The Gods Must Burn

by T.R. Moore

A disgraced war hero is transformed into the Wolf God, protector of the Forest God, and must earn her trust in this healing dark fantasy for fans of The Wolf and the Woodsman and Princess Mononoke

War hero Basuin doesn't know what to believe in anymore. All Basuin knows is life as an army captain and the pain, loss, and disgrace it has brought him. Demoted and humiliated by his legion commander, he is led into the forest for one more mission: capture a god.

But when his commander uses innocent wolf pups as bait, Basuin dies saving them. The Wolf God, impressed by his sacrifice, deifies Basuin to protect the forest and its beautiful, sharp-tongued god from the legion's deforestation.

To the Forest God, Basuin is nothing more than one of the men sent to burn her forest down. Betrayed by humans too many times, she rejects him, working alone to protect the spirits of the forest as her home disappears around her. To save the god he is growing to love, Basuin must untangle the feelings between them.

Otherwise, they'll burn together.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adult, Fiction, Enemies To Lovers, Gods, Fantasy Romance

386 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2026

About the author

T.R. Moore is a queer fantasy, horror, and sometimes romance writer who mostly writes about feminine rage and god complexes. Though she started in poetry, her books now tend to feature Korean main characters, fat-positive representation, and mental health issues written responsibly. When she’s not setting her air fryer on fire (which only happened twice), she’s busy making oddly-specific Spotify playlists to complete her collection. Keep up with her at authortrmoore.com

Reviews

[edie-may ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ 𓂃°˖➴ ݁ ‎ 3.75 stars .ᐟ ‎ ⋮ ‎ ❝ Blood begets blood begets blood. War begets war. Debt begets debt that is never repaid. ❞


‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ — review journal ⸝⸝ 014 ⟡
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⤿ started feb 16 ‎ ⋮ ‎ finished feb 19
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ book release : feb 24 ✓



‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌗ ⋮ ‎꒰🐾꒱ ‎ i. summary ‎ ⟢ ⸝⸝

‎ ‎ ruthless soldier and newly disgraced captain basuin of ankor sails to an unknown island, assigned one final mission—to capture a god. in a turn of events, he dies saving two innocent wolf pups, only to be reborn, deified, and tasked with the protection of ren, the fickle yet beautiful forest god.

‎ ‎ ‎ ᯓ thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for sending me this e-arc. ‘the gods must burn’ is out now!



‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌗ ⋮ ‎꒰🐺꒱ ‎ ii. thoughts ‎ ⟢ ⸝⸝

‎ ‎ ‎ this greatly differed from my expectations but it absolutely exceeded them. i saw a lot of reviews complaining about the writing style, but personally, i really appreciated it—even if it did get a little repetitive at times. it has been a minute since i was this focused on a novel. i had to lock in and think about it in order to understand it, which only increased that understanding tenfold. i loved the mythology and the atmosphere, and the characters were each very complex. i loved how dark and gritty this was. would definitely read more books by this author.



‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌗ ⋮ ‎꒰🌲꒱ ‎ iii. characters ‎ ⟢ ⸝⸝

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ — basuin .ᐟ ⸝⸝
‎ ‎ ‎ • ⋮ basuin’s inner conflict was so intriguing. his struggles with anger and ptsd, his issues with identity and purpose… whether i loved him or i hated him (to be honest, it’s a little bit of both), i was definitely invested.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ — ren .ᐟ ⸝⸝
‎ ‎ ‎ • ⋮ my relationship with ren is as complicated as my relationship with basuin is, but for completely different reasons. her pacifism was both the most aggravating and admirable quality about her.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ — yaelic .ᐟ ⸝⸝
‎ ‎ ‎ • ⋮ if t.r. moore would like to send me the adoption papers, i’d be more than happy to sign them, thank you and goodnight.



‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌗ ⋮ ‎ . pre-read ‎ ⟢ ⸝⸝

‎ ‎ i need to stop requesting arcs when i have so many plans but i fear i can’t be stopped. — ‎( prediction ; 3.50 ☆ )



જ⁀➴ ₊˚⊹ ➴

[Abbie Toria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

"War stories are the best stories to tell, since any story is true when you're the only one left to tell it."

🔥 Dark fantasy
🔥 Forest spirit
🔥 Disgraced war hero possessed by the Wolf God
🔥 War, rage, fire, and the thirst for power,
🔥 Violence and pacifism, destruction and renewal, hope and healing
🔥 The environment and deforestation

T. R. Moore writes with a real immediacy that keeps the tension thrumming. The Gods Must Burn is filled with rage, violence and fire that makes it a tense read. This wasn't a favourite for me, but it heart-wrenchingly explores important themes; what do you do when all you have known is violence and war? Are you capable of change? Can you learn to heal? Can violence protect rather than destroy? Can pacifism lead to peace? And is there a cost to it?

The relationships in this and their development was a real strength and my favourite part of the novel. You could really feel the anguish, loss, and hope.

[Sammy's Study · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.75 🌟

ooooh God this was a struggle to get through.... 😫 I really wanted to love this...

This story had a lot of potential, but I just couldn't get down with the writing style of T.R. More. It felt very heavy, confusing and overall repetitive.

The world building was easy to follow but l felt it lacked depth and maybe some (political) history? I don't know...

Basuin was an overall likeable character but I struggled with his flashbacks. Sometimes I didn't really understand he was inside a flashback until we were a few paragraphs in.

