This dark, gritty, and often brutal debut trilogy starts well as the world of Gilgoras is set into a time of grisly chaos with a clash between of those that worship the Gods of Light and those the Red Gods.
Central to this is the seduction of unlimited power and control achieved only through the sacrifice of blood in order to sufficiently strengthen those Gods that dwell beyond the veil so that they may become physical again. After much plotting and scheming a truce between King Rastoth of Rilporian and King Liris of Mireces is cast aside.
Rillirin, for me, is the dominant protagaonist in an evolving but strong female role. Of Royal blood, but treated as a slave as she will not succumb to the blood thirsty, cruel practices associated with worship of the Red Gods. She kills King Liris as he violently tries to subject her to more rape and emotional torture. On the run she is protected by Dom, a warrior caste with the ability to have visions. From here a chain of events unfold.
Amidst a plethora of plotting, counter plotting and subtegfuge, there is a clear good and evil battle. But not all are completely aligned to one side. There is romance, allegiances and trust despite it being a time of flux. Acts of violence are uncompromising and gory. Battle scenes are very physical and you can almost feel their fatigue and pain as they attempt to endure.
More a steady evolvement of a grim world rather than an epic feel, it has the basis of a good gritty storyline. There are some very interesting characters. Chapters are broken down into the experiences of the main cast, which run concurrent with the story and do at times overlap. There are a lot of characters and I would have appreciated a cast list, especially as some names are interchangeable, but I followed it nonetheless. Plenty of seeds being sown to carry through to the next books, not to mention a climactic ending. Good enough to appeal to Abercrombie fans I would wager.

I am afraid this was a little too violent for me and I didn't get very far into it before realising it wasn't for me. Which was a shame as it was written really well and had great potential.

Summary

Intense, captivating and powerful; Godblind is the fantastic debut fantasy from author Anna Stephens. It is a novel that is filled to the brim with war, political intrigue and gods, capturing a number of different themes from free will to feminism, but all within the threads of the novel. It is set in a world where the Red Gods have been exiled and their people cast out, but now revenge is on the horizon and no-one can escape the call of the Gods.

Plot

I will admit, I really was not sure about this book when I began. The contents page told me that it would be told from a large number of character perspectives. The first page was full of so much world-building, it was near-impossible to take in. Yet, once the book got going, the daunting beginning turned into something which took you elsewhere, to the world within the pages. The multiple points of view worked well in creating a rounded narrative which both increased the intensity of the story and showed how a war can be fought on multiple fronts, with multiple perspectives.

My main gripe with the novel was the pacing, or rather the effect the pacing had on my reading experience. The pacing itself was perfect – it kept the novel moving and successfully navigated the balance between action and breathers. However, it also convinced me that I was reading a stand-alone novel. So much happened and it felt like Godblind was rounding up to a brilliant conclusion, and then the cliff-hangers began. This novel is not, as I first thought, a stand-alone fantasy novel, but rather the first in a series. The series, I have no doubt, will be brilliant, but it was such a frustrating ending to have gone through so much with the characters and then not have any conclusion at the end.

Characters

As I mentioned, this book features a lot of characters, both POV and secondary characters. This did concern me when I first started as I find that having too many character perspectives can be confusing and a bit of a turn off but Anna Stephens handles this beautifully. Each one has their own story-line, but at no point does it ever feel like the characters are there for no reason. Everything is inter-connected and every character feels integral to the plot. I also particularly enjoyed how even the more villainous characters got their own perspective, showing their motivations and how there are not just two sides to the war.

The Gods themselves are particularly intriguing. We only really see the Dark Lady in close detail, but it was fascinating to see her bring all her pieces into play, in her attempt to achieve her goals. The Gods’ interactions with the other characters was interesting to read, particularly as it made you question who really was in control at times.

World/Setting

The world in this book is phenomenal. Despite a rough start of intense world-building, it settles down quite quickly and the world begins to gradually rise around you as you read. The different character perspectives allow you to see a large number of different places and lifestyles of the world Anna Stephens has created and it is a fascinating one.

The cultures for both the Rilporians and the Mireces are well established, especially how their cultures have been built up around the traits of their gods. The interaction between the Gods and the mortals also added another layer to the novel, particularly with the similarities and differences between the worship of the Red Gods and the Rilporian Gods. I just wish I’d had a map, just to be able to better picture the distances and where the towns and cities were in relation to one another.

