'n' evil path) want to take over the people who follow the 'Dancer and the Fox'). and there are a hell of a lot of viewpoint characters. Rillirin, a slave girl on the run. Dom - who has the ear of the gods, but they also sort of want to take his ever-lasting soul. Crys, the soldier who favours a good time over hard work, until he has to do the right thing and honour takes over. And that's only three of them! There's bazillions.

This excess of characters does make the book very hard to get into. Indeed I really struggled to get into it and make a connection for the first 25%. I nearly put the whole thing down. However, I'm glad I persisted. The story pulled me in and I really wanted to find out more about what was happening to Dom and which 'side' was going to make the most progress.

There is a lot of violence and sometimes I found myself skimming the action to get to the next bit of 'plot'. Nevertheless I enjoyed it.

I'll be picking up book 2 when it comes out.

I’d heard a lot of great things about this book prior to picking it up. Fantasy told from the perspectives of multiple characters, Gods trying to regain entry to the world, people and cultures with their own beliefs, men vying to be King, it all sounded pretty good. And it was. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, maybe even up to 70% but then I kind of got bored, which surprised me as the last part of the book has fighting, battles, action. Yet I got bored of reading passages of fighting, injury, blood, death. Why? Well, I’ve been trying to figure that out. I think there was just too much description, too many fight scenes and I just lost interest. Also, I’m not sure that I really cared about any of the characters, except Crys.

Believe me, I’m really disappointed, I wanted to love this. Indeed to begin with I was absorbed by the story and the world. I kept hoping I’d get back to that but it just didn’t happen for me.

If you’ve read this I’d love to know your thoughts. I think I’m definitely in the minority with this. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood?

All that said, this is a creative book – I enjoyed the world building and concepts, but sadly it didn’t hold my attention.

This was an excellent fantasy novel made even more impressive that this is a debut outing from this author. Told from multiple POVs but each character is written so differently that this does not make it an issue with consistency or understanding.

Very engaging from the start, lots of action and impressive world-building. Rather violent and graphic in parts but with good descriptions and not too 'samey', which can happen within fantasy novels where there are a number of battles.

As I read an ARC on my kindle, I'm not certain whether a map is included at the beginning (I love a map) but as I plan on buying this book for a friend, I can check then. I'm interested in knowing the layout of the land.

I enjoyed the different characters for the most part. Oddly, I found Dom a tad irritating given how his images were so conveniently given AFTER a major event and his general tendency to screw things up, but all the others were great, and a fun variety of complete bastardness.

When is the sequel out?!

Godblind is set in a world that has become complacent in their trust that the Red Gods will remain in exile. We are told very quickly that the Red Gods were banished almost 1000 years ago, during this time the Gods of Light have kept the people of Rilpor safe from the darkness, but the world is now entering a time of change and plans have been set in motion that will allow the Red Gods to break free from their banishment.

Throughout the story, we are guided through the action from a number of character perspectives, this makes it so that (for me at least) you never really get a proper feel for the characters that you would if there were a smaller group of characters to focus on. In this book, we move across ten characters, some of whom have more chapters than others. In each chapter, you follow that individuals thoughts and actions, although they also interact with other focal characters.

Time moves quite quickly for some of the characters, but slower for others, so it is hard to keep track of what is happening simultaneously, or if these events are catching up with the previous narrative. This is also hindered by the fact that there are two different means of keeping time, dependent on if the character is on the side of the Red Gods or on the side of light. Due to this, it is easy at times to see the plot twists coming way before it affects the characters.

With a large cast of characters, there are some that are more captivating than others, my favourite character is Crys, a soldier of Rilpor, who always finds himself in trouble one way or another, and yet always try to do the right thing, leading him back into battle time and again. Crys story is also interesting for how much he grows during the story. Whereas other characters such as Rilporin, are more predictable as she keeps getting thrown into the role of the victim who needs to be rescued, as she does not have the skills necessary to save herself. Which leaves Dom in the role of saviour for the light even if it looks like that may not always be the path he has walked along.

