Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner is a thrilling fantasy debut filled with drama and danger. The book gets off to an explosive start where we meet Kissen and her family as they are about to be sacrificed to a Fire God. Thanks to the intervention of a Water God and the swift thinking of her father Kissen escapes with her life, but not with all her limbs. The story then moves on several years, the worship of Gods has been outlawed by royal decree and Kissen is making a living as a Godkiller. When she meets a god she cannot kill because he is somehow bound to a young Noblewoman and killing him would endanger her , she reluctantly agrees to travel with them to the ruined city of Blenraden where the last remaining Gods survive to see if they can be safely separated. Along the way they meet Elogast, a former knight turned baker who is travelling to the city for reasons of his own. As this band of unlikely allies make their way through the countryside they face dangers that will bring them closer together as long as the secrets they are hiding do not tear them apart.
Kissen is a great protagonist, often cantankerous to the point of rudeness but with a steak of compassion and kindess that she does her best to hide. I loved having a main character in a book with such an emphasis on a quest be an amputee, while the author alludes to the difficulties that she faces , she also showcases how it can be a strength. Kissen is also bisexual , but to me the romance subplot with Elogast was one of the weakest aspects of the book, it added nothing to the story. The other character that I was most interested in was Skediceth, the God of Small Lies , I thought it gave an interesting dynamic to have a god and godkiller in such forced proximity,
The writing style was good, descriptive and atmospheric, and I enjoyed the world building and history the author incorporated into the story. On the more negative side I felt that the short chapters and continuous jumping between the four point of view characters made the book feel a little choppy and disjointed.
The ending was very dramatic and certainly left me keen to see where the story is going next.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I was very excited about this novel as I love stories about gods, but this was a very mixed bag for me. Lets start with the positive aspects: I loved all the queer aspects and the representation of bodily differences.
But I'm afraid that there are more things that did not work for me. It can be nice to have different POVs, but not all of them are equally interesting and I struggled to care for some of the characters which made these chapters rather boring. The characters in general did not feel fully developed. They had one or two traits and that was it. This is not how real people work. The pacing felt really uneven and the plot predictable. But I kept reading and hoping for me. All in all, 2.5 stars.

This is by far one of the best books I have read.. On a journey that sees a god, a noble child, a knight and a god killer come together on s path that each have to travel on that shows that things are never what you appear. the unlikely group travel against all obstacles to overcome face Gods and demons and learn more and out each other and themselves as they go
I grew to love each of the characters their flaws and all and the book had an ending that if I could I would pick up book two straight away as I need more.
The world building is so well written and I can not wait to see what happens next.
It’s only January and I think this book will be hard to beat as this year’s favourites

Hannah Kaner’s debut is a captivating and engrossing fantasy romp that kept my interest from the very first chapter all the way through the end.

Set in a Scandinavian inspired world, Godkiller follows four POVs— a god hunter, a former knight turned baker, a young noblewoman and a minor god without a shrine. Each are unique in their own right and I loved the way Kaner really dove into their individual personalities, interests and motivations. It’s no easy feat to do several POVs that each manage to be well fleshed out enough to draw you into their stories, both as individuals and as part of the wider plot, but Kaner accomplishes it with masterful skill, especially for a debut.

Drawing on both mythology and history, Godkiller follows a quest type narrative of gods and humans colliding and delves into the power of faith and the lengths you’ll go to for your beliefs. I found for such a short book the narrative did not fee over-full and found the twists and pacing to be really well done. There were a few bits I was confused on and found the world a little slow for me to sink into, but especially considering the length it really did a great job of building a vast and intriguing world that made me excited to see what else Kaner might do with it. I also loved the diversity within both the POVs and the world to be well executed and refreshing.

Overall, Godkiller was a well developed and compelling debut I’ll definitely be recommending!

Okay so full honesty, I dnf'd this - so please disregard the rating but I want to explain why - because it wasn't the book.

So I've read other reviews for Godkiller so I can say that if you like fast-paced, multiple POV, a badass female main character you will enjoy Godkiller. The book gives off very much witcher vibes where godkillers are paid to kill gods, as the worship etc. has been banned... toss a coin to your godkiller anyone?

I too also like the above but I couldn't get into it, I really liked Kissen our main character a one-legged, sexually fluid Godkiller. There's also Inara - a young noble girl who goes to Kissen for help as she's become bound to a god of white lies - which wouldn't be a problem for Kissen normally - she could just go Godkiller on them except the god doesn't have a shrine and that's where their quest begins. They are later joined by a knight who completes this fellowship of four.

My issue is that the POVs changed constantly and that the chapters were very short. I couldn't get into because as soon as I did the POV would change. I really did have high hopes for this book but I think it's still solid, it's just not for me, I like to sit with the characters and I unfortunately couldn't do that here.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK and Hannah Kaner in exchange for an ARC for my honest review.