Final Thoughts

If you are to read any fantasy novel this year, this should be near the top of your list. It was unlike any fantasy book I’ve read recently and stood out to me both in story and writing. I do wish I had known it was the first in a series when I was reading it as the ended was a bit disappointing for me, especially since I’m going to have to wait so long for the sequel, but everything else worked brilliantly. Godblind is a fantastic novel and a remarkable debut.

I am unable to review this book as I could not finish it. I have explained why to the publisher in the box above.

I’d been itching for a good bit of dark fantasy for a while, so when I weirdly ended up with two copies of ‘Godblind’ I had a feeling that it was just ‘meant to be’. I actually took a good two weeks reading this, not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but because I wanted to savour it.

The Rilporins have been favoured by the Gods of the Light, the Dancer and her son, the Fox God. Peace has reigned for many years, with their enemies, the Mireces, and their Red Gods exiled to the inhospitable mountains, held at bay by the powers of the Light. But now the Mireces are on the move, hoping to tear the veil that keeps their Red Gods from the mortal world. The most assured way to break that veil? To spill truly epic amounts of blood in the name of their Gods…

I should probably point out at this moment that this book does fall into the grimdark category. If you haven’t read grimdark in the past, that basically means dark fantasy with characters that are more often than not grey morality or outright amoral. Plots are often ruthless and brutal with much death, and kind of make ‘Game of Thrones’ look positively lighthearted. If that isn’t your thing then you probably won’t enjoy this book very much. As with much grimdark there are quite a few content warnings that I’d like to put out there: violence, torture, religious sacrifice, self injury, internalized homophobia, rape and mutilation. They’re not one time warnings either, they occur multiple times throughout the book, and I don’t say that as criticism, I say that as fact. If you like your fantasy a little more forgiving then this book probably isn’t for you.

If, you know, that does sound like your kind of thing, then please continue.

One of my favourite things about this book was the characters, especially those of Rillirin,Tara, Dom and Crys…though, to be honest, I found all of them interesting in their own way. Rillirin is one of the first characters that we meet, a bed slave of the Mireces King and, honestly, one of my favourite female characters that I’ve read in a while. Seeing her flee from the Mireces, become a stronger person and begin to heal from her trauma, I found it was really great to meet a female character who didn’t have to fit the cookie cutter mold of ‘strong female protagonist’. Rillirin is strong, but she’s also learning and growing and healing and I can’t wait to see where her story continues in later books.

“Then fuck you all, she thought, I’ll save myself.”

The quotation above is a perfect example of all the great women in this book, from Tara, the excellent Rilporin officer who consistently has to deal with men casting aspersions about how she climbed the ranks, to Gilda, an older woman and priestess who spits in the face of those who come to burn her town, and Lanta, a priestess of the Red Gods who is attempting to seize power for herself from the Mireces Kings. It was really nice to read some grimdark written by a woman, in that the female characters were much more than emotional cannon fodder.

The character of Dom is a fascinating one. I can see a couple of different directions in which his story might go. Out of all the characters in this book, his situation is probably the most tenuous. As a seer he is truly at the mercy of the Gods, who can enter his mind and send him messages and images at any time. Struggling and suffering under a compact that he made in past and trying to desperately avoid losing all sense of reality, I honestly worry for Dom and his tentative relationship with Rillirin. I fear that they might both be harmed by what is to come.

The final character I want to talk about is Crys, who I both adored and had a little bit of trouble with. I should probably preface this by saying that I’m bisexual and that, from what we see in text, Crys also seems to be bisexual. Which is awesome, I love representation and it’s pretty rare to see it in grimdark fantasy, let’s be honest. The problem I have with Crys is the way that him coming to terms with that bisexuality is written. We have a male character who flirts with Crys, and, initially Crys’ response is that he is abhorred, which, well, internalised homophobia is totally a thing, and his response IS explicitly called out on page (which I liked). However, I don’t really feel that we see enough of his mindset changing, of him thinking about his attraction before, boom, it’s the night before a battle and said male character is asking if he wants to kiss him and, suddenly, insta-bi! I also struggled with that scene because it seems as if the other male character is coercing Crys with the whole ‘we might die in battle tomorrow’ and, I totally think it isn’t intentional, but it does play a little into the ‘predatory gay’ trope. So, I’m conflicted, ‘yay’ for a canon mlm relationship in grimdark fantasy but ‘not-so-yay’ for there being some problems in how it was written. I’m hoping that by book two maybe some of those problems might have been ironed out.