Godblind is a grim read, some of the ways Stephens’ describes the blood sacrifices to the Red Gods, is likely to haunt me forever, but I will leave you to read that for yourself. I think one of the more interesting things about this book, is that these Gods are very much alive and present in this reality, at least to the people they choose to reveal themselves to. On the other hand, there are a lot of people content to pray to the Gods of Light without any acknowledgement that they are there. There is also a lot of sign posting as to who is good and bad, even with the naming of the Gods and what kind of people they are worshipped by.

Sadly I didn’t enjoy this book, not because of the violence, or the amount of death throughout, but rather because by the end of Godblind and it is an intense ending, I didn’t really care enough about the characters to want to see who manages to survive for the sequel.

After years of exile, the Mireces are planning an invasion of Rilpor. Dom, the Calestar, has forseen the messenger of war coming from the borders. When Rillirin, an escaped Mireces slave shows up, the watchers, wolves and ranks of Rilpor must work together to survive to oncoming attacks. The immense battle between faiths in nearly a thousand years has started.

The first thing I should point out is that I was not ready to read a big fantasy novel when I read this. I've been feeling really tired and I'm usually reading books that are a bit more easy going at the moment. Having to focus really isn't what I've been looking for in my TBR. So Godblind was a bit of a struggle for me. Every time I put the book down I had to read back three pages or so to pick up what was happening. 

Godblind throws you into a new world full of an extensive history. The names of people and places are all obscure. Some of the names are confusing as there's similarities, but overall you do get the hang of who's who by the end of the book. Stephen's has built Rilpor and the surrounding areas up from nothing, which I think some details were slightly lacking. But as this is her debut book, I'm sure she will improve in the next installment.

Rillirin felt more important in the blurb than she actually was. At the start she kind of starts of the plot line, but after that I felt she didn't do that much. She definitely didn't do more than the other characters surrounding her, and she basically just slotted into the romance subplot. 

The format is very similar to the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The point of view of each chapter switches to a different characters perspective. The characters are a mix of the good and bad characters, although they definitely lack being morally grey like ASOIAF's characters do. Because it was marked so similar to ASOIAF but didn't quite live up to it, I found it sabotaged Godblind for me.

I really enjoyed the plot. I can't say much because spoilers, but there were some shocking betrayals that I didn't see coming. There were a lot of battles throughout, with some political aspects too. (Again, similar to ASOIAF). Thankfully not too much romance, we focus mainly on the upcoming war and different friendships between characters. 

The God's aspect was really interesting as The Red Gods are trying to return to earth through the actions of their followers. Mireces faith was very dark and gruesome in some parts, and I loved seeing it contrast so much from the Rilporeans. Especially when Lanta and Gilda, the two priestesses, come together.

Attractive cover is attractive! Red and black? Count me in!

This is fantasy of the darker and grittier kind. People fight and die in puddles of gore; the Red Gods thrive on human pain and sacrifices (and their priests and believers are all too happy to oblige); and intrigue abounds in every corner of the world, making it difficult for the characters to know who are their allies, and who are their foes.

This is also the kind of novel about which I hold very divided opinions, because its selling points and its negative points are, for me, often sides of a same coin.

To be honest, I had some trouble to get into the story at first (not because of the sacrifice and rape in the first chapters—I guess it’s more related to the fact I don’t read a lot of fantasy these days, and while I am generally interested, I tend to have a harder time to get immersed in it). This may partly have been due to the short chapters, some as short as 2-3 pages, which creates a fast pace but makes it difficult to get invested in the characters, their predicaments and their stakes, all the more since the story follows several characters, and since the violence at times seemed a wee bit... here for the shock factor more than anything else? As a result, I didn’t feel very close to either the ‘heroes’ or ‘villains’, and that sense of ‘yeah, OK, that must’ve hurt, but I don’t really care’ unfortunately stayed with me.

(The short chapters were a positive thing in a way, though: I often read while walking or in public transportation, or during short breaks at work, and such chapters make it very easy for me too ‘break’ my reading and resume later.)

