DNF @ 40%

I really wanted to love this but sadly it just didn't pull me in. The concept and plot are full of potential however, the execution just didn't appeal to me. I couldn't connect to any of the characters and struggled to become invested in the story. I also got quite confused at times about what was actually going on and it wasn't always clear who's point of view we were reading from at times.

As soon as I saw that this was about Gods, I immediately wanted to get my hands on it and this feeling was only compelled further from reading the blurb…  The gods were all but wiped out, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage and any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied. Who doesn’t want to dive in head first?

The book is set in a world where there are humans, and gods (people with silver blood and magical powers). We also have half god, meaning that the person only has some of the attributes of a god. All of the Gods have varying powers it is very rare to find more than one person with the same power. The gifts the Gods have are called demesne.

The book starts in the middle of the action. Hero and her self-adopted brother are on the run and are racing to find their friend/sister Kestrel and the fearful Guardsmen on their trail. This scene had me on the edge of my seat, and kept me there. It was brilliant and this pace was kept up throughout the book. Two generations ago, Gods started to be born from mortal women and soon became so violent and unpredictable that the humans turned against them and started using the guardsmen to defeat the gods. As readers we are quickly introduced to Josh’s power, which is the ability to manipulate light. We’re not immediately told what Hero’s power is, but it is clear that Josh is much more powerful than she is although she has the ability to heal others. Hero and Josh’s relationship is strained and is getting worse the more time that passes without Kestrel, Hero’s sister (not by blood). The three of them have stuck together since they met at the Orphanage - it’s been them against the world for as long as they can remember.

The world it is set in is more modern than I thought it would be and I thought the world-building was done well. Although it would maybe nice to learn a little more about why people hate the gods. But aside from that, I thought this was a really strong element of the book. The book is written in three parts, each narrated in first person. Part one is told by Hero, a seventeen-year-old girl who has escaped from an orphanage (where children are kept, in case they are gods) with her brother Joshua. Part two is told by Raven a ten-year-old girl. Finally, part three is told from Kestrel's perspective.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought all the characters were very well built. There's a theme of power corrupting, for gods and humans alike ran throughout and kept my interest. I think it was entertaining while still having a lot of depth, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

This is only barely 3 stars as I tend to not give less than that as I realise what a monumental thing it is to write a book. And I think that is part of the problem here. Orphanage of the Gods is pretty intense with way too much going on and it turned a really promising story into one that eventually became a chore to read.

The premise and cover are amazing. This is the kind of story I like, but as the book progressed it became way too complicated and muddled especially with it being YA. I just couldn't get into it or feel much for the characters past Hero.

What a shame because I had such high hopes for this. I think it could be really good with some more character development, or things being fleshed out and spread over more books. But as it stands it's just not what it (and I) hoped it would be.

The premise of this sounds similar to strange the dreamer so was a bit hesitant, but other than it’s about gods and god spawn it is completely different. I did enjoy this but found it a bit slow to start, although action starts straight away I found it hard to get into at the beginning. But I felt there was a bit too much action going on for me, needed a bit of a slow down at some points or could have been spread over another book. I couldn’t really connect to the characters as much as I’d like, there were no shades of grey in them. It was a good read but I feel could have been better.

My feelings for this book are mixed, I enjoyed it but there was a few things that I felt were missing or could be better. So this review will be split into two parts: things I liked and this I disliked. The book is in three parts, the first part I really liked, the second part I didn't like and the third was okay.

Things I liked:
The concept - I liked the idea of gods. Anyway the concept for this was really good and it was the synopsis that got me to read this. The concept is done well but I think there could have been more world building.
The action - This book is full on action from the beginning.
The powers - there is three types of people in this book; god, half-breed and human. Gods have silver blood, half breeds have grey blood and humans have read blood. I liked how this worked and the humans in the book aren't helpless but they also fear the 'gods' which I enjoyed.
The power theme - there is a theme of power corrupts throughout the book which is okay but it isn't resolved.

