She was never meant to save a god. He was never meant to remember her.

In a world where gods linger at forgotten shrines and twisted spirits hunger for worship, Emika is a Reitsumeyoke, trained to purify the land of sugami, gods warped by envy and neglect. Quiet and observant, she carries the weight of sacred duty while the divine order begins to crumble. When the mountain god falls silent and ancient wards collapse, she’s sent into the forest with only her talismans and a mission no one dares to name.

Waiting in the trees is Mu, her childhood friend and guardian, now a minor god bound by curses, memory loss, and a past he doesn’t fully understand. He’s sarcastic, jaded, and far more powerful than he should be. As they journey together, secrets surface about vanished gods, broken alliances, and the curse that ties their fates. The deeper they go, the more dangerous their path becomes.

Their connection begins as duty but slowly becomes something heavier. It’s quiet and aching, built in the pauses between battles and the silence after hard truths. They protect each other, trust each other, and find themselves changed by that closeness. What grows between them is intimate, fragile, and central to the story’s heart.

Emika grows from a quiet girl carrying duty into someone more defiant, emotionally open, and ready to challenge the gods themselves. Mu hides behind dry humor and distance, but his walls break as loyalty, guilt, and tenderness rise to the surface. Together they’re shaped by sacrifice and by choices that test who they are and what they’re willing to risk.

Emika and the Sekai no Kami no Kokoro is ultimately a story about memory, sacrifice, and love that endures even when it shouldn’t. It asks what remains when power is stripped away, when the gods themselves demand choices no mortal should have to make, and when the bond between two people becomes both salvation and loss.

-Kyma. 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐃𝐒' 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐘𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ⵑ

What happened here, you ask?! So many fascinating things that I couldn't tear myself away from. This is practically a ready-made script for a movie, or perhaps an anime. I haven't seen many, I can count them on one hand, but one based on the plot of this novel, I would absolutely love to see. It's incredibly rare for me to feel the urge to see a film adaptation of a novel I've read, and here I'd love to see a visualization of it.

Oh, that would be fantastic! Because it's not just a novel, it's an entire fairytale universe, and the author paints beautiful images with words, reminiscent of nihonga.

The first thing that catches my eye is the cover and the artwork. They're poetic and beautiful. I really like them. It's also great that the author included a glossary at the beginning. It includes useful terminology for the characters and how to pronounce them.

There's a mystery, two protagonists grappling with dangers on their path to destiny. There are also gods who want to force them to abort their mission to save Kōsan Mamorigami, who himself isn't very helpful. There are also powerless humans, with their own flaws, practically at the mercy of the gods. And one, Emika, the heroine, who, by facing them, wants to save the world she lives in. Even at the cost of sacrificing her own feelings and ultimately her life.

Her behavior can sometimes be irritatingly naive, but I understand the author's intention, who likely wants to show us her progress in self-fulfillment and understanding of herself, the world around her, and the laws that govern it.

-𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.ᐣ- ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒. -𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌.ᐣ

In any case, the second novel written by H.L. Dawson, whom I sincerely thank for singling out and providing me with the novel "Emika...", was a compelling and irresistible page-turner.

The action is dynamic, the characters are multi-dimensional, the plot is exciting, and the world-building is fantastic, leaving you wanting more. It's a significant improvement over the author's debut novel, which I also had the opportunity to read and recommend.

And the fact that it leaves us hanging only intensifies my curiosity and desire to find out what the author has in store for her characters.

-Madzia.