Another side of the book that is both positive and a hindrance is that it’s the first book in a series, and it looks like it’s going to be epic, with lots of battles and high stakes (a whole kingdom falling into war, people seeing their homes destroyed and families slaughtered, ambitious rulers, treachery and traitors in the heart of power, etc.). This said, it makes the story read more like an introduction, a prologue of sorts, before we get to the actual meat.

Yet another ‘same coin’ aspect: the intrigue. On the one hand, the plot twists were very easy to guess (who’s going to be a traitor, who’s going to double-cross who, etc.). On the other hand, for me, they were also of the ‘I know where this is going but I’m excited nonetheless’ kind.

I did like some characters enough (especially Crys, he’s the kind of easygoing trickster type I’m easily drawn to in novels) to feel invested at times. I’d wish for a little less sexism and homophobia, though (not on the author’s part, just in that specific world in general; it’s like it’s never accepted in most worlds, anyway *sighs*).

Conclusion: More an introduction to the actual plot, and with strengths that are weaknesses at the same time, but still interesting enough that I’d like to read book 2.

I would like to thank Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for the chance to review and give my honest opinion.

This book is not the faint hearted at all. This is a grimdark novel that is brutal and bloody. But I did not mind this as I enjoy my fantasy with a little kick to it. Also, the characters in this book are at times not likeable and definitely you are unsure who is good and who is bad. There are not simple troupes in here. Please be advised there are many trigger warnings in the book due to the graphic content. As I said before this is not a book for the faint hearted.

The female characters in this book are kickass and at times I found them witty and sassy. I loved the friendships portrayed in the universe.

If you want an exciting read then this is for you. I can't wait to get a physical copy to put on my bookshelves and in the near future, delve back into this amazing world. Bring on the battle for the dark and the light and most definitely bring on book two. Well done Ms Stephens on an excellent debut novel. Can't wait to read more by this amazing new voice.

Brutal, dark and perfect for people who enjoy watching Game of Thrones. Treason, treachery, dark Gods (the Red Gods) and Gods of light (Dancer and her son the Fox God), mysticism, slavery and war are the themes that run through the thread of this book as the followers of the Dark Gods rise up and start to take back the land from the Gods of Light.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints, in very short chapters, and I did find this confusing at first. However, if I sat and read for a couple of hours straight this actually worked quite well. The viewpoints ran concurrently and contributed to the very fast pace of the story. It felt very much like watching a film, rather than reading a book.

I would have liked to see a little more character development to fully understand the motives of people such as Crys or Rillirin for example. I'm hoping in the next book the pace might slow a little and we might get a little more back story.

A good 3.5 stars and thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the arc in return for an honest review.

For some reason the 'Grimdark' label this seems to have acquired escaped my notice and I wasn't quite expecting that particularly horrific scene that will now haunt me for some time...

I really appreciated the cast of very different characters (including a good ratio of male/female characters experiencing an equal share of the violence). I'm undecided as to whether the short chapters jumping between different viewpoint characters helped or hindered. It kept the pace quick and exciting and meant I was never tempted to skip chapters but it resulted in less character depth - I felt they were all well drawn secondary characters but not main characters. So when nasty things happened I didn't always care quite as much as I felt I should have, and the two main relationships that developed (whilst welcome for a bit of light relief!) seemed too rushed and almost out of place.

The tension throughout, especially towards the end, is unrelenting, and I'll definitely be wanting to read the next book after that rather bleak open ending...

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

This was a great, epic, and dramatic read!

Godblind is a grimdark fantasy novel, which means that it has a much darker and more brutal tone than regular fantasy novels. I'd say it was more for adults because of this and the sex scenes. Many of the characters are morally grey, and do very ruthless, savage, and inhumane things. This shocked me when I started reading but I still highly enjoyed it.

4 Stars!

I requested this from NetGalley and they were gracious enough to send me a review e-copy so thanks to them!

I read Godblind for the cover choice of the booktubathon. I love the reds and black on the cover. I think it looks really dramatic, which is what the book is.

