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The Orphanage of Gods
Twenty years ago, the humans came for their gods.
In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.
No one has ever escaped the orphanage.
Until now.
Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free - but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her - ones that will change the world forever . . .
As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done?
In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.
No one has ever escaped the orphanage.
Until now.
Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free - but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her - ones that will change the world forever . . .
As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done?
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2019
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1765 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
February 22, 2020
I very rarely give books one star but I found The Orphanage of Gods so pointless I couldn't possibly give it anything else.
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2.5/5
The book was based in a world with gods and humans. The gods had silver blood and special abilities and the humans had red blood, however, the humans rebelled and killed many of the gods. They tried to wipe them out at all costs. At first I found the premise intriguing (I thought it was like an inverse Red Queen) but my interest quickly sputtered out.
The plot made no sense. Two gods, Hero and Joshua went to save their human friend Kestrel from the Guard. They saved her then ended up joining a rebel group and then lots of things happened but ultimately they all amounted to nothing and I finished the book with a pervasive feeling of disappointment.
I felt like the book had no direction. It took me here and there, up and down, side to side, over hills and under starry skies and then at the end of the day, nothing much happened or at least nothing worth caring about happened. Whilst I was reading I thought, 'This story is going somewhere, right?' and I kept thinking that thought until the very last page. Then I realised that unfortunately, the story was always going nowhere.
Furthermore, the book was split into three parts with three different points of view and I didn't understand why I was reading the story from those perspectives, especially because I couldn't care less about the characters and their motives. The second perspective was a ten-year-old girl called Raven who apparently was very special and was supposed to be in charge someday. I had no idea why her point of view was included because during the book she didn't do much.
The romance was unrealistic because Kestrel and Eliza had only known each other for a few days and they were suddenly throwing around declarations of love. Also, Eliza was a complete maniac and Kestrel seemed to not mind at all no matter what terrifying things she did.
In conclusion, I thoroughly disliked this book and I would love to have the hours I spent reading it refunded to me so I can spend them on a different book.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2.5/5
The book was based in a world with gods and humans. The gods had silver blood and special abilities and the humans had red blood, however, the humans rebelled and killed many of the gods. They tried to wipe them out at all costs. At first I found the premise intriguing (I thought it was like an inverse Red Queen) but my interest quickly sputtered out.
The plot made no sense. Two gods, Hero and Joshua went to save their human friend Kestrel from the Guard. They saved her then ended up joining a rebel group and then lots of things happened but ultimately they all amounted to nothing and I finished the book with a pervasive feeling of disappointment.
I felt like the book had no direction. It took me here and there, up and down, side to side, over hills and under starry skies and then at the end of the day, nothing much happened or at least nothing worth caring about happened. Whilst I was reading I thought, 'This story is going somewhere, right?' and I kept thinking that thought until the very last page. Then I realised that unfortunately, the story was always going nowhere.
Furthermore, the book was split into three parts with three different points of view and I didn't understand why I was reading the story from those perspectives, especially because I couldn't care less about the characters and their motives. The second perspective was a ten-year-old girl called Raven who apparently was very special and was supposed to be in charge someday. I had no idea why her point of view was included because during the book she didn't do much.
The romance was unrealistic because Kestrel and Eliza had only known each other for a few days and they were suddenly throwing around declarations of love. Also, Eliza was a complete maniac and Kestrel seemed to not mind at all no matter what terrifying things she did.
In conclusion, I thoroughly disliked this book and I would love to have the hours I spent reading it refunded to me so I can spend them on a different book.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
January 15, 2019
This book actually really surprised me. It wasn't quite what I was expecting when I read the blurb, but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I started out feeling quite neutral about it but as the book continued I started to get really invested in the story. The blurb did remind me a little of Strange the Dreamer, but it did not end up being at al similar.
The book is set in a world where there are humans, and gods (people with silver blood who have magical powers called a 'demesne'). You can also be a half god, meaning you only have some of the attributes of a god. This was an interesting concept and I was pretty intrigued by it. The world it is set in is more modern, however, which thew me a little, because I thought it was going to be more archaic. However, I soon became used to it and I think that made it a little more unique. I thought the world-building was well done, although it would maybe nice to learn a little more about the geography of the world and where the gods came from and why people hate them etc. But aside from that, I thought this was a really strong element of the book.
