Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book is a sprawling tale of curiousity, violence, war, and agency. It's crammed with so many details on different people, cultures, planets, ships. This book is told from the POV of Maw, an immortal character who can't die. Sometimes immortal characters end up a little too over-powered or the story falls apart around them, but in this instance, Maw's inability to die doesn't mean he can't feel pain, loss, or fear. He is a sympathetic character, and I really felt for him as the book went on.

The worldbuilding is very clever. There's a lot of familiar concepts that any sci-fi fan would recognise, and it's also got some fresh ideas that I found fun and unique. I loved how all the different cultures were described. The love written into the story, both romantic and not, was beautiful and heartbreaking. I found the descriptions of the ships to be haunting and very fitting for the story.

There is a main plot about a catastrophic event that will occur in 100 years time, and discussions over who will live and who will die, and the governments overseeing all of this. And of course, there are tyrannical regimes and the escalation of war, and the effects it has on civillians.

I really enjoyed this, and will definitely be checking out the author's other work. I only wish the arc itself came with some sort of glossary/timeline, but maybe the finished copy will.

What a book! I will do my best to write a book worthy of my reading experience, even though it will be hard.

Let me start by saying that I am not a big sci-fi reader. There is something in that genre, both aesthetially and in the themes it treats (technology, colonisation of space, very artificial worlds with little nature or very grim nature) that don't suit me well. It's a texture and tactile thing for me. I know it doens't make much sense, but it's the way I feel my way through books. Still, I'm curious, and so from time to time, I try a sci-fi book. Most of the time, it doesn't work, but other times, like with "Vanished birds" or here with "Slow Gods", something clicks.

"Slow Gods" is a tale of curiosity, violence and of agency. Of cultures and worlds losts and brimming with life, of relationships (not only romantic love, all kinds of relationhsips). Claire North has done something with the cultures I can only appreciate deeply: lots of details, lots of life crammed into the story. The way she tells this story allows it: very descriptive, a flow ebbing in different directions, sometimes digging into the ground a little more before pursuing its route. With Maw as our main character and only point of view (first person narrative), propulsed by curiosity and the expectations of others, the story travels through worlds and years, creating a nice web of interconnected informations, enabling us to draw a picture of this part of the universe and a faint image what lay beyond.

I deeply appreciated the way Claire North added so many pronouns for different cutlures. I know some readers might be too perturbed by them, or distracted, but it helped me get buried into the tale, an immersive experience helping to have that sense of otherwordly story. Deeply loved how she managed to convey linguistics and way of thinking, with different characters and plot point. I felt so hard for Maw, or the thing that passes for Maw. Gripped from the start until his first death and after ; from his first steps on Adjumir until the supernova swept through space, with the hard choice it demanded.

Having more or less immortal main character can be a hard thing to pull off. It can make the stakes harder to convey well. But Claire North did it really well here. Maw incapacity to die isn't the main point of the story, and not being able to die doesn't mean you can't suffer. Being of dark isn't so simple, and we feel how Maw is lost at times, drifting through space and time, seeking something. He is not active as a protagonist as we often want in action pacted stories, but that doesn't mean he isn't active in his mind or perceptions.
There is something deeply touching in him, something I could recognise strongly. The way he perceived social interaction added to that, as well as the mysery cloaking the dark and the Slow. We don't really get an answer about them, or at least not a clear cut, easy one. And I think that's the main thing a loved about this book.

Yes, it is a sci-fi book, wth technology and science. But that doesn't mean all is known or controlable, that cultures and its weird littles quircks aren't there. In fact, they are there even stronger, irrational but oh so real and plausible. Nature is still there too. In different forms, sometimes less important, but still an imporant part of life. That's the kind of sci-fi I like en enjoy. Not sanitized and violent only. Organics is still very present.

As every sci-fi (all speculative fiction, really), "Slow Gods" is also a good allegory and look at our own world and current challenges. It's deeply grounded in our time, without being a one on one transposition. You can read between the lines, react as a human living in 2025, and still feel in another world, with a sense of wonder I rarely feel in sci-fi.

Touching, detailed and so curious, "Slow Gods" is definitely one of by best reads of 2025. An delightul experience.

I love reading Claire North’s books, and upon hearing that her latest read was a space opera, I couldn’t resist requesting it!