Godblind is a fantasy tale set in different parts of Gilgoras. It tells the story of war between the Mireces and the Wolves. The storyline of this book is set in the world of Gilgoras, where the people either worship the Dancer, the Goddesses of Light, and her Fox God son or the Red Gods who are the Dark Lady and Gosfath, the God of Blood. The Mireces people choose to worship the Red Gods, but they pay the price by being exiled to the cold and miserable places of Gilgoras, while the Wolves (the people that follow Dancer the Fox God) get to live in Rilpor.

The story is told from many points of view in third person, both male and female. This worked well because it would be more confusing reading the story in first person because "I" would have been used instead of the character's names. I wouldn't have known which "I" was which, I don't think. We follow some well off characters and some poor characters. The points of view don't give too much, I don't feel. They just give enough without bogging you down. I was unable to put this down. I basically finished it in just over a day. I'm reading it for a booktubathon challenge, so it's good that it was such a quick and gripping read.

Godblind has friendships, love stories, including a gay one as well as betrayals, war, dark rituals and just everything I look for in fantasy books, I read.

The Mireces people not only worship the Red Gods, but they make horrible sacrifices to them, also. There's a character who's taken against his will and has terrible things done to him. He's not a nice character but it's torture all the same that he suffers. He's killed as a result of the torture (see quote below). They have enough power at that point in the novel to take over the land, though and because of their Gods turn it red.

Rillirin is a slave at the beginning of GodBlind. She is violently hurt by Liris, the Warrior-King at the beginning of the novel.

"When I choose, understand? You belong to me"

shows just how domineering and brutal Liris is. He never shows any mercy, which ultimately gets him killed.

Dom, a civilian living in Rilpor is connected to the Gods. They can speak through him and make him feel horrible things. Because of this though, he can normally tell his people when something catastrophic will happen before it happens. He then rescues an escaped Mireces, a girl called Rillirin.

Dom and Rillirin get to know each other and develop a relationship of sorts. This was my favourite bit of the book, I think because I love romance. It could have been developed slightly more, I think but it certainly wasn't the main focus of Godblind, which I was fine with. Rillirin becomes something pivotal to the overall plot of the story.

There's the sick King who's mourning the loss of his wife as well as his sons trying to steal the crown from him. This has one of the most brutal scenes, I think where Rivil the second son gets someone else to kill his brother to get the crown.

"You would make a better King than him"

is something that Galtas, the King's advisor says about Janis, the heir, to Rivil. Galtas supports Rivil, throughout.

As I said the scene where Janis is killed is very brutally written.

"In the echoing quiet, the blessed one stretched Janis's scrotum and positioned a testicle over his anus. She placed a nail over it and pressed down hard, raiding the hammer high..."

this is an example of how feral and graphic some of the scenes are in Godblind.

There's also a commander trying to protect his King, while trying to discover the truth, a general, who only wants to do what's right, a new King who has an advisor who makes questionable choices, lucky and cursed characters, and some Gods who are evil and want to rule mankind. Godblind is a really complex story with lots of threads coming off of it so there's more going on that what I've written above but yeah, as I said at the top it's really epic and dramatic.

What did I like about Godblind?

I liked how women fought in the war as well as the men. We follow many perspectives as I've already said. About half of those are women.

I liked how the settings were described. I could always tell where I was within the story without the chapter header.

I liked how the characters were all individuals. They all had their own plot lines within the main plot.

I liked how lots of people were represented. We had rich, poor, good, evil, gay, straight, disabled, they were all there in some way. This showed great representation, which often isn't seen in canasta novels.

What didn't I like about Godblind?

I thought the scenes were very action heavy, which is fine in and of itself but I would have liked to have seen more emotional development from some of the characters.

I would have liked to have seen more about certain storylines throughout the book. It weighed heavily on the war aspects. It would have been nice if other elements were given enough time to shine.

I wish the politics had been slightly better explained. Also, the history of why things were like they were. Why there were two Gods in the first place.

Godblind is book one in a series, I believe so I'm really excited to read book 2 when it's released. I think that what being Godblind actually is will play into book 2.