Things I disliked:
The action - the action was almost non stop. It felt it could have been three books instead of one. It begins in the middle of the action and just stays there until the end.
The switch between present and past - this book seemed to switch from present POV to the past where they are in the orphanage without signposting it which made it feel a little jumpy.
People are good or evil no inbetween - I love grey characters be Ashe the world isn't set in black or white and most people in this book just seem bad.
I wanted more - I wanted more world building and history and I wanted to feel connected to this world and characters but instead I just couldn't connect. Maybe if things slowed down a little I would have connected with the characters more. I can't believe I'm saying a book needs to slow the action down.

I had high hopes for this book the synopsis made it sound so good. But I struggled to get into it. At first I thought it was the first few chapters setting the story up, but after a time it started to bore me. I was confused in places, I couldn't figure out who was speaking. There wasn't much world building and so much going back and forth from past to present made me feel dizzy and it wasn't clearly defined that we had switched one to the other. I'm sorry to say I did not finish this I got about half way through when I put it down and haven't had the desire to pick it up again. This book had so much potential, it just needs more depth of world and character buliding, and it would be amazing!

I was given an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The concept of The Orphanage of Gods sounds great, and really it sounds like something I would normally adore. That being said, I really struggled to connect with the characters and their motivations. I wasn't captivated enough to continue reading, and it has actually taken me three attempts at reading it to get through; that was due to personal perseverance rather than my overall enjoyment of the book. If I'm completely honest I can't say why it didn't suit me. There was action, and there was suspense, but I just didn't enjoy the characters enough to care about their goals etc. I'm so sad, because I really wanted to love it, and it seemed from the synopsis that I would. I regret to say that I have to give 2.5*, but this just wasn't for me.

This was one of my most highly anticipated novels of the year but I felt really let down by it. Imagine Americans gods but for YA which sounds like it would be great... but really isn’t. I found it confusing, and it left me disinterested. I felt no emotional attachment to the characters regardless of what happened to them, I just couldn’t forge a connection.

An unusual and gripping YA fantasy told from three POVs. The gods were all killed some time ago (silver blooded people with powers) and the children of the gods were shut up in an orphanage under guard. At the least hint of any of them manifesting any powers, the child in question disappears. The story follows Hero as she escapes and goes on a quest to get her sister back. The blurb makes it sound reminiscent of Strange the Dreamer but it really isn’t like that at all. I was completely invested in this beautifully written, character driven tale. My only complaint was that the ending felt cut off short.

I really liked the start of the book with Hero but once we got on to Raven the book when down hill i found its hard to read and couldn't finish its. I was sad about its has i loved the start.
I received this book from netgalley in exchange for a honest review .

I ended up quite enjoying reading this book, I wasn't sure at the beginning if I would or not, I found the opening quite slow and it's quite hard to gauge the characters' motivations at first (they are revealed in a bit more detail later on in the book) but the synopsis promised quite a few of the things that I loved in YA when I read it as a teenager so I powered through to see whether they would come through. 

For the most part, they did. This book does feel, in some ways, like an amalgamation of various YA tropes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it certainly doesn't feel like a rehashing of anything else, but there is a level of familiarity in some of the ideas that I think many readers will enjoy. 

At first, certainly for the opening chapters, this book gave me major Maximum Ride vibes, I mean the early years before they got a bit weird and preachy. You have these characters with special powers on the run from an institution that wants to kill them. The more fantastical element in this story is that the characters are not science experiments but the children of Gods. Not named Gods, this isn't a Percy Jackson rip-off, but unnamed entities known as Gods most, if not all, of whom have been killed off or exiled before the book begins. I loved this idea, and it was a nice way of having 'superpowered' young adults without it feeling like it was just for the sake of plot convenience. There is also an element of Red Queen in there, with the children of Gods being identifiable from the colour of their blood. I'm not going to go so far as to accuse this book of copying ideas from other books, but you see what I mean about that familiarity of ideas? Some readers may not enjoy such familiarity, I personally found it good fun. 