I liked the characters a lot. I didn't realise at first, but the book is told in three perspectives. Part One is told by Hero, a seventeen year old girl who has escaped from an orphanage (where children are kept in case they are gods) with her brother Joshua. She herself is half god. I enjoyed reading from her point of view. She seemed clever and resourceful, and she cared a lot about her brother, and her sister who they were searching for, and I thought she was a very solid character. Part Two; we switched to the point of view of a ten year old girl called Raven. I found this first POV change quite abrupt, but I did end up liking Raven in the end, although she wasn't my favourite perspective. Finally, Part Three was told from Kestrel's perspective, who is Hero's sister. I really liked her, she was very complex and her character was quite different to the other two. I loved the bond she and Hero shared, and it was refreshing to see two girls not pining for a boy who had discarded them both. I was very happy to see the representation of a female/female romance between Kestrel and Eliza (who was also a very complex and interesting character).
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought all the characters were very well built. There were a few things that I had a few issues with - namely, the abrupt ending, and also the fact that I think some of the plot was tied up a little bit too fast at the end. But I think it was entertaining while still having a lot of depth, and I would definitely recommend it to others.
I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
The book is set in a world where there are humans, and gods (people with silver blood who have magical powers called a 'demesne'). You can also be a half god, meaning you only have some of the attributes of a god. This was an interesting concept and I was pretty intrigued by it. The world it is set in is more modern, however, which thew me a little, because I thought it was going to be more archaic. However, I soon became used to it and I think that made it a little more unique. I thought the world-building was well done, although it would maybe nice to learn a little more about the geography of the world and where the gods came from and why people hate them etc. But aside from that, I thought this was a really strong element of the book.
I liked the characters a lot. I didn't realise at first, but the book is told in three perspectives. Part One is told by Hero, a seventeen year old girl who has escaped from an orphanage (where children are kept in case they are gods) with her brother Joshua. She herself is half god. I enjoyed reading from her point of view. She seemed clever and resourceful, and she cared a lot about her brother, and her sister who they were searching for, and I thought she was a very solid character. Part Two; we switched to the point of view of a ten year old girl called Raven. I found this first POV change quite abrupt, but I did end up liking Raven in the end, although she wasn't my favourite perspective. Finally, Part Three was told from Kestrel's perspective, who is Hero's sister. I really liked her, she was very complex and her character was quite different to the other two. I loved the bond she and Hero shared, and it was refreshing to see two girls not pining for a boy who had discarded them both. I was very happy to see the representation of a female/female romance between Kestrel and Eliza (who was also a very complex and interesting character).
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought all the characters were very well built. There were a few things that I had a few issues with - namely, the abrupt ending, and also the fact that I think some of the plot was tied up a little bit too fast at the end. But I think it was entertaining while still having a lot of depth, and I would definitely recommend it to others.
I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
December 19, 2018
The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan is a fantasy young adult book.
All the adult Gods have been killed and now the guards and trying to find their children to dispose of them. Two of these teenagers are on the run and are trying to stay alive.
Plenty of action in this book but unfortunately I did not connect with the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
All the adult Gods have been killed and now the guards and trying to find their children to dispose of them. Two of these teenagers are on the run and are trying to stay alive.
Plenty of action in this book but unfortunately I did not connect with the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 24, 2019
I was given an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
The concept of The Orphanage of Gods sounds great, and really it sounds like something I would normally adore. That being said, I really struggled to connect with the characters and their motivations. I wasn't captivated enough to continue reading, and it has actually taken me three attempts at reading it to get through; that was due to personal perseverance rather than my overall enjoyment of the book. If I'm completely honest I can't say why it didn't suit me. There was action, and there was suspense, but I just didn't enjoy the characters enough to care about their goals etc. I'm so sad, because I really wanted to love it, and it seemed from the synopsis that I would. I regret to say that I have to give 2.5*, but this just wasn't for me.
The concept of The Orphanage of Gods sounds great, and really it sounds like something I would normally adore. That being said, I really struggled to connect with the characters and their motivations. I wasn't captivated enough to continue reading, and it has actually taken me three attempts at reading it to get through; that was due to personal perseverance rather than my overall enjoyment of the book. If I'm completely honest I can't say why it didn't suit me. There was action, and there was suspense, but I just didn't enjoy the characters enough to care about their goals etc. I'm so sad, because I really wanted to love it, and it seemed from the synopsis that I would. I regret to say that I have to give 2.5*, but this just wasn't for me.