I'm giving Godblind 4 stars because I got really engrossed in the story. I would have liked to have seen more explanation as to why things were the way that they were, as it's important to always have some sort of foundation in fantasy books and a few more emotional scenes to balance the action better. That's why this wasn't a 5 Star read for me.

Cards on the table, I really struggled to get into this book. I like grim dark. It's unbelievably rare that someone manages to write anything that actually offends me or even makes me uncomfortable so I'm not going to get upset because there's a human sacrifice and a rape scene in the first few pages. I quite like being dropped in where the action is ordinarily. However in Godblind my reaction was not 'oh man that's bad juju' but 'yeah, uhuh. And why do I care?' Unfortunately that stayed with me for most of the book. Part of the problem was that it's told from multiple perspectives and each POV is about three pages long. You never really get inside any characters head. I'm not easily bored but I was with this book. The fact that I could see there was a decent story there if the author had just given her characters a little more breathing room only made it worse. And in my opinion this really isn't grimdark. Grimdark is grimdark because awful things happen that have a point in the narrative and cause an emotional reflection in the audience. In Godblind, awful things happen but its a paper thin bit of sleight of hand to get us to connect with the story of the characters which often doesn't come off ad leaves you feeling that the author was going for shock value which she also doesn't achieve. I've given this three stars because when I did connect to a character - Crys for instance - I could see a lot of good stuff there. The world building was authentic. But this needed to be a much weightier book with more thought into why each instance of violence happened. Comparing it to Mark Lawrence or Joe Abercrombie is really not accurate in my opinion. Disappointed. However if you are just getting into grimdark fantasy then you might enjoy this as a half way house to the more toothsome fare out there.

Godblind is a well story about gods, war and the trials of men. The story drops you in the middle of events that are already unfolding and then hops between people that are involved. This can be a little bewildering and stumping at first, but within a few chapters you get into the flow of the story, characters and story line.
The characters really drag you into their world and wrap you in the story. Their believability immerses you in the world that is as dark and dangerous as it is engaging.

I would highly recommend this to fans of darker fiction and the fantasy readers. This is not a fairy tale or a story with a happy ending. This is war, darkness and drama at its fantastical best.
Grab this book for the bed side table when you don't have an early start, the kind of book that will keep you up willing you to finish it.

When I was going into this book, I thought it sounded amazing. It sounded kind of like Game of Thrones... in a way?? It's definitely a fantasy and it deals with different Gods, fighting over realms and family feuds. And I was exactly right. But it was just that. Fighting, blood, gore, torture, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

The Mireces worship the bloodthirsty Red Gods. Exiled from Rilpor a thousand years ago, and left to suffer a harsh life in the cold mountains, a new Mireces king now plots an invasion of Rilpor’s thriving cities and fertile earth.

Dom Templeson is a Watcher, a civilian warrior guarding Rilpor’s border. He is also the most powerful seer in generations, plagued with visions and prophecies. His people are devoted followers of the god of light and life, but Dom harbours deep secrets, which threatens to be exposed when Rillirin, an escaped Mireces slave, stumbles broken and bleeding into his village.

Meanwhile, more and more of Rilpor’s most powerful figures are turning to the dark rituals and bloody sacrifices of the Red Gods, including the prince, who plots to wrest the throne from his dying father in the heart of the kingdom. Can Rillirin, with her inside knowledge of the Red Gods and her shocking ties to the Mireces King, help Rilpor win the coming war?

Ok, so you've got a gist of what the book is about. Let me just start out by saying that this book had a very slow start for me. It just seemed like it was dragging forever. There were way too many characters and I couldn't keep up. I had to keep a note of who was related to who and who was working for who. It got to about 40% and I finally knew what was going on, who the characters were and I understood the concept of the Gods more. There was also a bit towards the end of the book where I felt like crying in happiness because one of the ships finally happened

The writing style and the description were beautiful and even though I was confused about the characters, the plot was still pretty exciting which is why I might actually give this a re-read in the near future. I think by re-reading this book, I'll enjoy it even more because I'll have a better understanding of each other the characters and I'll know who is related to whom, which characters are fighting for which side, and I'm hoping that I'll understand the concept of Dom's knowings a bit more as I'm still confused by them.

