The premise of this book as well as the cover drew me in however the plot of the book just couldn't hold my interest and resulted in me dnfing it at 40%.
Thankyou to Net galley and Books Go Social for an arc..

Sci-fi is not a genre I usually prefer - I find it too abstract sometimes. But as I am currently entrenched up to my neck in fantasy, I thought, "Why not give sci-fi a go?" Which is why I picked up Hitchhiker and Challenges almost simultaneously.

Maybe that was where I went wrong. Because where Hitchhiker was a total ride (in a good way), Challenges of the Gods went awry. I won't make the mistake of comparing a legend with a relatively new book, however. Challenges of the Gods did have a good plot - the Gods have created a duplicate Earth and want someone to destroy it. They select Mike, our protagonist, for the task. He is now riddled with the moral dilemmas one faces before executing such a horrific action.

Mike was insufferable. He thinks he knows everything, but, in fact, has to be spoon-fed information by none other than (wait for it) a BEAUTIFUL woman. So, basically, we know how good-looking she is within the first chapter, but we don't know anything about the world that these people inhabit. Which is not a bad thing in the first chapter, but is considered poor form if it continues until the end...

Then there is the plot itself. There are characters who appear to be cardboard cutouts and don't show any positive or negative development throughout the book. The jokes are bad, and the worldbuilding is almost nil.

I am reading both the Wheel of Time and Hitchhiker during this time, and beside these giants, Challenges of the Gods paled in comparison. And by pale, I mean, it lost all colour and assumed a grey shade (which it lost eventually, too).

But the writer has a good grip on writing and knows how to keep the story moving. He also keeps the chapters short and makes the reader turn the pages. For this ability and his superb storyline, I give this book 3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC.

DNF at 20% This book and me didn’t connect the way I would we would. Absolutely nothing is wrong with the book just not my style.

I love the plot idea but everything else falls flat. Amnesiac characters a cheap way to put a character in a new environment. The dialog and pacing was also poorly executed and took away from a really interesting idea. The ending also left a lot to be desired.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. The narrative as not for me and while the premise is interesting, the tagline on the cover doesn't make sense for anything beyond the first couple of chapters.
They concept that they are saving an alternate Earth is cool, but then at every chance the main character tells us some major differences on how his home, Jora, is massively different from this Earth.
I also did not enjoy the main character's inner monologue.