December 24, 2019
I am the perfect audience for this book, on the surface, because it has all the things I like: A rapidly changing setting, unknown locations, hints of mythology and evolving magical abilities. Unfortunately it also has one of the most irritating narratives of all time and, in truth, it just sucked.
In this world children are kept in orphanages until they have been there for eighteen years. At this point the guards will test their blood to see if it runs red or silver. If it is silver they are gods, or half-breeds, and may be hiding their abilities to escape their death. If they are discovered they almost certainly will be killed. Apparently humans are murdering all gods to prevent their own mass-murder by carrying out mass murder themselves. Who needs a logical plot anyway....
I don't know how many times I have read a YA book now with silver blood as an indication of being special or a god (Red Queen, Red Rising etc...), but I'm so over it. Surely when you come to write a book you consider the similar books out there with similar themes; surely if you identified one of your own "unique" ideas a number of times you would think of something better yourself? Particularly when similar books have been so successful already and are likely to overshadow you unless you're crazy confident. This small issue was just one in a number of overdone concepts; it's just boring and unoriginal.
This isn't even the problem for me, despite those frustrations, because I'd be willing to overlook it if the characters or plot made up for it. They do not.
The plot is simple but jumpy, tangential and actually quite hard to follow. Much of the narrative feels like an internal monologue from Hero, the initial protagonist, and is most often confusing and only tenuously linked to the wider plot. Essentially Hero and Joshua are attempting to find their human friend Kestrel, who helped them escape the orphanage they had been hiding in, but the journey to get to her is so broken and poorly executed that I almost forgot there was an agenda.
The problem is that Hero is a nightmare. Her perspective is one of three, but makes up the bulk of the first quarter. Her thought processes are so poorly organised and full of rhetorical questions, most of which come across as panic, that I genuinely had to stop a few times from frustration or feeling stressed out myself by her; I really really hated her. The second perspective, Raven, was little better, although was marginally less erratic, except she served absolutely no purpose whatsoever to the novel as far as I can tell.
I don't even want to talk about the instantaneous romance or inability for characters to recognise how damaging the people in their lives were for them, practically embracing the drama and selfish behaviour, because that was basically the icing on the cake.
Most books I dislike I attribute to a poor match with my own preferences or perhaps even genre choice or age category not being quite right for me, but I really would struggle to find a way to recommend this book to anyone so it has to be a one star from me.
In this world children are kept in orphanages until they have been there for eighteen years. At this point the guards will test their blood to see if it runs red or silver. If it is silver they are gods, or half-breeds, and may be hiding their abilities to escape their death. If they are discovered they almost certainly will be killed. Apparently humans are murdering all gods to prevent their own mass-murder by carrying out mass murder themselves. Who needs a logical plot anyway....
I don't know how many times I have read a YA book now with silver blood as an indication of being special or a god (Red Queen, Red Rising etc...), but I'm so over it. Surely when you come to write a book you consider the similar books out there with similar themes; surely if you identified one of your own "unique" ideas a number of times you would think of something better yourself? Particularly when similar books have been so successful already and are likely to overshadow you unless you're crazy confident. This small issue was just one in a number of overdone concepts; it's just boring and unoriginal.
This isn't even the problem for me, despite those frustrations, because I'd be willing to overlook it if the characters or plot made up for it. They do not.
The plot is simple but jumpy, tangential and actually quite hard to follow. Much of the narrative feels like an internal monologue from Hero, the initial protagonist, and is most often confusing and only tenuously linked to the wider plot. Essentially Hero and Joshua are attempting to find their human friend Kestrel, who helped them escape the orphanage they had been hiding in, but the journey to get to her is so broken and poorly executed that I almost forgot there was an agenda.
The problem is that Hero is a nightmare. Her perspective is one of three, but makes up the bulk of the first quarter. Her thought processes are so poorly organised and full of rhetorical questions, most of which come across as panic, that I genuinely had to stop a few times from frustration or feeling stressed out myself by her; I really really hated her. The second perspective, Raven, was little better, although was marginally less erratic, except she served absolutely no purpose whatsoever to the novel as far as I can tell.
I don't even want to talk about the instantaneous romance or inability for characters to recognise how damaging the people in their lives were for them, practically embracing the drama and selfish behaviour, because that was basically the icing on the cake.
