The Shadow of Gods

The Godling Chronicles #3

by Brian D. Anderson, Jonathan Anderson (Original Concept)

Valshara has fallen, and the forces of Angrääl are advancing. For the first time, human and elf must shed blood as one, in order to stem the tide of evil. But new hope has arisen. From across the Western Abyss, a people long forgotten have returned. However, hope comes at its own price. Gewey must choose between his bond of love, and his duty to the world he is struggling to save.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Epic Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, High Fantasy, Elves

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

Known as one of the O.G. independent authors of the 2010-2012 indie explosion, Brian D. Anderson gained massive popularity right out of the gate with his debut series, The Godling Chronicles. His follow-up series, Dragonvein, was just as popular, Book One becoming a Top Five Finalist on Audible.com for Fantasy Book of the Year in 2015 – becoming the very first independent to reach the finals. But Anderson was far from finished.
After co-authoring Akiri with Steven Savile (Warhammer, Pathfinder, Dr. Who, and Sherlock Holmes) Anderson became the first independent author in history to secure a six-figure audio only deal for his highly anticipated two-book sequel of The Godling Chronicles.
Anderson continued with his indie career with The Vale series. But even after twenty novels, he felt there was more to accomplish. So he secured a three-book deal with Tor Books for The Sorcerer’s Song series.
When not writing, Brian D. Anderson divides his time enjoying his friends and family at home in the sleepy little southern town of Fairhope, Alabama, and riding atop his Harley Davidson, dubbed The Mighty Puck, traveling the country from convention to convention, meeting fans and signing books.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Godling Chronicles: The Shadow of Gods, Book 3
Written by: Brian D. Anderson
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
I love where this is going, at times, lol. Battles, intrigue, mysteries, Gewey finds out more about himself, some humans and elves come together, and soooo much more! Love the magic, suspense, love, battles, creatures, and epic fantasy....love this so much! The narrator is sooo good, he is consistent in all the books and does so many different voices and creatures! Awesome job!

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Info: Genre: Epic Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: fans of epic fantasy
Trigger Warnings: a person determined to split up a pair of lovers, murder

My Thoughts: Like the 2nd book in the series, this is much better edited than the first one, but there are still some issues that remain, mostly having to do with the tense. Here are a couple examples to illustrate the problem that was throughout the book: “Selena sat in her chair and motion for Salmitaya to sit across from her.” and “I simply did not want to cause you more grieve so soon after so much tragedy and bloodshed.” These sorts of issues were throughout the entire book. That said, the story is engaging and fast-paced enough that I didn't end up overly distracted by it, instead shrugging it off and moving along to see what would happen next.

Aaliyah really upset me. Like many people, the idea of infidelity is anathema to me, and her initial attempts to come between Gewey and Kaylia had me infuriated. She had noble reasons, but still. She reminded me of the character Mata Hari from Scott Rhine's book The Redemption of Mata Hari .

One thing I've never understood is villains that want to destroy the world. At one point, someone says that the Dark Knight wants to “see the world burn.” I have never understood why these sort of maniacs want to take over the world just to destroy it—like bringing eternal winter or whatever—because what is the point of putting in all the time, effort, and power to take over the world simply to rule over a barren wasteland? Even villains have to eat, and if they've destroyed everything, on what will they survive? What is the point? Am I the only one who is driven nuts by this question?

Well, I'm really rambling on this one. This is my final day on the Godling Chronicles' blog tour—and my final post—so be sure to check all the links below to see what you've missed. This is not the end of the series, but I'm not certain how many books the author ultimately intends to write. Things are kind of drawing to a head here, but I imagine he could string things out for a few more books if he really wanted to. This is the sort of epic fantasy that I tend to really enjoy, so I'll likely be watching for future stories in the Godling Chronicles to see what happens next. If you enjoy epic fantasy, then you should take a look and see if this might be a good choice for you as well.