After about 150 pages in it does get better but just not enough for me. The side characters did feel flat.
Overall the story lacked depth and had to many confusing descriptions. This was the first time in a long time I really contemplated DNF'ing a book.

Thank you Netgalley and Solaris publishing for this ARC!!! 💚

[❁lilith❁ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this eARC! All opinions are my own.
_____________

This was, at one point, on pace for a four star rating, but the story stopped impacting me so much as I read on. I like the portrayal of grief and PTSD in this book, it's never glossed over or made insignificant and it remains a key part of the main character the entire time, as it does in real life.
The world was interesting too, especially this little island we spend the story on, and the gods that inhabit it. The characters were all distinct, cool depictions of gods and spirits.
I really did not care for the relationship that developed. There was only so much 'big man, she has teeny tiny hands' I could take, and this exceeded it. I didn't feel the chemistry between them, unfortunately. The love interests pacifistic determination kept annoying me too, because there really was no reason not to kill the antagonist, but she refused to do so which just caused more death and destruction. The antagonist is also strangely unhurtable until the end which was strange---he's literally just a guy.
In some aspects the characters described in the flashbacks and memories were more intriguing to me than the current side characters in the story. I didn't feel much connection to them, and when something happened to them I found myself not really caring too much. There was a fair bit of predictability to the plot, but it wasn't the most egregious example of it.

[Lotta Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion | Solaris for this ARC! All thoughts are my own.

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. The style of writing is confusing and uninteresting in my opinion and I can already tell after three chapters that this is just not for me.

Thanks for reading!

🤍🤍🤍

[Anna Makowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I can describe this book as "gothic fantasy" because there aren't decaying cathedrals and winds howling over moors, but that's the closest vibe I can describe this book as.

The writing is very lush and atmospheric, the story is slow-paced and focuses on Basuin's internality. He's very much a reluctant hero, "chosen" to be a god-protector of the forest, but he doesn't want to do it, both because he hates being forced into it against his will, and because he thinks he's a failure who can't undertake such a responsibility without letting others down. He struggles with ptsd, grief and regret, and a lot of it manifest through intrusive flashbacks, where he loses track what's real and what's a dream or a memory.

The writing style reflects this: the repetition and the blurry lines between reality and dream / flashback / hallucination seem intentional to give the reader insight into Basuin's struggle.

The goddess of the forest, Ren, feels mysterious, distant and inscrutable, which suits her role. I always find it odd if ancient or powerfully magical beings act like human teenagers, which doesn't happen here.

I don't think this book deserves its current low rating, but I think there is some marketing / expectation mismatch. By comping it to Princess Mononoke, it made me expect a more YA action-packed vibe, and it's very much not that. It gave me more Heart of Darkness vibe, where humans come with their greed and thirst for power to conquer a wild land, and then mysterious unexplained things start happening - is this madness, magic, tropical illness, punishment for their crimes? The vibe that's more ominous and weird.

The tech level with guns being used but also sabers, makes me think of the era of Spanish conquering Mexico and South America (with similar vibe of greedy humans coming to wantonly destroy nature and all its inhabitants).

I think Basuin is bi-coded because his relationship with Isaniel, another soldier who died under his command in a past battle, seems to be romantically charged and there's a mention of them sharing a bed.

I would recommend this book to fans of the reluctant hero/chosen one trope, anti-colonial undertones and character-driven atmospheric narratives with focus on exploration of ptsd.

I don't think I can be the best judge of the quality of this book, because I'm neither a fan of lush, atmospheric writing, or reluctant chosen ones, and I couldn't connect to the female love interest character at all. I do appreciate the portrayal of ptsd and the atmosphere. I hope this book finds its fans, but for me, it was a total taste mismatch. I do want to support debut authors though, and I think there was an intent here with the choice of the writing style, which is more than I can say about some books where it feels like the author didn't know what they were doing.

I debated should I leave this review unrated, or give it my standard "3.5 rounded up to 4" for "there were some positives, but it didn't really captivate me", which is a common feeling I have these days about books, in the end decided to pick option 2.

Thank you Netgalley and Rebellion / Solaris for the ARC.

[Sarah SG · Rating 2 out of 5]

HOO BOY! Minor spoilers below!

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for the arc. I’ll preface this by saying that Princess Mononoke is one of my favorite movies ever. When I get a Mononoke comp in my media, just know that my standards are VERY raised. As for this comp, once again, she swings and she misses. Let’s break it down:

—The stream-of-consciousness writing was more stream-of-confusion for me. Often, I didn’t know if what was going on was a dream sequence, a hallucination, or an actual event. It also just lent a hazy layer over the story. Not sure if this was the intention of the author, but my confusion surrounding that speaks to how successful the writing is.

—Love the shitty, dropped potato metaphor of Elka (the sun) and Hwai-ga (the moon) of being lovers instead of enemies.

—Kensy was cartoonishly evil. He has no true motive (other than power) or nuance. He’s revealed to just be a cruel and cold fuck, because why not? It makes tying everything up easier (and lazier). Lady Eboshi should have cut this minuscule fucker down. Honestly, this entire army actually. The Irontown fucks had a real reason. In the Cedar Forest, there’s ore that the town desperately needs. In this book however, they seem to enjoy burning shit down because human bad! Power yummy! As if I haven’t seen this same “motive” in 1000 other fantasy books.