Like many people, I went into this book not knowing whether it was a standalone or part of a series. I worked out about half way through that it probably wasn’t a standalone, and I’m actually pretty glad. I think there’s a lot more of this world to see and a lot more story to be told. I’m excited because I’ve sort of been tip-toeing around grimdark recently and I’m glad to see a new voice, especially a female voice! I’m also still kind of shocked that this was a debut, it wasn’t clunky in the slightest and held its own with all the giants of the genre.

So, if you’re looking for something dark and bloody to satisfy your ‘Game of Thrones’ cravings, I suggest picking this up when it comes out a couple of days from now on the 15th of June. The hardback cover looks gorgeous… I’ve also seen some variants with edges sprayed black out there, which, let’s be honest, are absolutely dreamy.

Many many thanks to Harper Voyager for an advanced copy in return for an honest review!!

A gripping start to this story so thanks to the author and publisher for allowing me the chance to read this for an unbiased review.

With the start I'm really looking forward to reading this story. Not for the younger readers of fantasy novels as the opening chapter get right into the story in a gory and uncomfortable start but it also gets you routing for Rillirin.

I love all the characters even the ones you are going to dislike. Rounded and any Games of Thrones fans will love this even though this one is a lot darker but only up to book three on games of thrones so far.

Gripping but gory. Oh wow the momentum keeps building until the end then leaves you hanging. Hope I don't have to wait too long for the next part. Brilliant story.

Thank you to the author/publishers for allowing me to read this story for an unbiased review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Talos Press for my ARC copy of this book for my honest and unbiased opinion.

MY REVIEW: 4*

This is a classic good versus evil, light verses dark book. The Red Gods had been exiled to the cold bitter Gilgoras Mountains nearly a thousand years ago. They dwell behind a veil, a shield. Their strength is gained through their followers and through blood sacrifices.

The Gods of Light, Dancer and her son The Fox live in the warmer lush lands below the mountains. Through the priestess and calestar , or seer, these Gods guide rather than command as the Red Gods do. Only a small select few can hear the words of their Gods.

The Dark Lady of the Red Gods sends her command via Lanta, a priestess. She wants to set in motion a war that will bring down the veil and allow them to once again enter the world.

This is a well laid out story and well written. It has lots of memorable and unique characters. There is a lot of bloodshed, gore action, treachery treason, conspiracy and sacrifice. Each chapter is titled with the character most prominently featured, these chapters are quick, and helps keep the story moving. There are a lot of subplots and back histories for the main characters. There are surprises along the way, and it is not always obvious who is good or evil, which side they are on or if they are out for their own gain.

This is a book I would recommend to Dark Fantasyreaders. It ends on a cliff hanger and left me wanting more, cannot wait to read more in this series.

I was really excited to get this as it had been likened to authors I really enjoy, such as Joe Abercrombie and George R. R. Martin - and this really didn't disappoint.
The world was gritty and dark, there was a whole array of different character viewpoints, all intriguing and well-formed, and there was a strong, engaging storyline.
I raced through it as I wanted to find out what was happening, and there were so many twists and turns. Like a good beginning of a trilogy, it left you with enough questions to make you want more, and I definitely want to know where this story goes. A fantastic debut!

As with all books that have a lot of hype, I was both dreading reading and this and also excited to get my hands on it. I have to say that I really enjoyed the story. There are some areas for improvement, depth of character and development, for example, but overall, it's an excellent effort, and I'm looking forward to the continuation of the story.