Series Information: The Shadow of Gods is book three in the Godling Chronicles.
Book 1: The Sword of Truth (or on Smashwords here) (review here where formatting allowed)
Book 2: Of Gods and Elves (or find it on Amazon here) (review here where formatting allowed)
Also, see this author's guest post on my blog, linked here (where formatting allowed).

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Great Minds Think Aloud Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Valshara has fallen, and the forces of Angrääl are advancing. For the first time, human and elf must shed blood as one, in order to stem the tide of evil. But new hope has arisen. across the Western Abyss, a people long forgotten have returned. However, hope comes at its own price. Gewey must choose between his bond of love, and his duty to the world he is struggling to save.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite engrossing. This series is earning a solid 4 stars across the three books read, so far, despite typos and an occasionally slow pace, when the author describes things that don't matter to the plot, like where someone is sitting at the table.

Alliances join hands from across the Great Abyss (ocean) and from Far East. Wonderful and terrible powers grow apace, on both sides of the fight. Gewey the godling gets a new name, Darshan, while seeking powerful ancient weapons in the desert. Meanwhile, the faithful servant Millitt rises nobly to his new station in life, while Lee Starfinder and his son Jacob strive to save Lady Penelope from the enthrallment of Lord Angrääl, the reborn king.

Funny scenes between Gewey and the stiff-lipped navigator on the ship. Cute! Action-packed battle scenes in the desert. Political alliances and betrayals amid the 12 kings of the 12 city states. New friendships take root, newly discivered history / prophecy is revealed.

The story continues with the sequel, next on my list.

Superb narration by Derek Perkins.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The responsibility rest with me. And that responsibility is to drive away the person you are, in favor for the person you need to be.”

“The Shadow of Gods” by Brian D Anderson is the third book in his “The Godling Chronicles” series. The story continues to follow Gewey as he tries to uncover the mystery of his being and to find a way to stop the Reborn King. This book has same cast of the last book such as Lee, Milet, and Kaylia but it also introduces a plethora of other characters. With politics and romance issues galore this book creates a lot of drama, but not necessarily in a bad way. Now I feel we took a step back from book two, I’d say it wasn’t major. There were a few issues that I feel should be addressed.

First is the huge amount of characters introduced and the gaining of so many extra POV changes. I thought last book had a lot and was impossible for me to keep everything straight. This book doubled it. It really felt we had a few new characters introduced ever chapter and a new POV every other. This was to much. Unless I had a piece of paper with everyone’s name and role, I don’t think I could keep everything straight.

Second is just clicheness of it all. Now I have stated this doesn’t really bother me most of the time. Even in this book it didn’t bother me. When I go into a book knowing it will be cliche and there will be plot armor I don’t get upset. However I feel I should point it out. If you do get bothered by plot armor and stuff being kind of cliche or tropey, you may want to steer clear. You can pretty much guess how everything in this book will play out.

Now while the story wasn’t bad it just become hard to follow at times. There were some positive still Gewey and Kaylia are still great characters and perfect together. Their relationship is still one of the strongest aspects of the book. Lee is also just cool. Only thing is I wish we got more of him in this one.

All in all I felt it was a solid book. Nothing ground breaking. Guess you can say it suffers from “middle book” syndrome. Just average. Just there to progress the plot and not much else. Will be picking up book 4 in the near future.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gewey Stedding has much to learn about his personal power. Kaylia seeks to help Gewey do this and to complete the bond too. An elf named Aaliyah tells the elves that she and her companions are from the Western Abyss. Aaliyah wishes to help train Gewey for the battles ahead and to become his bonded mate. Kaylia is fiercely upset by this announcement. Gewey says he will not choose Aaliyah over Kaylia. Kaylia agrees that Gewey should be trained. Aaliyah and Gewey leave by ship to reach their destination. Lee and his son Jacob must find a way to rescue his wife from the Reborn King. Reborn King is gathering an army the likes of which haven't been seen since The Great War. Will Gewey choose Aaliyah? How will Gewey's training go? What is The Reborn King planning to do? Your answers await you in The Shadow of Gods.