This book was unfortunately not for me at all.

The concept was intriguing - a journey with a god, a young girl, a knight and a godkiller. However, the execution left a lot to be desired. The plot was flat and uninspired. The ‘twist’ at the end was painfully obvious from the start. The plot had one pace - medium. It was dreadfully boring.

The characters were two-dimensional at best. Their turmoil and passions are shown to us in black and white from minute one without a shade of nuance. The relationships were poorly developed and unbelievable. We do see development of some characters but it is so over handed and on-the-nose, that it felt cheap and false.

Overall, I found very little to enjoy about this book and I think there are far better books available in this sub-genre. I rarely DNF books and I never DNF ARCs; this book was the biggest test that standpoint has had.

Just want you want from a fantasy novel, God's, battles, warriors, conflicted troubled characters, and great world building. I real page turner.

Four great characters, with very different stories, are brought together through circumstance and form a bond that gets them through ever worsening trials with a seemingly homeless ending. The author has built such a convincing world you get lost and truly invested in their story. Can't wait for the next book.

3.5 stars rounded up

I was really excited for this one, the premise is great and it got me intrigued so I jumped in when I received a review copy from Harper Voyager (thank you!).

Godkiller was a mixed bag for me, I went through stages of steaming through some chapters to feeling a little lost. For me, there were too many POVs - I didn't need them all as regularly as they appeared. I found Skedi to be tedious but also, his chapters were probably the most interesting in a way as he is a God so seeing how he thought was a nice touch however, I think that this will need to develop by a long way in book two for it to mean anything.

Kissen is really the protagonist - she is bisexual, an amputee and can speak in sign language - all elements I was on board with! I pictured her a little like Aloy from the Horizon games. She got the most page time, which I liked - she was highly unlikeable personality wise (very prickly) and that really appealed to me but I lost interest in her relationship with the other main characters. Most of this book is the group travelling across a country so you would expect relationships to develop but I struggled to connect with that myself.

What this book did bring was twisties and they were good so I hope they can be continued!

I am curious to continue with the series, I will read book two and hope there is more world building and god action as I'd like to see it! I definitely agree with a few other readers that this book gives off Witcher (Ciri) vibes although I've not read them so couldn't comment on how well it would 'compare'.

☆☆☆½

How to put my thoughts on this book into words? Now there’s the million dollar question.

I had a lot of positive and negative thoughts whilst reading Godkiller, at first my thoughts were mainly negative, I couldn’t get into the book despite the interesting characters and I didn’t care for what was happening - I couldn’t tell you if it was the writing or how the story was moving, I just wasn’t into it - I actually ended up skimming the first 30% with the only parts I hadn’t skimmed being the prologue and Elogasts first chapter (which foolishly led me to believe I’d like his other chapters (within the first 30%) I was wrong though because I ended up skimming them too). I kind of wanted to give up on the book, nothing was keeping me hooked or entertained and it was starting to feel like a chore to read but then I got to just past the 30% mark and started to get into the book (characters and all). Whilst I still didn’t love it, it was better than what came before so I ended up sticking around waiting to see what the book could deliver, it was just past the 50ish% mark that I started to enjoy what I was reading, I was starting to enjoy the characters and their stories and what was happening, though the enjoyment wasn’t massive it was enough to keep me reading. Although I was still skimming the odd couple of paragraphs (which I kept doing until the end) I wasn’t skimming anywhere near as much as I was at first. Towards the end of the book I hardly skimmed anything and actually properly enjoyed the end, I even teared up a little.

Overall I enjoyed the main characters but at times I felt I enjoyed the characters more when reading about them from the other POVs than their own. Skediceth was the only character who I felt disinterested with at the end, not that he was a bad character I just didn’t care for him that much though I enjoyed some of his story later on in the book.

The romance unfortunately was a miss for me and in more ways than I suppose you could say. It took me a while to figure out they were meant to be each other’s love interest and even when I realised they were going to get together I didn’t really care for them (like at all lmaoo), not that I disliked or even hated them either. I honestly just thought they were going to end up on the same team and be friends or whatever. When they did get together I was thinking ‘Oh, is that it?’, like the romance aspect of the book was an absolute miss for me (in the way I missed it (that it was going to happen)) and the way I was so disinterested by it.

One of the books strong points was the plot twist at the end, I hadn’t seen it coming and with a certain POV giving us their reaction when it happened I was shocked and feeling all types of emotions like )/&:!:!:!!:. It definitely left me excited for book2 and that’s not even mentioning the other stuff that happened at the end (like with Kissen).

Another part I enjoyed was the Gods and their system? the way they were made and sustained and how they bought hope and ruin to people, and how every God was different whether they fought in the war or didn’t, what they offer to people and why.

The book surprisingly ended on a good note for me and I will be picking up the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC.