I wasn't such a fan of the characters in this story, they did grow on me as the story went on, and later in the book, more characters are introduced who I related to a little bit more. I did like the exploration of a toxic relationship and the dangerous idea of protecting someone at all costs, but it did also mean that I couldn't quite comprehend or get on board with the fact that Hero was staying with and even protecting quite a toxic character for a good chunk of the book. As I say, the characters grow on you as the book goes on but you have to get yourself through those early chunks before the plot really starts going. 

I did enjoy the plot once it got started, it is worth sticking through the opening chapters because once the ball starts rolling it rolls fast. I will say that this felt darker and possibly a bit gorier than books like Divergent, and it gets there quicker than you would expect. This is what I would describe as an older YA book (but obviously that depends on the reader). I liked that this book wasn't afraid to ask big ethical questions and then to have it's characters not give the obvious answers. These characters make poor choices but it always makes sense that they do (I'm still talking about the latter half of the book of course). 

There is also a queer romance in this book but I can't go into too much detail otherwise I will end up spoiling it for you, but it is there and it isn't terrible.

I think this is a really good addition to the 'supernatural young adults against an oppressive regime' genre. Perhaps I've been looking in the wrong places but I feel like this genre has fallen out of favour with publishers of late, I'm excited for there to be more publishing in this area and I'm also inspired to re-read some of my old favourites. 

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really tried to enjoy this. It's just the sort of story I like. But the action is so breakneck, and all the characters are so confused all the time, it's hard to keep a handle on what's going on, or who's who, or who's on what side for what reason. Even the (extremely hurried) relationship was hard to follow or believe in.

This could be a great story if it was expanded out, allowed to breathe, given better explanations. As it is, I'm afraid it's just messy.


I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I tried very hard to read this book as it seemed like a great concept and storyline. However, in my opinion, the actual writing style and complicated plot lines that confused me, made it a difficult read. I abandoned it about 50% of the way through as I felt it was not worth trying to complete.

This book actually really surprised me. It wasn't quite what I was expecting when I read the blurb, but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I started out feeling quite neutral about it but as the book continued I started to get really invested in the story. The blurb did remind me a little of Strange the Dreamer, but it did not end up being at al similar.

The book is set in a world where there are humans, and gods (people with silver blood who have magical powers called a 'demesne'). You can also be a half god, meaning you only have some of the attributes of a god. This was an interesting concept and I was pretty intrigued by it. The world it is set in is more modern, however, which thew me a little, because I thought it was going to be more archaic. However, I soon became used to it and I think that made it a little more unique. I thought the world-building was well done, although it would maybe nice to learn a little more about the geography of the world and where the gods came from and why people hate them etc. But aside from that, I thought this was a really strong element of the book.

I liked the characters a lot. I didn't realise at first, but the book is told in three perspectives. Part One is told by Hero, a seventeen year old girl who has escaped from an orphanage (where children are kept in case they are gods) with her brother Joshua. She herself is half god. I enjoyed reading from her point of view. She seemed clever and resourceful, and she cared a lot about her brother, and her sister who they were searching for, and I thought she was a very solid character. Part Two; we switched to the point of view of a ten year old girl called Raven. I found this first POV change quite abrupt, but I did end up liking Raven in the end, although she wasn't my favourite perspective. Finally, Part Three was told from Kestrel's perspective, who is Hero's sister. I really liked her, she was very complex and her character was quite different to the other two. I loved the bond she and Hero shared, and it was refreshing to see two girls not pining for a boy who had discarded them both. I was very happy to see the representation of a female/female romance between Kestrel and Eliza (who was also a very complex and interesting character).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought all the characters were very well built. There were a few things that I had a few issues with - namely, the abrupt ending, and also the fact that I think some of the plot was tied up a little bit too fast at the end. But I think it was entertaining while still having a lot of depth, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan is a fantasy young adult book that I enjoyed.
The idea is similar to Strange The Dreamer, but the book actually is not. All the adult Gods have been killed and now the guards are trying to find their children to get rid of them either, The story is told from 3 perspectives, It's very much a plot driven book, which I like.
Lots of action, so you won't get bored. But, if you're after a lot of character development and characters to fall for, it's not that kind, Yet, the action in my opinion made up for that and I enjoyed it very much,
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reading the title, you may think it is similar to Strange the Dreamer, but it isn't. Yes, it has gods and god spawns and rivalry between then and humans, but that's where the similarities stop.