—Ren was definitely a character! She has the hotheadedness and (most) of the same beliefs as Mononoke’s fmc, San. Yet, while San had tons of nuance to her character, Ren has nearly none. She’s angry at humans, she dehumanizes herself, her primary concern is the forest, and she wants peace. Besides one big spoiler, I didn’t connect to her character that much. By the second half of the book, she became much more of a damsel. Of course, it’s because the forest is being hurt, but I swear Basuin is carrying her in his arms every other chapter. She is very small and fragile! The book will totally not tell you as much every other page! Ren is often sexualized while Mononoke’s fmc, San, is not bound to any patriarchy. She is THE Warrior Princess, while Ren has a VERY dainty neck. Shes a god too, I guess.

—The romance became real unbearable in the second half. It gets cliche and corny as fuck by the end. “I’d die for her” “I’d kill for her” I fucking get it, you wannabe Gomez Addams; Jesus Christ. This is then repeated ad nauseam throughout the book. Also wasn’t expecting some (vague) smut! That took me the fuck out! Overall, I don’t buy it. They would totally say “I wolf you.” This book ended up focusing on this dumbass romance more than anything else, making the book fall apart. Once again, the cardinal sin of romance devours and eclipses everything else.

—Let’s talk specifically about the comp. The Mononoke comp is correct, but not for the reasons you think. Actually, it’s a bit problematic in my eyes; there are a LOT of similarities, of course all of them shallow. It’s no offense to be heavily inspired by something. One or two similarities are fine, a few is side-eye worthy, and then there’s this.
•Of course, there are wolves, and not just in Bass. One of the most prominent side characters takes the shape of a wolf pup, and binds. As for the wolf god himself, his speech and temperament were very similarly to the temperament of Moro and her clan in Princess Mononoke.
•When Bass gets possessed, he calls it a curse. Of course, Ashitaka also gets cursed in the beginning of Princess Mononoke. Both receive new powers as well as painful symptoms, and both are cursed upon a god’s death.
•Many small moments are also heavily Mononoke inspired. For example, when Bass gives Ren his godstone. Very similar to Ashitaka giving San his crystal dagger necklace.
•The more I think about it, the more I see, it seems the whole bones of this story come from Princess Mononoke. There’s a cursed man who is sent on a mission he didn’t want. There’s a VERY resentful woman who used to be/is human despite her loyalties. The same resentful woman who puts anger first instead of fear, and primarily cares about her forest; often to the point of rejecting her humanity. A giant conflict between man and nature, with man choosing to colonize, and nature deciding to fight back. The cursed man and the protector of forest falling in love; as mentioned above, the entire romantic storyline and dynamic is VERY similar to Princess Mononoke’s. A wolf god who shits on protagonist, but adores the fmc. A secondary conflict revolving around peace versus war among the forest spirits. Of course, like the forest spirit in Princess Mononoke, this one also can take the form of a deer.

—Beyond EVERYTHING, Princess Mononoke worked the way it did because of its nuance, its intention, its messaging. It explores environmentalism and coexistence in a subtle yet powerful way. It puts man and nature on an equal playing field, and also delves into the interpersonal conflicts within each. It shows the good and bad within each faction as well. It speaks to nature and man being natural opposites instead of a simple good versus evil, able to live separate but peacefully with each other. It is feminist in nature. Women are powerful in this film. They are leaders, and are not bound to any patriarchy. They are complex characters, and yet charismatic. Overall, Princess Mononoke is praised and loved for its complexity, yet for The Gods Must Burn, there is absolutely nothing of the sort. Instead, we get a diluted, tired, “man bad” “man colonize.” This messaging is offensively weak and cliche given the source material. As for the characters themselves, apart from the protagonist they were one dimensional. Ren is both sexualized and ends up being a device for the mmc’s character growth. The only complexity in this narrative is the character of Basuin himself, but even then there are caveats. Bass’s complexity and PTSD needed the care it did receive. However, his character arc did not do his character justice; it was secondary to the romance.

Overall, MISS. Big fucking miss! It’s a shame, because I was mostly enjoying the first half of the book. And yet! I do really hope the author watches Princess Mononoke again, and really internalizes the themes and messaging. Princess Mononoke fans, you will need to get your fix elsewhere. -1.5 wolf pups rounded up

[Chezza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous, gut-punching story that explores PTSD and fractured identities, healing through love, and the nature of duty and morality (especially when the two are at odds). Basuin and Ren’s story is both tender and riddled with angst, taking place in a beautiful forest setting that sings with both magic and grief. There is dark, visceral pain in this book—but it comes with glimmers of hope. Basuin’s character development is incredibly satisfying, and I loved watching him come to terms with his power and with himself. And Ren is so ethereal and fierce! Their dynamic is powerful, and it’s a well-earned slow-burn romance.

The poetic writing in this book constantly took my breath away, and the ecological message at its core is one that lingered with me long after reading. This is an enchanting story with a ton of heart and lines that make you pause just so you can savour them once more. Overall, a masterful debut that ponders who we are at our core, and who gets to decide our path in life.

(Review is of a copy prior to publication)

[blok sera szwajcarskiego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for honest opinion, thanks!