Warning: contains triggers of rape, abuse and death.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I received an e-ARC of this from the publishers and I was quite excited due to it being marketed as Fantasy’s most anticipated debut of the year and the title just grabbed me. It’s also exciting as it’s a Grimdark novel written by a women when up until now, most of the well-known Grimdark authors were men.

The story itself is told through a variety of POV characters spread throughout the kingdoms of Rilpor and Mireces. We have characters from both kingdoms although it’s made very clear which characters are “good” and which are not. The chapters in the book are very short, jumping around a lot between all the characters which was slightly difficult at first as it didn’t give much time to get used to a character before jumping away to yet another one, however as you get deeper this lets you progress much faster and I definitely fell into the “just one more chapter” trap multiple times. It also means that if you’re not a fan of a particular character then you don’t have to spend ages with them until you get back to a chapter of your favourite.

The characters themselves are all excellent and well-written and I adored seeing their growth throughout the novel. In particular, my two favourite characters are Rillirin and Crys as they really grow throughout the novel.

I won’t say too much about the plot because part of the enjoyment came from it slowly being revealed and constant twists that made it very hard to predict what would happen next but it was very enjoyable.

The writing is excellent and very descriptive – I was able to really picture many of the locations mentioned and the world building was excellent – I very much enjoyed learning about the various Gods in the world and their goals. The book is almost 500 pages long however it doesn’t feel long at all and I just sped through the second half of the book.

The one thing that disappointed me was that this is the first in a series which wasn’t made clear when I requested it. I feel if I’d known that, I would have given it a higher rating as I would have read it differently. However, I still really enjoyed it and will definitely be picking up the rest of her books when they come out.

I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of Grimdark Fantasy, particularly those wanting Grimdark with strong and well-written female characters. Because it’s Grimdark, there is obviously a lot of gruesome aspects involved and so I need to include trigger warnings for rape, torture and violence.

In Godblind there are two factions, split by the gods they worship. The Mireces worship the exiled Red Gods and live to serve their savage gods with blood sacrifices. Theirs is a cut-throat world of pain, blood and slavery. The Rilporians worship the God of Light and keep the Red Gods behind the veil unto which they were banished. Anna Stephens novel tells of the betrayals, allegiances and fates of those on both sides as the Red Gods and their Mireces peoples try and take back what they believe to be theirs.

Each chapter is taken from a different viewpoint and builds around central characters on both sides of the conflict and this does indeed build, slowly and with lots of blood to a mass conflict. The plot itself isn't anything revolutionary in fantasy circles and this is just the opening act of a trilogy. However, there is lots of mileage here and characters that feel more fully formed than many in recent years. It is brutal and bloody in its approach. It can be difficult to follow towards the end of the book, particularly with the Calestar who I felt it got very confusing with toewards the end of the novel. But you are left in no doubt as to where you are at the end of proceedings for everyone else.

As a starter for a new series this good. It just isn't quite as epic as some so three books would feel about right

For a thousand years, the Red Gods, lovers of blood,war and sacrifice, have been banished from the world of men, and their followers, the Mireces people, exiled to cold, barely habitable mountain ranges, while the Rilporians, worshippers of the Gods of Light occupy the warmer, fertile plains. Now all that is about to change. The new Mirece king, Corvus, has been planning and plotting, making allies among the nobles of Rilpor and is ready to bring the Red Gods back from beyond the Veil. Meanwhile, among the Watchers who've helped maintain the uneasy truce between Mireces and Rilporians, is Dom, a 'calestar' who talks with the Gods of Light, passing on their messages and warnings to his people.


A tale filled with violence and betrayal, with one side egged on my their bloodthirsty Gods, and the other almost helpless against their onslaught, doesn't make this seem like a jolly story but I honestly found it one of those which once started, can't be put down.

The dialogue is 'adult', the brutality shocking but at the same time, the characterisation and world-building are excellent.