The Orphanage of Gods starts with Hero and Joshua -siblings(not my blood)- racing to find their friend/sister Kestrel. Kestrel was taken by Guardsmen when the three were trying to escape the orphanage.

A little backstory: There was a war where gods and god-lovers were slaughtered along with their children by people called Guardsmen( I think they are humans).Those children who survived were kept at an Orphanage and were bled to check if they were gods or not.

The story is told in the first person from the perspective of three persons: Hero, Raven, and Kestrel. There is a lot of action throughout the book and I wanted a breather every now and then. I couldn't connect with any of the characters because I believe so much was crammed into a single book.

I would have loved it if this fantasy was spilt into three or even two books for us to ease into the world and fall in love with the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC.

The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan is a fantasy young adult book.
All the adult Gods have been killed and now the guards and trying to find their children to dispose of them. Two of these teenagers are on the run and are trying to stay alive.
Plenty of action in this book but unfortunately I did not connect with the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. As a Classics nut who wouldn't want to read about gods and demi gods imprisoned in a strange orphanage making a bid for freedom? So I was suitably thrilled when the Netgalley elves agreed to my request for an e-ARC.
The Orphanage of the Gods starts in the middle of the action. Hero and her self-adopted brother are on the run, the malevolent and deadly Guardsmen on their trail. And that's kind of where my problem with this book lies. It starts out in the middle of the action and stays there, setting off on a breathless sprint full of fights and betrayals and deaths and twists and turns and revelations and the whole time the reader is jogging along yelling at it to slow down a little. Does anyone ever do yoga with Adrienne? In her deep stretch video (highly recommended) she says 'take a load off, already' and that's pretty much what I was saying throughout this book.
Hero and Joshua are hunted because they are demi-gods and gods (more like superheroes than Olympians, with silver blood and powers including accelerated healing). Two generations ago the gods started to be born from mortal women and soon became so violent and capricious that the people turned using the guardsmen (I'm not quite sure if they are human or genetically engineered, it's not clear) to defeat the gods. The oppressed becomes the oppressor, but at no point do any of the gods try and analyse their violent past and wonder how they can overcome it, even when a woman blames Hero for the loss of her small daughter at the hands of the gods many years ago. Why were they so evil so quickly? I have no idea. There's a theme of power corrupting, for gods and humans alike, but it's not resolved or explained in any way and is partly why the Joshua plot is so very unsatisfactory (no spoilers). Hero is a healer and therefore anti violence, and dreams of moving south to a new life although we never find out if gods live in other countries and if so are they persecuted or persecuting. The world building is a little shaky.
Anyway, Hero and Joshua are off to find the third part of their trip, Kestrel, a human girl from their orphanage who sacrificed herself to find them. She and Joshua are madly in love and her capture by the guardsmen starts to warp Joshua whose temper begins to simmer (literally, he has all sorts of fire power gifts) until Hero doesn't know who she can trust.
The book is written in three parts, each narrated in first person present (when, when will this trend end?) the second by Raven and the third by Kestrel. A lot of YA fantasy presents itself as a trilogy, often with a really good first book, a slow second and potentially redeeming third and the reader wonders if it could have just been one book all along. The Orphanage of the Gods is an exception - it would have made a great trilogy, because each part could easily have been drawn out into a full book (there may be more to come, the ending is ambivalent). Because there is so much crammed in, no characters are really fully formed. People are good or they are bad but there is little in between. Secondary characters are (spoiler) disposed of with red shirt Star Trek efficiency, and none of the narrators really stand out, their voices are the same. If each part was a book then all the characters would have had room to grow, to be more well rounded and the reader would understand their motivations, care about their fates and root for them. Instead we watch almost dispassionately as they rush by from crisis to crisis, place to place, betrayal to betrayal, instalove to instalove.
So in conclusion, this isn't a bad book, lots of the target audience will adore it and that's great. But if it had slowed down a little, developed the characters more, been more nuanced and worked on the world building then it could have been a really good book.