3,5⭐️

A charming story filled with hope for all the souls who lost themselves. The prose is simple yet effective, with a vibrant atmosphere of the world where mortals collide with gods. I have enjoyed it greatly, with a greatly written main character who have to find hope for himself after so many years of becoming the infamous Black Wolf. A very good debut, hope T.R. Moore writes more!

[Sarah ⟡ Tea & Tomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Rebellion for the gifted review copy!

This one felt very different from most fantasy I’ve been reading lately, and I really appreciated that. The Princess Mononoke vibes were strong in the best way, and I especially enjoyed how dark and tortured Basuin was as a character. His journey from disgraced soldier to something much larger was compelling, and the mythology surrounding the forest and its gods was really interesting.

The story slowed down a bit for me in the second half, and there was one mildly descriptive sex scene that felt a little out of place. Not the intimacy itself, but the way that moment was written didn’t quite match the tone of the rest of the story.

That said, this was still a very unique fantasy and the mythology of the world kept me invested. It’s definitely not like anything else I’ve read recently.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really wish this one hadn’t been comp’d to Princess Mononoke. I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if I wasn’t thinking about those comparisons. There are actually a bunch of similarities, but this book is like a washed out bland version instead.

The characters, motivations, and plot just weren’t up to the task of keeping me interested and engaged in this book. Definitely bummed out as this story sounded interesting based on the synopsis.

Thank you anyways to NetGalley, the author, and Rebellion/Solaris for a copy!

[bee ⭑.ᐟ · Rating 2 out of 5]

this had a great premise but lacked in its execution.

i picked this up as soon as i saw its relation to studio ghibli’s princess mononoke, which is my favourite movie of all time. but the similarities soon stopped after you find out the plot for this book.
the writing felt very disjointed and our main character constantly having flashbacks and recounting his past life really jumbled up the pace and kept taking me out of whatever was happening at the current time. because of this writing style i couldn’t connect with any of the characters, the only ones with any sort of depth seemed to be the main two so it didn’t leave much room for anyone else.
the world building was quite similar. it was really interesting but felt underdeveloped.
overall i think this has potential to be a really great fantasy book there was just a few things that didn’t work for my personal taste.
thank you NetGalley for sending me an arc.

[Lisa Stoker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb for this book makes it sound like a mostly romantic storyline in a dark forest setting, which isn't my thing as a rule, but, I'm happy to report, that the romantic themes in the story fall back behind it's other tropes, which include military trauma/PTSD, old gods Vs nonbelievers, nature spirits rising to protect against the destruction of man. These are all explored and depicted very well.

This story and setting reads kind of like a gorier, more violent version of Fern Gully. While there are some dark, grisly elements, this forest is described as a more magical setting than I'm used to, and the magic system is a bit on the nose and cutesy for my taste, but the characters are explored wonderfully and their conflicts, flaws and motivations very clear.

One character I really didn't care for, however, was the antagonist, who really did read more like a comic book villain, with some quite ridiculous and dramatic ambitions.

The Gods Must Burn is an easy read with some very effective visuals and nuanced characters and, although I like my forest gore more on the bleak, gritty side, I did enjoy it as a dark forest fairytale. What works well, works very well, while other aspects weren't to my taste (but that's entirely personal to me)

[Carolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️

The Gods must burn definitely made me feel like I was watching a Studio Ghibli movie! The themes of nature, gods, identity, and morally complex conflict reminded me very much of Princess Mononoke!

"𝑰𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏."

Basuin is on a deeply emotional journey. He has lost everything and is left only with the drive to be a good soldier.

Ren, the forest god, is lost herself, but in a different way. Her magic was everything she had and everything she needed to protect what was dearest to her. When Basuin comes along and takes her magic, she has to learn to accept help and face the threat with Basuin by her side.

Both Ren and Basuin are two beautifully fleshed-out characters whose pain feels so raw and real. While the plot is gripping and made me want to keep reading, the development of the characters touched me on a deeper level than I thought possible. I felt so connected to the characters. 🥺

The loss of identity, the cost of power, and the process of learning to trust someone again after being betrayed are heavily addressed in this book and make their journey powerfully moving.

I loved this books so much! 💛

Thank you @authortrmoore and @solarisbooks for the early review copy of this wonderful book! 💛

[Kat in Stacks · Rating 3 out of 5]

****ARC review****

Thank you Netgalley and Rebellion for an arc copy

The story follows Basuin as he learns to accept his past and overcome the trauma that comes with war. While at times slow in the beginning to get its footing, around page 40 was when the story began to really shine and made me feel like I was reading a mythological tale.

My only complaint that it felt slightly rushed towards the very end of the novel which made me pause and have to read a few pages over to understand what was going on

[Shruti morethanmylupus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oof. I expected to like this one more than I did. I struggled with the clunky, repetitive writing style. We get lots of worldbuilding that's easy to follow but somehow still missing lots of key info about the politics at play. In general, both the plot and characters lacked depth and while I liked our MC, it wasn't enough on the balance.

[Andi]

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this one.

I usually give a book 20 - 25% to hook me in. Since that's enough time to establish plot, characters, and decisions on the prose.

Honest to god, this book is absolutely full of the character focused on his mother's idol / stone. He clutches it, he thinks about it, he focuses on it, he is reminded of it. I can't tell you how many times it came up in a page or a chapter.

Also, other reviewers mentioned that this book is a lot like Princess Mononoke. It 100% is. But I also got Ferngully and Avatar vibes from it as well.

Jumping ship on this one.