Each book keeps getting better and better. I love the growth in Gewey's character! I love that he's embracing his powers rather than allowing them to rule him. I find the addition of Jacob to be interesting to Lee's overall character with deep regrets, remorse, longing, and love too. I applaud Mr. Anderson on encouraging the creativity in his son. I look forward to the next book.

[Reader Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every now and then the party needs to split up. I thought the party was spread a little thin at one stage. We had Gewey sand surfing the desert surrounded by foes on all sides. Leigh heading into a trap aided only by his broody son Jacob. Maybel is unaware that she's being escorted by an Elf who is on the turn. Kaylia is with a hybrid army of elves and humans readying to storm Valshara. And meanwhile back at the ranch, Larry and Stretch are surrounded by marauding Apache oops sorry Grover wrong book. All this while Gewey seems to be believing his own press and is pumping himself up before yet another possible trip to the healers tent. My advice " this is only book 3 so settle petrel "

[Dustin Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is more for books one a two to be honest. It was just here that I gave up.

I listened to it on audiobook and I will say that I found the narrator to be pretty great. Definitely a great voice for narration and different characters. Saving Gewey himself who the narrator seemed to go out of his way to make sound like a ten year old. He was quite consistent though and I did notice him actually going out of his way to age Gewey's voice as the story progressed. Impressive. And unfortunately, that was probably the best thing about the story.

I can't help but feel like, once again, if it had been the first one I'd read, I would've liked it more. The problem lies in the story's utter lack of originality. The story telling is good, the characters are actually pretty engrossing. But the plot. I've read it before.

It tries to break the bounds of Tolkien, don't get me wrong. It just... fails. Killing the regular parents before the book starts was a nice touch since we didn't really have to deal with all that drama, but as I try to come up with plot points that I haven't seen in other fantasy stories before, I'm coming up blank. From word one I found myself calling what would happen next hours before the audiobook actually got to that point. Save elf from bandits? Gonna have to be a princess, and 10 bucks the love story develops between them.

She runs off into the woods and I'm like "Yep. Gonna see her again in a few words."

She even straight up declares that she's NOT a princess later on, but somehow this only makes her seem MORE of one. First book she's made out to be a bit of a badass, but... she's not. Three or four times Gewey has to save her. It just gets old.

Not to mention the unbelievably over done "MY PARENTS WHO ARE MY PARENTS?" tripe(As seen in HP, Eragon, Sword of Truth, Wheel of Time, etc). On the plus side, it subverts this by really having Gewey not all that curious about who they are, but subverting doesn't make it not there. But, once again, the main character is the son of someone IMPORTANT, which therefore makes him IMPORTANT.

Farmer taken by a wise older mentor figure on a quest to save the world? (As seen in... Please. I could go on all day.)

There's something else that has annoyed me to no END about this story. Any time someone argues, the other person agrees. Instantly, and painlessly. "No Gewey. Don't do that." "Okay." "No Lionel. You can't come with me with the random foriegn wizardess elf. You must stay and help your people because reasons." "Okay." "No Gewey. Don't chase after your wife-to-be. Let us gather information for one hour!" "Okaaay!" "No Gewey! Don't torture that elf that just attacked us! Let us do that!" (You guessed it.) "OOOOOOKAAAAAYYY!"

The simple act of argument makes ANYONE in this story cave. From Gewey to Kaylia to Maybell to Deana to Gewey to Starfinder to Gewey... to Gewey. Okay its mostly Gewey. But seriously. In this universe, all you have to do it seems like is argue for half a second. The other person caves every time no matter how flimsy your logic. It takes no effort to convince anyone to do anything, and no one EVER just does something anyway. The second someone argues to instead do "THIS" whatever the argument is, its gonna go that way.

The viacore? Viacol? (Myrdraal, Dementors) They're Ringwraiths and poorly disguised ones at that. They even had poisoned blades which I found so annoyingly cliche that I wanted to skip the whole section.