Although excited by the blurb of this book, after slogging through all 500+ pages over the course of a week and a half, I was left decidedly cold, and not at all interested in further work from this author.
Grimdark is a genre that I've read a few examples of, but have recently come to the conclusion that I actually don't particularly like. While realism in a fantasy series is difficult to pull off, I don't think that unnecessarily graphic violence is the way to add believability to your work. Bearing in mind that I'm not really a fan of grimdark, that might explain why this book grated on me so much, but even without that, I was left unimpressed.
An ensemble cast of characters should have led to a book which I really enjoyed, with two warring countries, differing religions, and a host of treachery, backstabbing, and influence in the form of the gods. But I did not enjoy this book at all. From the off, it totally failed to grip me, and I read/listened to four other books while guiltily avoiding the points at which I thought my kindle might be looking at me. When I eventually did settle down and pick up the kindle to get reading, I realised that the book dragged massively. Besides a horrendously and unnecessarily graphic scene of torture/human sacrifice about 40% of the way through the book, there was very little that was memorable.
Two further complaints - this book does not finish the story. It doens't even try to set itself up as having completed a story arc, leaving space for more. At the climax of the book, we're left with one army just about to start a pitched battle, and one army caught in an ambush. The book literally finished mid-battle, which is just lazy writing. I would have accepted the tension of ending with an army outside the gates and battle about to begin, but I just cannot get on board with ending the action in the middle of what's going on in the first installment of a series.
Secondly, (spoilers!)

The blurb which I read on Goodreads (which I accept may be an older blurb) mentions Rivil's failed attempt to kill his father. That attempt (which isn't specified as failed in the book) happens 97% of the way through the book, and spoils before you even begin reading the big reveal that Rivil is actually a major antagonist. Having checked on the HC website and Amazon, that's no longer in the blurb, so that might not be an issue for new readers. Unless, of course, they happen to read Goodreads blurbs.

My final complaint, which admittedly is quite esoteric, is that one of the characters, a skilled archer (to the extent that their surname is Archer), in testing out her abilities, picks up a bow and fires it without an arrow in it. This is called dry firing, and is literally the worst thing you can do to a bow. All of the power from the limbs which is supposed to go into propelling the arrow forward is left still in the bow, and can often shatter the bow. The worst part? This character doesn't even do this with her own bow - she does it with someone else's!
I realise that this is a factual complaint based on the fact that I have some experience in archery and therefore know that this is just about the worst thing you can do, but it smacks of a lack of research on the part of the author, for the sake of dramatic tension (the empty bow is aimed at another character) and really turned me off the book. Even more so than the scene which involved nails (the steel kind, not the finger kind) and testicles.

Various complaints linked up to make this a less than enjoyable experience for me, and not a series which I will be interested in continuing.

DNF this book just isn't for me. Therefore I have decided not to review it. Thank you for the opportunity and good luck with the book.

This is a blinding story. The narrative is quite dense so it took me a chapter or two to get my feet on the ground but once in, I couldn't stop reading. Anna is relentless in her plotting and the defeats, betrayals, madness & battles just keep coming. God! How I loved this. Some of the best fight scenes I've ever read, I could almost smell the blood in the air. My one nit-pick is the Gay scene between Ash & Crys. It felt a wee bit contrived to me like it had been stuck in there for diversity. I can think of other possible gay relationships between characters, that would make more sense to me.

That being said, Anna is now one of my favourite fantasy authors and I'm going to devour everything she writes. Fine job. Congratulations!

Godblind is the debut novel from Anna Stephens, published by Harper Voyager. It falls into the genre of Epic Fantasy and epic is the perfect way to describe it.

It has been centuries since the Red Gods and there bloodshed were exiled, their people the Mireces have fled into the mountains to worship in mostly silence with the odd raid of outlying villages to capture slaves. Their lives are ruthless, lived in long houses and dependant on the sacrifices demanded by The Blessed One, a priestess with a direct line to the brutal Dark Lady and her brother Gosfarth.

Meanwhile the good guys of the story over in Rilpor worship the two nice gods, The Dancer and her son the Fox God. Crys is a soldier who has befriended a prince, Dom is the Calestar, adopted son of the high priestess of the Dancer and like The Blessed One he is spoken to by his gods. Rillirin, an escaped slave brings news of an invasion by the Mireces and everyone's lives change forever.

The novel is brutal and violent. The Red Gods and their follower's lust for blood and violence creates some unpleasant scenes but if you can cope with Game of Thrones you can cope with this. Godblind is heavy on the war as well and around 60% of the novel is focused on battle. There's a good mix of betrayal, feistiness, and love thrown in there too though. Oh yeah and a evil, despicable prince in the mix, what more could you ask for?