Mawukana na-Vdnaze is a pilot, however when they are found on a ship with a dead crew and a newfound love of the dark, it seems as though they may have been changed into something else entirely…

Slow Gods is such a well-plotted book with an awful lot of world(s)building. We learn about so many different species, cultures, customs and habitats across the universe. Everything feels so intricate and detailed, and I would love to see Claire North’s notes – I bet there are a lot of them! The idea of gender is very fluid, with some cultures having eight of them, and the chapter asides delve into additional detail on all of this as well. Each system has their own set of pronouns, which I haven’t seen explored in a book format before, but actually made it slightly easier to follow who was being referenced at all times.

I loved the main character of Maw, sometimes it’s hard to empathise with a main character who is basically immortal, and the plot spans many years with characters and worlds living and dying whilst Maw never changes. I liked the idea that they were corrupted by the dark in ways that even they didn’t seem to know the full extent of. I enjoyed these little peeks of horror and uncertainly framed around the lights going out.

The main plot is about a warning of a catastrophic event happening in 100 years which will wipe out life on many planets. We see how these different governments choose to react to this and essentially how some of them decide who will live and who will die. There’s also an uncurrent of rebellion of a tyrannical regime and challenging questions of how much immortal beings should intervene in what is going on around them. Maw also has some very human dilemmas of grief and heartbreak which makes it easier to empathise with them.

I’ve not read anything like this book in a while – it’s one of those stories which sits with you for a long time after you put it down. If I was to compare it with something, it reminded me of an Adrian Tchaikovsky novel and even in places of Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward series (but in a much more grown up fashion!).

Overall Slow Gods is a triumph of world-building and epic storytelling. Thank you to NetGalley & Little, Brown Book Group – Orbit for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Slow gods wasn’t like anything I’ve read before. I loved it but I will say that it required my full attention to read and took me much longer than a book of a similar length would usually take because I needed to keep checking back to make sure I was following everything. A glossary would be very welcome in the final print version that I’m definitely going to buy because although reading this was a bit of work it was completely worth it to read something completely unique and imaginative.

I really liked Maw as a narrator, the change from the way they described their life before their first death to later in the book when they describe themselves as a monster and the ghost of Hasha-to. Claire North’s writing is excellent and really brings to life Maw’s story from the terror of their first trip as a pilot to their frustration to waking up in the morgue to find their captors want to shoot them again to see what happens.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is a lingering, sprawling horror of a space opera and I have loved getting lost in the dark.

‘𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩; 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨. 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚? 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧?’

This book had me feeling uncomfortable in the best possible way. I really, really loved North’s prose, the writing was a beautiful contrast to the dark and the unknown (and known) horrors of space. I felt like I was taken through the full spectrum of the human condition and left with a feeling of hope, despite it all.

I don’t think this book will be for everyone, it’s not a straightforward read but I found it reflective of our MC and it worked really well for me. I’m not sure if a glossary will be included in the final version but if you, like me, don’t mind being a little lost in a new world, and enjoy discovering and learning as you go, you will be fine without one.

The previous novel of the author that I read, The Sudden Appearance of Hope, was a deeply personal story about a human forced to live under extraordinary circumstances. After reading the announcement of Slow Gods, I expected something similar from it – but this time in a setting of a distant future where humanity has settled on many different planets.
This novel, however, turned out to be not quite what I anticipated. To me, the protagonist felt more like an observer and reporter of grand events than a driving force behind the story, and unfortunately, I’ve never really rooted for Mawukana. But even though Slow Gods didn’t entirely match my expectations, I still enjoyed it a lot. I think it will also appeal to any reader looking for a story about futuristic societies facing the threat of annihilation.