Going a bit further into my thoughts on the characters. I found them to be hollow. Gewey is a Mary Sue, but honestly that's to be expected. He's quite often referred to as a literal god. Okay. I can buy that. But Lee (Aragorn? Lan? Obi Wan?) is the quintessential man at arms, wrapped together with the wise mentor (Gandalf? Moiraine? Obi Wan?) all in one neat package. He was actually a fun character BEFORE he was a character though, and to be honest? I think I'd read about the boy who hated the temple and went off to be a lord's servant, only to later be told by an Oracle that he would be charged with giving up everything to save the world. Damn that would be fun.

Unfortunately that awesome backstory is told to us in a chapter and expanded in little bits to make Lee into what he is. A relatively cardboard good guy.

Worst of all is that, we're at book three and there isn't any proof so far that the Reborn King is actually anything more than your average king. Apparently he's affecting the weather. Apparently he makes Nazgul. He IS raising an army but that's what kings DO isn't it? There is no proof that he's evil and oh my god if only that were the case. What a mindfuck THAT would be right?

But this book has followed all the cliche's so far and to be honest, I don't expect it to break the mold in any way shape or form. Of COURSE Gewey isn't going to fall for the foreign elf with old magic. Of course the Reborn King is evil. And this summary for book six: "But will his power be enough to free the world from certain annihilation? Will he be strong enough to save the people he loves?"

Yes. Oh my god, duh. Yes.

I'm probably going to drop this book. At a certain point, I found continuing to read it to be a chore rather than a delight. The new elf from across the waste plot in book 3 cinched it for me. Gewey and Kaylia's tenuous love (that makes very little plausible sense anyway) is affirmed. Got to immediately test it by giving the young farmboy a trip alone into the East with an unknown elf woman to train. This particular thought is not a critic, but pure opinion, as I admit much of this review has been.

I felt passionate about this story. It drew me in and I did like the characters, Deana in particular, but I feel like I've simply read the same story too many times. Perhaps I'm jaded, but this feels like a carbon copy of Shanara, Sword of Truth, Eragon, and a slew of other fantasy stories that already told the same story.

So two out of five stars. The unoriginal plot is buoyed considerably by mostly relatable characters, good writing, solid pacing, and a great narration if you prefer the audiobook.

Final note? Lee Starfinder. Starfinder starfinder starfinder. I swear the characters LOVE saying that guys name. I don't think I've ever seen more pointless last name drops. This is mostly just amusing though. If my name were that badass I think I'd drop it more often too.

[Aisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

officially done with this series.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

After giving 4 stars to the first two books, this is a dramatic drop. I will not be finishing the series. I kept hoping that the main character, Gewey, would start acting like he’d been through something. Instead, he hasn’t grown or changed. By now, there should have been some character development. But, in fact, most of the characters remain the same. I think the idea had a lot of potential, but by the end of the last book with the whole repeat interruptions of the bonding ceremony, the introduction of characters that didn’t add to the plot or development, it was becoming farcical. It was disappointing; I really needed a nice long series to get into right now.

[Deana Hill-sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

just keeps keeps getting better and better! I honestly think this book is up there with Some of the greatest fantasy books of our time. its that well written. Im not going to give any spoilers but I love the part where Gewey rides the "Waters of shajir" or the bood of the dessert. I wish we had that way of traveling even with the risk of the vortex!! Once again Brian D. Anderson. you left me excited for more!

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was very hard to actually get into. The first to books were much better, almost seemed like the author couldnt seem to come up with a good trasistion point for this book. Characters were uninteresting and you could really care less for them and the story line just seemed to be jumpy. Hopefully the next book will be better, since the first books were good. Would still recomend reading this just to be able to read the next one though.

[Philip Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only fault with this book is that you have to wait for the fourth one to be released!

The characters are well defined and the world they live in is alive in my imagination. There is enough detail there to get your creative mind fired up without boring you of the details of how they cooked they rabbit stew! (hate books that go into to much detail)

I thoroughly recommend this series so far.