The novel is well written and interesting, the world building and character building are both done well, readers of my previous reviews will know I find this very important. I found that I felt more like I watched events unfold rather than being immersed in them, but I always feel like that when reading Epic Fantasy so it's not a criticism, I found LoTR and GoT to be the same and I really enjoyed both of those.

Overall this is a promising series and I'm looking forward to reading the next instalments!

8.5/10

"The Red Gods Are Rising"

*Contains minor spoilers* I received a free advanced copy of Godblind in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Anna Stephens and Harper Voyager.

To begin with, I must admit that after reading the excellent Godblind I think I will be eternally afraid of betrayal and hammers.

The world of Gilgoras had an uneasy truce between King Rastoth of Rilporian and King Liris of the Mireces. The former were followers of the Gods of Light and the later under the direct command of the banished Red Gods. After recent events which caused the seemingly perpetual madness of one King and the murder of another, it seems like the Red Gods are now playing their hand, after years of plotting and they are hoping to send the world into bloodthirsty chaos. If so much blood and gore are delivered then the veil that has kept the Gods exiled from the physical world for so long will break and they can be made flesh once again.

Godblind is labelled as Grimdark for a reason. If Abercrombie presented lectures on how to write gritty, brutal and tortuous fantasy then I imagine Anna would have been his star pupil. To truly enjoy this book I think readers need to know what sort of journey they are getting themselves into beforehand. The themes and language presented and used are very adult. Towards the beginning of the narrative, there is an attempted rape, some good old fashioned cheating at cards, a savagely violent sacrifice and a regicide. This certainly sets the tone for the action which is to follow. A couple of early reviews have stated that they couldn't handle the violence subjected to ladies in Godblind which I see could be upsetting to some people. At the same time, there are some very strong female characters here and the violence given is not restricted to just the ladies. There is one particular scene where it will be the men reading who are the ones cringing and perhaps even feeling sick. (I had to put the book down for ten minutes!) Returning to the statement regarding violence to women, the transformation of one character from being a recipient of the aforementioned to her position at the book's finale made for an excellent character development arc. I believe that this book would not work if it was utterly and unconditionally horrific throughout and if the players involved were nothing but bloodthirsty cavemen-like individuals. The good news is that is not the case at all. There are some really nice moments here such as love found in unexpected places and there is a great amount of loyalty and honour amongst certain factions and troops. Stephens' debut is typically a good vs. evil tale yet it is only about halfway through that the sides seem fully aligned and that leads to some amazing plot twists up until that point. Out of the main characters, my personal favourites were Captain Crys who is a brave and influential soldier and the warrior Dom who is a seer who receives often unwanted messages from the Gods.

The world of Gilgoras is not as grandiose as some recent epic fantasy creations but it works well presenting the tales the book is trying to tell. The ARC I received didn't contain a map and this was fine so I would comment the final version probably doesn't need one either because of how descriptive the book is. The world building is excellent from the short sharp chapters leading the narrative to be presented via approximately twelve points of view perspectives. As the world isn't that large and the action normally only takes place in three or four locations at any time there will sometimes be a continuation or slight overlapping going from one character's portrayal of an event to another character's views of what comes next. The narrative will then switch elsewhere on the map to pursue what is happening in other areas.

This is the first book of a proposed trilogy. It concludes in pretty awesome fashion but it isn't really self-contained and is the first portion of the bigger picture the same way The Lord of The Rings was. The intense and climactic ending definitely makes me want to pick up the next, currently untitled book as soon as I can. I noticed a lot of intriguing statement snippets which I believe are seeds to more complex events and happenings and Stephens' is working hard on the groundwork here to ensure that the following books become more complex, deeper and ultimately fulfilling. There is a sort of cliffhanger during a certain siege and I am really intrigued to see how those events are concluded. Godblind is a thrilling, unrelenting and a brilliantly presented debut that lets readers walk on the darkest plains visited in the fantasy genre. Highly recommended. It is not for the faint-hearted but definitely for fans of Abercrombie's The First Law and for fans of ASOIAF's structure, characterisation and most brutal moments.

Did not enjoy this at all. The writing was very sloppy and the plot made absolutely no sense. Just full of fluff masquerading as a novel.