Slow Gods has a really awesome concept. There are perhaps various stories within it. One of these is the story of Mawukana na-Vdnaze, an entity born out of the dark of Arcspace (a kind of alternate dimension used to travel long distances across the universe, but something is always watching), apparently a copy of a dead pilot with all of his memories. It is also a story about a supernova: a binary star system in its death throes will wipe out all planets in a certain radius including Adjumir and the worlds of The Shine. How do we decide who and what to save? Finally, it's a story about The Slow: an extremely powerful and intelligent Quan (somewhat equivalent to a robot). Some worship it as a god, but its true desires and purpose are unknown.
There's a lot going on in this book and Claire North is an incredibly skilled writer. The prose was absolutely gorgeous, I had to read some passages over and over again just because of how beautiful they were! Emotion bled through the pages. It wasn't often violent, but when it was it was sharp and effective and raw.
I really loved the universe Claire North has built. I honestly could have read a whole book just discussing all of the different cultures and species. It was very dark in places: the tyranny of The Shine is depressingly realistic in its dehumanisation of those in society deemed to be 'lesser'. Yet there's also so much hope and it felt so wonderfully human because of that: the characters never stop struggling and it's often brutal, but they also never stop loving and hoping and trying to improve their world.
Slow Gods tackles some deep themes: what is the meaning of existence? How should we choose to live our lives in an apparently meaningless universe? What is it to be a god? What does the death of a civilisation and culture look like? When do the ends justify the means? How do we choose who lives and dies in apocalyptic events? And it's generally pretty successful in the discussion of these themes. It most of the time doesn't give straight answers, just leaves the reader to mull over the ideas. A lot of the ideas aren't necesarily anything groundbreaking or new, but I appreciated them nonetheless and the way they explored integrated really naturally and beautifully throughout.
I think my only problem with the book is to do with our protagonist Mawukana. They were super interesting and I did find their POV wonderfully unique, but it felt like they never really had that much of an impact on the story for most of the book and instead were just pulled along passively by the plot. This led to a bit of a disconnect for me and it became difficult to get invested when the main character just sort of let things happen and never made much of a decision for most of the middle chunk. The middle dragged for this reason and I did struggle to push through it despite really loving the beginning and ending. I did enjoy reading about all of Mawukana's inner turmoil and relationships and their inaction did make their ultimate development and agency at the end really satisfying, but I would have preferred them to be a little more active in the story as a whole.
To conclude, Slow Gods is a poignant and beautiful story about survival and meaning and humanity. It's really well crafted, wonderfully written and I really enjoyed the themes, diversity, and worlds even if I was left a little frustrated by the main character's inaction. A lot of people are really going to enjoy the atmosphere and emotions of this book, definitely pick it up if you're looking for science fiction that explores the human experience and defies boundaries and definition. This review could honestly be dozens of pages long but I'm going to leave it there so that I don't spoil anything for new readers! Go pick it up when it comes out in November (though you probably don't need convincing after seeing that gorgeous cover).

Am truly stretched to describe this book, and my impression of it. I am fundamentally driven by narrative/ plot and character, so a slow, philosophical space opera (yes, I did just write that) is not for me. Except... it was. I just can't say why. There were definitely times (many of them, especially early/ middle) where nothing seemed to be happening. There were certainly times when I thought I would DNF, even thought the writing is lovely and the protagonist... unique. But I did stick with it, and found myself really pulled in. I just cant explain why. So here I am giving the book 5 stars, when at times I thought it would push a 3...
I loved the author's first two books, and have remained incredibly impressed by the scope of her style/ subject/ pacing. She's like a literary polymath. You never know what to expect.
This one reminded me - at different moments, and bewilderingly - of: 12 Years A Slave, The Great Gatsby, Anne Leckie, The Curious Incident and a mishmash of other random reads.
I am not sure that I loved it. But I am very impressed

Wow. Easily one of my favourite books of the year, but fuck me for having to try to describe why.

Thank you to the publisher, Orbit, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this slow, contemplative take on space opera - there was lots to mull over, and the writing was lush and flowing. Though Slow Gods is very reflective and character focussed, our narrator doesn't feel particularly fleshed out - especially in contrast to the support cast they meet along the way. Whilst for some books this would be a negative, in Slow Gods this is an effective device, showing them dealing with who they have become. The different worlds we encounter also felt very real and carefully curated. Although not a book with an urgency behind it (there were some high-stakes moments, but the overarching plot felt less urgent), I was keen to pick it up again every time, simply because reading it was such a great experience.

Having read other books by Claire North I was intrigued to find out what tale she would weave in the space opera/sci fi genre, it’s a thoughtful and intellectual story, I really enjoyed it and will be getting the audiobook when it is released

The words “space opera” don’t necessarily wet my whistle per se but I loved Clare North’s first novel and wanted to give this one a try - I’m very glad I did! Mawukana’s voice was so unique, and I loved learning about all of her lives. The premise is so inventive, and I would recommend this novel highly to any science or speculative fiction fan.