Godkiller is either going to be the one you love or the one that you don't. For me I really enjoyed it, for a debut novel this honestly ticked quite a few boxes.

So if you love:
Fantasy
Strong Female Lead Character
Queer Representation
Character Growth
Monsters
Grumpy Sunshine trope but reverse it (female grumpy/ male sunshine)
Betrayal
Adventure

Then this is the book for you. Does it have some issues, yes but honestly it was a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. You got to see not only the characters physically go on an adventure and test their own strengths as well as put faith in others but you got to see them grow as well. There is a lot of mystery and there are several subplots going on in this book. They aren't obvious but they are there and you start to see them unravelling the more you get into the book.

Hannah Kraner honestly wrote a well thought out a magical adventure including Gods and Monsters, but is it the humans that are monsters or is it the Gods?

Absolutely loved this incredibly strong debut. The whole concept of the world was fascinating, the relationships between gods and humans was a really interesting one and I really enjoyed exploring how it impacted the different characters and informed their history and their choices. Kissen was my favourite because I am always all about the angry stabby FMC, but I really liked all the characters and the ways they developed as they became closer. Definitely can't wait for the sequel to this one!

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner is a great start to a series, even from the prologue I was intrigued by the setting and characters we are introduced to and it only got better from there.

The way gods exist in this world I found to be unique and interesting. Requiring shrines to survive, having the power to bend the world to their will but only if they are worshipped and ultimately being able to be killed by humans sets up a great power dynamic which sucked me in from the start. The magic system in this world associated with the gods also added a lot of intrigue to the story.

A big positive for this book is it's characters, a found family situation in which each don't know whether they can trust each other, but ultimately want to, brings along a heart-warming aspect to the story. I found each character interesting and so didn't mind when we switched point of view quite often, though my favourite was Kissen from start to finish. Overall there is 4 POVs, not so many that it becomes confusing but enough that it also keeps it interesting. I'm not usually a fan of child characters in adult fantasy books but Inara had an interesting enough plotline and characteristics that she won me over by the end.

The plot in this first book is solid and allows us to explore the world and characters enough so that we get a good idea of the situation presented along with a backstory to why the world is the way it is. This book is quite short on average for a fantasy instalment and I think due to this I was left feeling a little underwhelmed by what is covered plot wise. The ending was great and I was satisfied by how it rounded up, but felt we could have gone a little further.

Overall, I rated this book 4 stars and I'll definitely be picking up the next instalment in this series.

Ok I want to be one of those people who say they aren’t influenced by covers… but I can’t. This cover is a work of art that instantly drew me in, then I read the blurb and I was all in!
Let’s just say….the story inside is just a a good as the cover makes you think it’s going to be.
We have 4 povs in this book, and I’m always a fan of multiple POV as I love seeing things unfold from different perspectives, but sometimes you always get that one character that makes you want to skip their chapters. That didn’t happen in this book. For a book that’s relatively short (in the fantasy genre) - it packs a lot in. Hannah has created an incredible world, but going into this I thought it was a standalone! Now I’m rocking back and forth in a corner waiting for an announcement for the sequel. (Please be soon).
What an amazing debut. 5/5.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner introduces her new fantasy series and is a pretty strong debut.

The story centres around four main characters, Kissen, who kills gods for a living. Elogast, former knight commander and best friend to the king. Inara, a dispossessed child that was once the daughter of a high ranking aristocrat and Skidiceth, an antlered, winged rabbit god thing that happens to be the god of white lies and is now attached for some inexplicable reason to Inara.

Godkiller kicks off straight away as we meet Kissen as a little girl. The action stars immediately as we meet Kissen and her family in the process of being sacrificed to a god of fire. Kissen escapes with the help of her father who releases her from afiery death by amputating her leg which she has trapped in the fiery inferno.

We then skip forwards a number of years to Kissen all grown up and is now freelancing as a Veiga, a trained Godkiller. After an incident with a god, she finds herself being hired by the child Inara, who has a slight god problem in that she is attached to Skidiceth the god of white lies. It seems that she cannot move far from the god without it causing them both physical pain. Inara and the god both wish to be separated, but there is only one way to go, a trip to a dead city and Kissen's past.

In the meantime, Elogast, the former knight commander has forsaken his former life and now lives as a baker in a poor mining town, feeding the local residents. However, one night, a figure from his past gives him a quest, which as you guessed it, sends him on the same path as Kissen, Inara and Skidiceth.

One of the main strengths of Godkiller is the interactions between the characters and how they each reach their goals. Hannah Kaner uses familiar fantasy tropes.such as found family and gods to tell the story. On the whole this book works well, particularly the relationship between humans and gods. It does tip its hat towards The Witcher, but there are also other influences in there, particularly the representation of the gods which feels like a hark back to Terry Pratchett's Small Gods and how the gods infest all aspects of life.