Out of respect for the author I am choosing not to rate it.

[Mariahs_BookNook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gut rating: ⭐⭐⭐
CAWPILE rating: 4.29
Spice: Open door
ARC publication date: February 24th 2026

Tropes: Battle scarred soldier, reluctant hero, chosen one, body horror and possession, redemption arc, enemies to lovers, LGBTQIA+ representation and romance, wolf shape shifter

Quote: “Do you bring war,” Ren asks him, “or do you chase after it because you fear peace?”


My synopsis
Haunted by the ghosts of the soldiers who died under his command, 33yo Captain Basuin, the "Black Wolf", lives disgraced and broken. When given a chance for redemption, Basuin gladly joins an expedition to conquer a sacred island for the Queen. Little does he know the mission is a trap...

In an act of betrayal, Basuin is stripped of his rank by the sadistic Commander Kensy and forced into the island's forest with one mission - use his faith in the gods to find and steal a sacred artifact, or watch as Kensy burns the ancient forest to the ground. Faced with Kensy's cruelty and a den of wolf pups ablaze, Basuin chooses sacrifice over survival.

Death, however, is not the end. Resurrected and possessed by the island’s vengeful wolf god, Basuin is transformed into a divine but unwilling guardian. Now, he must protect a small but powerful forest god from the very soldiers he once led. To save the forest god and her magic, the Black Wolf must finally face the failures that broke him.


My review
While many reviewers have drawn parallels to Princess Mononoke and Pocahontas, don't go into this expecting whimsy or nostalgia. Basuin’s story is heavy with grit, anger, and truly feral energy. The writing style and themes lean heavily into a traditional masculine perspective, making it a great pick for those who enjoy war heroes fighting for redemption and "getting the girl".

The depiction of Basuin's PTSD is so well handled. The immersive flashbacks and nightmares weave throughout his daily life, blurring the line between his visions and reality. Basuin’s healing journey is complex and hard-fought, grounded in a believable struggle with shame, forgiveness, and acceptance that was hard hitting.

Basuin's internal chaos is amplified by the unexpected body horror of the wolf god’s possession. The graphic descriptions of the deity literally eating away at Basuin’s insides whenever he defies its whims added a visceral, dark edge to his character that I didn't see coming.

Admittedly, the romance felt somewhat forced, driven more by shared grief and necessity than a natural connection. I think the story may have been even stronger if their bond had remained one of deep friendship and trust. That said, the single spicy scene definitely delivered. Everything culminates in a gripping ending full of twists that wraps the journey up perfectly.

With thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.


Other favourite quotes
- “Who will be left to crucify me when I burn this forest to the ground?”
- Blood begets blood begets blood, the wolf-man answers. War begets war. Debt begets debt that is never repaid.


Trigger warnings: War, mental illness, panic attack, grief, death, animal death, animal cruelty, blood, murder, body horror, violence, injury detail, fire injury, colonisation, death of parent, child death, gun violence, mass shooting, sexual content, torture, bullying, abandonment, suicidal thoughts, alcohol, medical content

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

War is a bloody, messy, nasty affair, but the only thing that Basuin knows. From a young age he has been indoctrinated into violence as a means to an end, a necessary evil to achieve a glorious purpose. But an older Basuin, a weathered, failure of a man, who has survived and seen all too much, finds it hard to swallow the lie, but he tries, and tries and tries, because without it, everything he has done, the atrocities he has committed and borne witness to - well, without it they mean nothing. Ugly deeds twisting innocent youths into bitter men. Who worse, then, to serve as protector of the wild forest, and persuade its inhabitants of his good intentions, than a man so devoid of hope, so out of touch with goodness, innocence, wildness and freedom, that he has nothing to live for, save for this purpose. His mother’s purpose. There’s a real romanticism in TR Moore’s story that captured my heart from the very first page. This is not an easy read; it is complex, meaty, challenging in its themes, but to parcel that out and engage with the story, and then it’s deeper layers, is a rewarding experience.

[Mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for sending me this ARC.

DNF at 47%

The premise of this book and the comparison to Princess Mononoke had me hooked straight away. Sadly, I found the story to be slower-paced than I wanted and repetitive.

I appreciated how sensitively Basuin's PTSD was discussed, and how Tehali helped him through his episodes at the beginning of the book.

It was sometimes hard to decipher if Basuin was living through a memory or if he was having a discussion with the Wolf God. I did enjoy the dramatics surrounding the Wolf God 'possessing' Basuin, and I loved the addition of Yaelic.

I struggled to stay focused on this book - I'm not sure if it was a case of right book wrong time, or if it was down to the characters not being likeable enough. I really tried to immerse myself in this book, but it just couldn't keep my interest. Maybe I will come back to it in the future to see if I can finish.

3 stars. I didn't hate this at all, but I also didn't particularly like it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun adventure story, I enjoyed the overall plot and storyline.

My main issues with the book was the romance towards the end. It just seemed so cliche but I think that’s just personal preference, I know ALOT of people will like this sort of vibe. I also wasn’t a massive fan of Kensy as a character, he was just a stereotypical bad guy, he was just horrible for the pure sake of it. It felt a little two dimensional

Despite this though it’s still an enjoyable story, Basuin had some great character development. The writing was poetic (very quotable).