It starts a little confusingly with a large cast of characters to come to terms with in a short space, and each chapter following events from a different person's perspective, but these slight quibbles are soon overcome. The chapters are often short and events move along quickly, so I was soon hooked. The only downside, and I should have half-expected it with a fantasy novel, is that this is Book 1 of a series, and there's a wait for the next instalment.

If you like your fantasy dark, gripping, and bloody, this is the book for you!

To be honest this was somewhere between a two and three star rating. I have to also admit that I was a little disappointed with this one - something about it just didn't work for me. For me two main issues were character depth and number of perspective. With the first as you may guess I felt the characters lacked depth and so could have been developed more. This very much links into the fact that this follows mulitple perspectives. Perhaps because there are so many characters, the author sacrificed some character depth/development. The second issue is that in my opinion there are too many character perspectives, which makes it hard to keep track of them all. This probably contributed to the fact it took me a while to get into this book. I will say I think the book does pick up after the first quarter of the book. The romance elements were entirely predictable (especially in one place) and kind of unnecessary. I felt like it was just there as a bit of a relief from some of the brutality and I didn't feel like the characters actually connected. I will say that I thought the world building was quite good. I am currently unsure whether I will continue on with this series, but don't let this review put you off - there are alot of good reviews of it.

*I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

MINOR SPOILERS IN REVIEW

Wow, this was good! I'm discovering that I have a real liking for dark fantasy as some of my most recent reads attest. Godblind took a while to get going for me but when it did I really took to it and by the end of the novel I was itching for more and this is a mid-year front runner for my favourite book of the year.

The novel is set in 'generic fantasy land with a map and everything' but one of the first things to say about the location is that the region the book is set in is relatively small in focus. There are no great continents taking months to traverse, the setting is quite self contained. I like this, it's quite easy to place all the action and it makes the later events of the book seem more threatening because everything is 'close'.

So, in this book we've got a barbarian / Viking type race that long ago were banished to the icy mountains where it is cold and snows all the time. These are the Mireces. They are led by King Liris and worship the evil 'Red Gods' known as the Dark Lady and her brother Gospar - the Blood God. They live in longhouses, drink, fight and fuck, keep slaves etc. On the green rolling valleys of abundant farmland we have the land of Rilpor - who have towns and cities, standing armies and a degree of sophistication. They follow the 'Gods of Light' - the Dancer and her son the Fox God.

The Mireces have had enough of being cold and decide to invade Rilpor. End of review, well, sort of...

Although that is the story in a nutshell there is absolutely loads going on in this book. The first chapter is sufficiently bonkers to set the stall for the rest of the book. We have human sacrifice, attempted rape and regicide in the first couple of pages and that sets the tone for the rest of the book. One should note that there could be plenty of triggers in this book for readers - rape, and the threat of rape as a weapon occurs regularly in the book. That said, although the book is violent it isn't gore throughout and whilst this isn't YA it's perhaps not as strong as others may have led you to believe (although there is one scene in particular that is quite eye watering in it's depiction.)

'That' scene is effective because it's a really important part of the plot, it is exquisitely written and is so completely barbaric compared to the rest of the novel it is exceptionally effective! It's a tough one to get through and I loved it!

There is a third group in the novel. They are Rilporians but they live on the border near Mireces lands. They are known as the Watchers or the Wolves. They are considered a little uncivilised by most Rilporians but are the vanguard against Mireces invasion. The Watchers have their own unique culture and are the most interesting group in the novel. This is where Stephens' novel excels in its treatment. The Watchers are a relatively egalitarian people. Men and women fight and are treated as equals, men do the housework and cook as much as women. It's such a simple thing to put in a novel and it's a crying shame that even in 2017 this seems an interesting point in a book rather than the norm.

The Watchers are much more open about sexuality also, we have openly gay characters (despite homosexuality being illegal in Rilpor proper) and the treatment of one romance is wonderful, it surprised me because it wasn't the obvious pairing I saw coming.