There are bits that didn't work for me, particularly the travelling aspect of the story, which I always find a little difficult in fairness and is one of the tropes that doesn't sit particularly well for me. However, this is buoyed by the interactions of the characters and this for me elevated this particular aspect to one that I could be invested in.

Godkiller is a strong debut that uses familiar fantasy tropes, but it is its characters that makes it feel like a fresh addition to the fantasy genre.

Godkiller is a wonderful debut by Hannah Kaner.  The narrative is split into four narrators: Kissen, the eponymous Godkiller; Elogost retired Knight of King Arren; Inara, orphaned noble who has been cloistered so far in her life and is bonded with Skediceth a small god of white lies. Kissen and Ianara are thrown together when Inara's world collapses.  

Oh how did I love this novel.  This world is dark and frightening.  Gods are real and they can grow to be exceedingly powerful depending on how much belief they receive. Some years prior to the novel the humans rebelled against the gods that had become too powerful, or too wild and a war was fought.

 Kissen fought in that war against the gods and since then has made her living dealing with the aftermath.  Killing gods who were causing people bother, removing shrines, when she is paid she does the work.  I loved her as a character, an orphan, she was supposed to be a sacrifice along with the rest of her family but her father maimed her so that she could escape.  Her found family who are her hearth and home.  

Elo from Kings Guard to baker, he has found his own way of dealing with the world post the battle with the gods. Drawn to Blenraden as his King is sick and the answers to why lie there.

Inara and Skediceth child and god of white lies who are inextricably bound,need to visit Blenraden to find a way to separate. Kissen agrees to take her, she sees herself in the young girl.

The novel coalesces around these four as they are bound together in a trip to Blenraden the site of the war.

What I loved, disabilities and mental illness were foregrounded, queer representation. A really satisfying novel that looked at the toll of the aftermath of such a war and didn't flinch from it.  The pace of the novel was slow to begin, the characters seeminly unlinked until they are drawn together and forged into a team by attacks by demons which grow in frequency and intensity, but just who are they after?

This was a brilliant debut.  I lookforward to the sequel, there has to be one, right?

Godkiller is published by Harper Voyager on 19th January 2023

I was completely entranced by this exciting and new addition to the fantasy isle!

If the cover wasn’t enough to completely draw me in, the rich world building, featuring gods and their benevolence and fury, certainly would have done it!

Not to mention the layered character work and the relationships built between our four main characters!

Godkiller not only lavishes us in world building, it also sets up several intrigues that kept me guessing and engaged until the very end!


Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for a honest review!

Thank you for my eARC of this book. I wanted to love this but I just didn’t get on with the writing style and it didn’t engage me, and so didn’t finish. If I manage to read at another time I’ll update my review.,

What a debut!
I loved everything about this book. The worldbuilding was subtle but in-depth, and didn't feel like a big info-dump at all. The characters were extremely well fleshed out. Each chapter is written in a different perspective and each of their voices was distinct. Usually with this style of book, I tend to favour one character over the other, but I found all of the perspectives refreshing and all added so much value to the story. I really feel like these characters were the highlight of this book.
The plot was fast moving and action packed, and really expanded on this intricate world. Kaner's prose is really tight and punchy, and manages to get things moving quickly while still managed to describe things beautifully. I'm super excited to see what the next book holds, but there is so much possibility to this world. I would love to see a prequel written too!

Godkiller is a strong fantasy debut from Hannah Kaner. It begins with water and fire and a young woman who can kill gods. And sometimes gods do need killing, because once they have love, affection and a shrine, they often tend to malignancy and abusing the very people who have cared for them so much.

It's not long until godkiller Kissen (arguably the main character although there are four points of view) bumps into a young noble girl on her own, in desperate need of help, who's hiding a god up her sleeve. Literally. In search of this help, they travel to a city devastated by gods. On the same path is Elo, once a baker and before that a knight to the King, who's also in need of aid.

Paths cross and gods attack...

It takes a few chapters to fully settle into the four viewpoints but you soon understand who they are in relation to one another and the plot quickly begins to come together.

I really enjoyed the story, and found it reminiscent (in a good way) of The Witcher (both the books and the TV show). Kissen is a tough cookie, hated by many, but she has incredible sympathy for her charge Inara, despite the small god she's travelling with.

Kissen and Elo develop an interesting relationship. They're both keeping secrets close to their hearts, secrets that could get them killed - yet they're essentially good people who want to do what's right.

The pacing worked for me - yes there is journeying in the middle but actually I quite enjoyed that!

It does end somewhat abruptly. The main plot is wrapped up but there are a couple of secrets leftover that signify this may be the start of a series rather than a standalone. Personally, I'd welcome more - but if you'd rather read a series only when it's complete, then be warned!