I think this book will definitely find its audience, I just personally feel I’ve read similar things one too many times. This book was by no means bad, just not anything ‘omg amazing’ new.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Anna - ThatPreciousPlot]

DNF - 27%

Unfortunately, I could not get on at all with the writing style of this, so my lack of enjoyment is purely on me! As overall I was SO very intrigued by the story itself and thought the author captured PTSD so thoughtfully and well in her characterisation of Basuin. I think had I continued on I would have been doing the book itself a disservice as couldn't give it the love I honestly think it does deserve.

I can see a lot of people really enjoying this, again sadly just not for me.

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really impressive standalone fantasy with compelling storytelling, a gorgeous use of language and a fascinating story of gods, magic and who a solder actually is. Highly recommended.

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Amy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

dnf (soft?)

[Siavahda · Rating 1 out of 5]

*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*

I did not even make it to our protagonist becoming a god. I tapped out just before it was about to happen, when he ‘died’ or whatever.

The prose is…really bad. Besides the fact that every simile uses ‘like’ (which starts to create an awful effect after the fifth or sixth in a row!) there are a lot of lines, especially images, that are extremely confusing; a lot of times things are poorly worded, misleadingly phrased. Quotes to illustrate my points below! Insert the usual caveat here that I read an advanced reading copy, so possibly all of these will be rewritten and fixed before release day.

An ache shatters through his spine, breaking bones on its way through.

His bones are not literally breaking, but even so I think ‘ache’ and ‘shatters’ don’t go together at all?

Basuin had never seen a color as brilliantly red until he saw the remnants of his squadron laid out and screaming for help, rubies spilled across the ice.

This is a great example of the kinds of confusing images we get a lot of in this book. Are the ‘rubies’ – the blood drops? – the ones screaming? Are the ‘remnants’ blood, or are there corpses present? (From the next paragraph, there are in fact corpses.)

orange rays cast the waters in gold like an illuminated script only the nuns and their habits know the mastery of.

Awkward phrasing, and what do you mean the nuns’ HABITS know how to illuminate scripts? Their CLOTHES are masters of illumination?! (Habits are an item of clothing some kinds of nuns wear.)

Unlike him, she’s already stripped out of her shirt, wearing nothing but a black band that runs tight around her chest and shows off the muscles rippling through her shoulders and arms.

…So she’s naked? She’s ‘wearing nothing but’ the band around her chest. (From this, and the fact that no one ever had their trousers described in the parts I read, only their shirts, I decided to envision everyone as wearing no pants. It made the reading experience much more bearable.)

But he feels it–familiar, but inexplicable. From a memory.

‘familiar but inexplicable’ is awful phrasing, but actually fair, because he’s sensing what he thinks are gods. I can accept divine energies or whatever being deeply strange. But what does that ‘from a memory’ mean???

The only home Basuin knows anymore is war–and the smell of it isn’t just the burn of the hearth and food that cooks over a flame.

…What? After a LOT of staring at this, I decided the author probably means the smell of fire/smoke no longer suggests ‘home’ to Basuin, but wow, that was not clear.

His heart-bone, the trunk of his tree, is reinforced with militant commands and strengthened by break after break after break where his body had to regrow bone and heal again, organs reincarnating themselves after his blood painted every border that Grimmalia ever thought they had.

‘heart-bone’ refers to the central pillar of the ribcage, but it’s also a metaphor/symbol for Basuin’s…faith? Sense of self, possibly? But because it’s a bone AND a metaphor, the ‘break after break’ etc is really weird – Basuin was in war, does he mean his ribs were literally being broken? And wtf is ‘organs REINCARNATING themselves’?! NO.

He reaches so far, stretches so far that it aches his muscles and he feels his joints lock up.

It whats his muscles? I don’t know that that’s grammatically wrong, but it sounds awful.

The book trades speed for worldbuilding, and unfortunately that’s a real problem. I appreciated that the action described in the blurb – Basuin becoming a god – happened so soon, but it happened before I understood ANYTHING about how this world worked. The queen outlawed the gods, which I took to mean outlawed their WORSHIP – but maybe the gods had actual bodies at one point and were murdered after the queen outlawed them? Which is it? THIS IS KIND OF CRITICAL. We know god-talkers exist, or existed, people whose prayers the gods talked back to. But are you born a god-talker, or can you become one? AGAIN, CRUCIAL.

Because the villain’s actions rely heavily on these facts. He doesn’t believe in the gods – but he’s searching for a divine artefact. If the gods had actual bodies people could see and murder, how can he not believe the gods existed? If he doesn’t believe in gods, how can he be looking for this artefact, at least without coming up with another explanation for its origins? He wants Basuin because he wants a god-talker – but Basuin ISN’T one, so? He says Basuin has to help him in order to protect the gods, implicitly threatening them – so gods WERE real and you’re threatening to murder the local ones??? So you DO believe??? WHICH IS IT???

He sets a tree on fire – IN A FOREST – to make the gods respond to him. Uh, do you have any reason to think the gods will care about this? The wolf-cubs he’s about to kill; again, he means to do it to make the gods pay attention to him. But nothing in what we’ve learned of the worldbuilding up to this point gives us any reason to expect this to work? Why would the gods care? WHICH god do you think will care? It’s implied the gods were gods of specific places, so do you even have reason to believe there ARE gods here, in this new land you’ve just landed on? The villain’s reasoning is incoherent, he just does over-the-top evil things Because Plot, I guess, and it’s maddening.