I have seen reviews criticising the book in regard to the treatment of women and how men do things for them. Whilst there is an element of this in the book I think there are many strong powerful women in the book. It is true that Rillirin starts off as a bed-slave and needs a lot of help early on but she becomes a strong, powerful woman in her own right and is recovering from significant trauma. We've got the elderly bad ass spiritual leader of the Watchers Gilda - her scenes with Lanta the Red God priestess are awesome. Gilda is strong and has agency. Let's not forget Lanta - although she is an 'evil' character she shows strength, and at times vulnerability which gives her depth past a villain. In a male dominated society where violence determines who is in charge she holds her own to push her agenda. Then there is Tara, a soldier who works her way through the ranks in Rilpor - it is true that the Rilpor army is full of sexist men and Tara is unique in that she is a woman but again, she rises above military sexism.

Another element of the book I really enjoyed where the battle scenes of which there are quite a few. Stephens has a gift in writing a good fight! The action is vivid, fast paced and you can feel the frenzied terror of the combatants in an up close and personal blood bath. It isn't sugar coated, the close quarters combat is brilliant! It's ugly and bloody - but effectively describes what these pre-gunpowder battles must have been like!

The treatment of the Gods is interesting in that they are real in the world and not just a plot device. One of the Watchers is a seer type figure who can commune with the Gods. I quite liked the notion of the Fox God - inherently good but a god of luck and tricks. The Dark Lady is much more interesting though - she is like a Succubus - erotic and dangerous and a temptress.

The structure of the book is in small chapters each from the point of view of a different character. I'm not normally a fan of short chapters but here it works. It's not quite a cast of thousands but there are plenty of characters to follow. Again, normally one finds themselves looking back at an index or checking back to see who is who but in this case the book is really easy to follow. The format works really well.

The book has a wide enough scope to cover political intrigue, religious and nations at war, sweeping armies and the fate of nations being decided. At the same time it is a personal novel, the characters matter and their individual growth, their hopes and dreams, as well as their sadness and horror all have space.

What is rather frustrating is at the end of the novel there is a sense of unfinished business. I'm aware there is a sequel planned which I know I absolutely have to read. So many characters have their life in balance at the end. It is an exciting ending but I wish I had the second book in my hand...

I'm not a great lover of fantasy fiction. Although the story did keep me gripped enough to carry on reading, however I was disappointed with the ending.

I found it difficult to keep up with the many characters - the only one I could really recall was the one who was described, Crys, everyone else blended in.

Basically good versus evil. If you're a fan of Game of Thrones you'll probably like this. Not for me though.

My main problem with multiple POV epic fantasy is and always will be that it without fail takes me a good third of the book to work out who is who. I have to keep flicking back chapters (which is hard to do on a kindle) to remind myself which particular person’s viewpoint we are currently seeing and whether they are a goody or a baddy. In this book, sometimes this was a little easier because they bad guys tended to be really bad. Like, graphic descriptions of torture bad.

The vast majority of the characters we follow in this story were male. Or if that wasn’t the case it did feel quite male dominated which I’ve come to expect from this kind of fantasy at this point. There were some great female characters. There’s the damaged ex-slave with a secret past, the strong female army captain in a male environment and, of course, the evil queen. These characters felt really fleshed out which was definitely necessary in this world (I switch off if there are too many male characters for too long cause I just can’t relate). Having said that, there were some cool male characters both good and evil whom the story follows, to reveal them would be a little spoilery so I’m going to let you discover it for yourselves.

This book is pretty brutal, I’m not going to lie. If you’re not comfortable reading about violence, bloodshed, torture and sexual assault (comfortable is the wrong word) then this is not the book for you. If you have a particular trigger that you want to know about then please feel free to ask me in the comments or direct message me on twitter (@judithcmoore) and I’ll be happy to let you know.

All in all I did enjoy this book, even though this isn’t my favourite genre to read it was well written for the most part, though things did get a little confusing towards the end. This is the proposed opening to a trilogy so I can see there is a way to go yet. In general, if this is the kind of book you enjoy reading then this is a good example of the genre.

My rating: 4/5 stars

By the way, I received a free digital advanced review copy of Godblind from the publisher (Talos) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!