[Sue Brown]

Enjoying the series

This series is not as complex as Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones but it is engaging and I enjoy the world Anderson has created. Because it is not focusing on as many story lines it is easier for me to pick up for a few chapters and resume later when I have time.

[Bill Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hmmm, for the last book of a trilogy this felt like just a warm up to what follows. I must say this is a good series but not great. I feel that the reborn king remains far too distant so far as a brooding and near invisible presence. We shall see where this goes next. Of course including the prologue and first chapter of book four was a every clever move.

[Chester Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read... Maybe worth 5 star.. This series is the first set of books I have really struggled to put down since the George R R Martin books. The characters are great and the story progression is infuriating as I now have to wait for the next book.. Very good read,

[Puri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Hopefully Gewey kicks ass in #4

[Severina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read...looking forward to Book 4!

[Annjelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

[Steven Ede · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot put this series down. I cant remember when i ever read a series from start to finish ( or rather book 3) in one go before!

[Chris Cassella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to the The Godling Chronicles!

[C.S. Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Read!

I was first introduced to the author, Brian Anderson, when I thought, mistakenly, that he was the author who was chosen to complete the Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan: an author that I adored and avidly waited for the next book from with bated breath. It wasn't "him"! Wrong author! But what a happy accident when I downloaded this author instead! I downloaded the first book in this series "to try". I was lost. I couldn't read each offering fast enough and was constantly worried that I would eventually come to...the "last" book in the series. Eventually, inevitably, I did reach the end, but oh what an adventure. I ended up reading his Dragonvein series "and" the Godling Chronicles series too!

This Series will definitely deliver for you that oh so elusive reading nirvana! This book is perfect for young adults to adults.

[Rosemary Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have submitted this review after listening to the audiobook of this title. (Audible Membership)

The war against the Dark Lord's forces is being raged on multiple fronts by the various characters we have grown to love.
That the recovery of his kidnapped bride, and then his immediate departure to a desert to recover long forgotten weapons leaves Hewery into the very extremes of emotion.
Whilst starfinder and his son navigate the hazards of an occupied enemy force in an attempt to rescue starfinder's wife.
The Elves joun forces with the human army to recover the lost abby.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am pretty sure elves from across the sea come to help Darshan = Gewey will unite the world. There is an envoy of sorts from across the sea. In this retinue is a woman who very much wants to create a bond with the chosen one, "Darshan". Obviously that creates tension, however Gewey needs her help to get back across the sea and make contact with the distant relatives of the elves. Lee Starfinder works more harder than ever to fit in with the militia of the enemy. And his son who has already proven to be traitorous tags along

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a terrible fantasy but I read a lot of fantasy and, in particular, love a trilogy because there tends to be contained story within the trilogy. This trilogy offers no resolution. It seems like the world is still being established and characters being introduced without, in my opinion, a confrontation or climax to the situation. This frustrates me as I'm I bit of a completionist and now feel like I am going to have to listen to more of these books that I'm not massively enjoying.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is becoming predictably and hopelessly confusing. There are several separate plot lines and I find it difficult at times to figure out which set of characters is in which plot. The second half of this episode seems to start bringing clarity to the different threads. I've enjoyed this series, but I think this is the end for me. BEWARE: Each of the novels in this series has a very well-crafted cliffhanger in the last chapter.

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is getting better and better with each leg of the journey!

[Angela Batey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a great story that keeps you hooked. I cannot wait to start book 4.I would recommend this book and series.

[LordOfDorkness · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried so hard to not read this, and I just couldn't help myself I read the first three I don't know what's wrong with me someone send help

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye-opening time for Gewey

Gewey goes to the desert and learns more about himself and the elves that live there. Upon return he realizes that war is about to start.

[Susan Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasy at it's best!

Great book!
Can't wait to read the next sequel. Very exciting, eventful and intriguing. The characters are so relatable and endearing.