The godstone Basuin wears under his clothes grows heavy, then hums, then grows hot, in the space of a couple of minutes (when nothing obviously magical is happening in the vicinity). Does this mean anything? Are godstones magical? Who knows; the text draws attention to the stone being weird but Basuin doesn’t react, so I can’t tell.

Etc. It’s all like this. And what I’ve seen of reviews from people who DID finish reading this book does not incentivise me at all to push on – even if I didn’t find the prose unacceptable, which I absolutely do.

One star because I can’t rate higher when I genuinely can’t understand a good bit of the prose.

[Becky]

DNF at 7%

The prose is just too purple for me. The use of simile is excessive and infantilizing to me as a reader. I know what it means that The Black Wolf wears a sheep’s skin. It doesn’t need the “like a wolf in disguise” to spell it out for us.

But then other times I almost wish it WERE spelled out because it makes no sense.

“As though he were chewing the copper coins of beggars, tarnished from rain”

Beggars generally don’t have coins and if they do, they certainly aren’t exposing them to rain long enough to tarnish.

“The broken bodies of dead men, hacked and slashed to pieces like a king might saw through a rare steak”

Kings aren’t typically known for hacking and sawing at their food, nor would I expect their steaks to be anything less than expertly prepared.

“The orange rays cast the waters in gold like an illuminated script only the nuns and their habits know mastery of. It shimmers, something magic, as the sky above their heads turns from a deep violet to an indescribable pink.”

Illuminated script? Why nuns? Why do their habits have mastery of script? (A habit is the head covering that nuns wear.) And the fact that an author describes a color as indescribable absolutely grates on me; an author’s job is to describe.

I just can’t keep going. It’s so overwrought and the prose is so distracting that I am not capable of enjoying this book, no matter how good the blurb and cover are.

[Dee Hancocks · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gods Must Burn takes us deep into the forest. A war hero come Wolf God is a great character to follow and I loved how his past trauma was dealt with. Although, I would have liked more back story, why he became a solider in the first instance. War is a major theme, this is a dark read with plenty of gore, death and destruction. I liked the ‘good’ vs ‘evil’ but there was limited exploration of more morally grey areas to make this feel more realistic. The forest spirit was beautifully depicted. At times the writing is lovely and poetic and vivid, which I appreciated. Sometimes there was repetition, I felt this was a style choice and it didn’t deter me from reading on but I would have liked more pace. Overall dark and gritty read with a stunning forest backdrop. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

[Bia]

I'm very sorry to say but I had to DNF this book at around 24% because I just couldn't get into the writing style! It was very repetitive and cold somehow? I felt no connection to the main characters whatsoever.

I was so excited when I saw the cover and read the blurb, so I'm very disappointed that I had to give it up. I would still encourage people to give it a shot, if nothing else then for the exploration of PTSD. Based on what I've read in the first quarter, it seems to have the reluctant hero trope as well, but I don't want to go into further speculation.

Thank you to Solaris, Netgalley and the author for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Kira Sivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to T.R. Moore, Solaris | Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for this free ARC.


'Disgraced, Dishonoured and Deified to become the wild protector a wild forest needs.'


Two things grabbed my attention upon seeing 'The Gods Must Burn' by T.R. Moore. The first, of course, being the cover: a wolf with piercing orange eyes and bared fangs, surrounded by branches and a title which stylised in flames. The other reason was the comparison to Princess Mononoke. While it isn't my favourite of Studio Ghibli's films (those would be Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away, in case you were wandering😉), it is still a gripping story about mankind's relationship with nature. Having read this, I can certainly see the similarities.


✍🏽📖 The Reading Experience

The pacing isn't fast as you'd expect from a war story, but that's because the focus is on a smaller scale. The protagonist, Basuin 'Bass,' is a soldier suffering from PTSD. There are moments where he's triggered and his mind takes him elsewhere. While I don't have personal experience with PTSD, the jarring unexpected nature of these scenes felt like a sympathetic look at what many go through.

I would have liked a better feel for Bass's place in the legion before he's forced to leave them, but I did like the fact that Bass has a connection to wolves. Even before he set foot on the island he thought in wolfish metaphors to describe actions and places showing how his moniker shaped him.


📚 The Story: The Soldier and the Wolf 🐺

For fifteen years, Bass has been a soldier, having shed blood, sweat and tears for the legion. Yet, upon landing on the island of Yesua he is lead to his death. When he wakes, he finds his survival comes with a price: his body is now the host of the Wolf God. Charged with safeguarding the very forest his people came to destroy, Bass must work alongside the god the gods to protect the land and its inhabitants.


💡Themes: Faith, Guilt and the Wild

PTSD & Survivors Guilt: These are central to Bass's journey. He carries a weight from a past even in Valkesta, where he believes he led his team to their deaths. The guilts follows him into his new life, and both her and Ren feel the weight of protect the forest from the encroaching army.

Anger & Fear: From the moment we're introduced to him, Bass has had a chip on his shoulder, and his anger grows tenfold upon become a god. As a moon trained to kill rather than protect,his natural instincts frequently clash with his divine mission.

Nature & Environmentalism: This book explores subjects such as and coexistence with nature, though with less nuance than Mononoke. This book focuses more about the spiritual entities that inhabit the land than the land itself.