Most books I dislike I attribute to a poor match with my own preferences or perhaps even genre choice or age category not being quite right for me, but I really would struggle to find a way to recommend this book to anyone so it has to be a one star from me.
February 14, 2019
This is only barely 3 stars as I tend to not give less than that since I realise what a monumental thing it is to write a book. And I think that is part of the problem here. Orphanage of the Gods is pretty intense with way too much going on and it turned a really promising story into one that eventually became a chore to read.
The premise and cover are amazing. This is the kind of story I like, but as the book progressed it became way too complicated and muddled especially with it being YA. I just couldn't get into it or feel much for the characters past Hero.
What a shame because I had such high hopes for this. I think it could be really good with some more character development, or things being fleshed out and spread over more books. But as it stands it's just not what it (and I) hoped it would be.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.
The premise and cover are amazing. This is the kind of story I like, but as the book progressed it became way too complicated and muddled especially with it being YA. I just couldn't get into it or feel much for the characters past Hero.
What a shame because I had such high hopes for this. I think it could be really good with some more character development, or things being fleshed out and spread over more books. But as it stands it's just not what it (and I) hoped it would be.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.
August 4, 2021
*2.75 POINTLESS STARS*
I honestly don't know what to think of this.
I loved the concept, but not the execution.
The writing was great, but this book somehow seemed to drag on, it felt endless.
The characters were fine, I just couldn't seem to relate to, or even care for, any of them. I feel like the character development happened in reverse here. I loved the characters at first, but ended up liking them less the farther I got in the story.
Their whole journey just seemed pretty pointless to me, as well as the triple POV.
I honestly don't know what to think of this.
I loved the concept, but not the execution.
The writing was great, but this book somehow seemed to drag on, it felt endless.
The characters were fine, I just couldn't seem to relate to, or even care for, any of them. I feel like the character development happened in reverse here. I loved the characters at first, but ended up liking them less the farther I got in the story.
Their whole journey just seemed pretty pointless to me, as well as the triple POV.
March 18, 2019
It was enjoyable, but it did not blow me away unfortunately. Review to follow.
January 23, 2019
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4.5/5 Stars
*I was provided with an ARC by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. All quotes used may be subject to change upon publication.
Wow! I definitely wasn’t prepared for this book! This was one intense read and I truly loved every minute of it. As soon as I saw that this was about Gods, I immediately wanted to get my hands on it, as I have an unhealthy obsession with mythology and I’m so blessed that we’ve now got another brilliant YA book about Gods! I normally find that stories with characters that are on journey’s can sometimes be hit or miss for me, because there’s usually a point where the travelling becomes a bit monotonous. However, despite the fact that Hero is essentially on the run, and consequently, this is what a lot of the novel consists of, I wasn’t bored for one single second. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot, because the writing was just so good and it allowed me to focus on getting to know Hero and her brother (by bond), Joshua. It also probably didn’t feel like one endless expedition, because the book is split into three different parts, with each part being from a different characters point of view. Each part was fantastic, but the first two parts have a special place in my heart.
In the opening chapter we are thrown in when Hero and Josh are preparing to have an encounter with the Guardsmen, as Josh has had a premonition that they will come to them. This scene had me on the edge of my seat, it was honestly so tense. Here we get introduced to Josh’s power, which is the ability to manipulate light, for example he can conjure balls of light in his hands and even create lightning, “a spark of sunlight coalesces in his palm into a bulb the size of a pebble. He flicks his wrist and the light soars ahead, illuminating a stone corridor”. We’re not immediately told what Hero’s power is, but it is clear that Josh is much more powerful than she is, in terms of the amount of power thrumming within him and because his power can also be used as a weapon, Josh is also a God, whereas Hero is a half-god. All of the Gods have varying powers, although more than one person can have the same power, but with the disastrous effects of the revolution, it is very rare to find more than one person of the same power. The Gods with more ‘destructive’ powers and therefore the most powerful, are even scarcer. These powers are called a Gods demesne, their gift. Hero’s demesne is the ability to heal others, so it’s obviously a very beneficial power to have, but it is no help in a fight and so when they run into trouble, she more or less has to rely on Josh.