Faith, Belief and Conquest: The humans have, by this time, forsaken the gods. There is a sad symmetry here to our own world; once we stopped viewing nature as sacred and inhabited by the divine, we stopped respecting the wild spaces. I can't help but wonder if we would even know what climate change is had we kept those ancient practices of the protecting the wild.

The 'Bad Human' Trope: One of the book's weaker points I found, was the lack of a compelling reason for the invasion. Without a clear goal like resources or territory, the humans just felt like the 'bad guys' for the sake of the plot. One of Princess Mononoke's strengths, as is always the case for Studio Ghibli, is that the characters on both 'sides' have clear, understandable desires. The nuanced approach is what made the film so compelling, and is what made the absence of it here, somewhat hollow.


👥 Characters

Bass: He's gruff and disillusioned. His whole identity is tied to being a soldier and it takes him a long time to come to grips with the fact that the soldier is only one part of him. A big part of that is his sense of duty, which all soldiers have, but happens to that duty when they are betrayed by their fellow soldiers? That is something Bass has to come to terms with especially when he gets charged with a new duty in protecting the forest and its god.

Ren: I like her well enough and while she serves as a good contrast to the more militaristic Bass, I didn't feel as strong a connection to her. She's the San equivalent of this story, but she lacked the spark that would have made me truly root for her.

Kensy: He has potential to be a complex antagonist but ended up a disappointingly one-dimensional villain. A few flashbacks to his history with Bass could have given his final goals more of an impact.

Yaelic: He's a puppy. Literally! Bass saves him and Yaelic immediately pledges himself to the new god's service like a baby duck (... I think that's the right expression!). Their 'reluctant father-figure dynamic was one of my favourite parts of the book.


✔️ Final Thoughts

Overall, The Gods Must Burn is very separate and distinct enough to stand on its own. With a compelling protagonist grappling with PTSD and a storyline that explores human relationships to nature and the gods, this a book will have you gripped as you wonder if the forest can truly be saved. 😊

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading The Gods Must Burn was a complex experience: visceral, tragic, beautiful, yet, at times, contradictory. Basuin, the main character, is made host to the Wolf God after being killed by his friend and commander; his story of self-hatred, guilt, and his search for purpose are the foundation for this novel. The Forest God, embodiment of the nature and spirits that Basuin’s former allies seek to destroy, is the only one who will help him find solace and home within the spirits of the island, yet she also passes judgement over him and his weaknesses. The book has themes of nature and destruction, of war and loss, of struggle and mental health, of humanity and duty. I found many aspects of this book sharp and visceral; in particular the beginning and the ending had me unable to put the book down. At the same time, I did feel that the plot dragged in the middle, in part because the book is repetitive and, at times, felt self-contradictory.

The sharp emotions of this book are one of its greatest strengths. Basuin is an extremely complicated character: he suffers from PTSD due to the losses he feels responsible for as part of his military duties; he feels immense guilt for everything bad that happens around him yet equally feels as though he is only capable of following orders and that he cannot stand on his own two feet. He hates himself in a way that is heart-wrenching to read on the page. He is both lost and feels a great sense of duty. His relationship with the Wolf God, with the Forest God, and with the other spirits are full of complex emotions that feel very real; its easy to feel his pain and devotion in the writing of this book. Overall, I enjoyed many aspects of the writing in this book. Its one of the rare books that really made me feel an ache in my chest as I was reading it. While the book is dark and tragic, the moments of hope and the feeling that the lands and its spirits are worth fighting for make the book a very emotionally driven reading experience.

At the same time, I did have some issues with the pacing and repetition of the book. The beginning felt very poignant in a way that made the book difficult to put down, but when the story transitions from setting up Basuin’s new circumstances to asking him to make meaningful decisions, I felt that the book lost some of its drive. I do think that some of this is good: Basuin is someone who has deeply embedded self-hatred and self-doubt, and someone with extremely poor mental health. I don’t expect him to overcome these challenges easily; yet, at the same time, the focus on repeated failures and blaming himself for things outside of his control became tiring. It was hard at times to distinguish between his own self-hatred and guilt and the plot blaming him for things that appeared very much out of his control. The repetition of his mental state and struggles, paired with some sentences and descriptors that were repeated frequently, made the book drag at times in a way that made me not always want to pick it up. Moreover, storytelling that employs metaphors and memories in ways that are often unclear and themselves rather repetitive in wording, making it hard at times to understand what was happening on page.

The book discusses big themes: pacifism in the face of violence, how war begets bloodshed begets war, the meaning of duty and love and loyalty. I felt that many of these were discussed in interesting, nuances ways across the book; yet, at times, I also felt that the book was contradictory in a way that made it difficult to understand its goals or purpose. I don’t expect the book to be perfectly clear or definitive in its ideas, yet at times it felt as though the message or ideals portrayed didn’t make sense. Is it wrong to use violence to protect someone who is being harmed even if they themselves are pacifists? Is it okay to destroy food but wrong to cause mental harm? I do think that, overall, the depictions in this book were thought-provoking, but at times I wished for more clarity or consistency across the book.

Overall, I do recommend this book to someone interested in a dark, poignant, and at times tragic standalone novel with strong themes of war, nature, duty, and love. It was an emotionally difficult read at times, but one that I think made complex emotions feel very real. I am rating this book 4 out of 5 stars; I am glad that I read it, but wish the pace and ideas were more consistent.

Thank you to Solaris for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.