Hero and Josh’s relationship is strained to say the least, and is growing ever more so, the more days pass and they don’t have Kestrel, Hero’s sister (by bond) with them. The three of them have always stuck together since they met at the Orphanage, it’s been the three of them against the world for as long as they can remember. However, as Kestrel is no longer with them, Hero starts to wonder if she was all that linked them. Josh is in love with Kestrel, whereas he sees Hero as a sister, and although that’s perfectly okay with Hero, as she only sees him as her brother, sometimes it hurts just how much more he cares about Kestrel. The longer they spend on the road, the more apparent it is that loosing Kestrel has changed Josh, in a way that both bewilders and frightens Hero, but for all of his temper tantrums and distrust of her, she knows she’ll never leave him. He is her brother and she loves him. The tension between them builds throughout the course of the book and Hero starts to doubt that he ever even cared about her at all, with him becoming more unrecognisable by the minute, Hero is forced to look at how powerful Josh really is and just what that power could do to her, “Please be alive. I don’t know what he’ll do if you’re dead. I don’t know what he’ll do to me, if you’re dead”. I really have to commend the author here, because Josh is constantly acting like a brat and there were more than a few occasions where I would’ve liked to give him a piece of my mind, but I’d find that Hero was already doing it for me. Or I’d find that no matter how much I wanted to hate him, I found myself almost bound to him in a way, because of how ferocious Hero’s love for him is and that’s truly remarkable.
As Hero, Josh and Kestrel are no longer at the Orphanage, also known as Fitzgerald’s House, everything we learn about the Orphanage is through their memories. And what’s weird is, for the most part, it sounds like a regular Orphanage, nothing particularly monstrous happens. And then you remember that all the kids that are at this Orphanage are a by-product of the revolution that happened. These kids are homeless, either because their parents were Gods and therefore killed, or are human and their parents were killed in the crossfire. Again, it appears very run-of-the-mill, and so one could argue that it is therefore, more frightening when the true nature of those who run the Orphanage is shown. For example, some kids just disappear, here one day and then gone the next. Now, these kid’s aren’t just disappearing for no reason, if they show the slightest signs of having Godlike abilities, then they are most likely to disappear the very next day. Some children are lucky and manage to keep their ability hidden, until they turn 18 and they have their final ‘finding-day’ blood testing, to see whether they are allowed to enter the world on their own or be sent straight to Elida, a colossal black tower in the middle of nowhere, where they hold Gods. The testing involves having to be cut to see what colour you bleed, if you bleed red- human and free to go, grey- half god, more luminous silver – God. If you are one of the lucky ones, who haven’t let your powers show or spilt your grey/silver blood, than you essentially have until you are 18 to figure out what you’ll do when they discover you. So it’s unsurprising that the trio choose Josh’s final testing day to try and escape, but the price of doing so, is that their trio is now a forever changed duo, with all the irony in the world, that the only human in their group is now being held in a prison for Gods.
Whilst in the Orphanage the kids are occasionally told about The Resistance, a group of surviving Gods that live in the North, who are trying to fight back against the Guardsmen. They are told monstrous things about these Gods, “brutal in their revenge for all the murdered Gods, that they killed and ate human children, tortured their captives, that they were artists of violence”, but Hero is clever enough to realise that the Guard are probably lying, but because she is shrewd, she still doesn’t trust The Resistance anyway, so it never even crosses her’s or josh’s minds to seek them out and ask for help. But The Resistance have already been watching them, and after Hero and Josh have a particularly close call with some humans, The Resistance make themselves known. The Resistance offer their help to rescue Kestrel, but both Hero and Josh are adamant that they do this alone and Hero can’t help but notice the almost hungry look in The Resistance leader’s eyes when she figures out what Josh’s power is. It isn’t until they are desperate beyond measure, that Hero gives in and they come to her aid. She does this without consulting Josh and this ultimately becomes the final nail in the coffin of their relationship, on Josh’s end anyway, and for certain this time, Kestrel is the only thing that keeps them from completely cutting ties. But through Josh’s distance, Hero gets to know those around her, this makeshift family of Gods, Half-Gods and their human.
This small part of The Resistance that Hero now finds herself part of consists of Cairn (leader), Mark (human), Eliza (second in command), Luca and Caleb (teenage twins) and their 10 year old sister Raven. Each of them have unique powers, there was someone who could turn their skin rock solid, someone else was a telekinetic, one was a telepath, another a teleporter and last but not least, and probably my favourite, there was a shapeshifter. These powers are extremely varied, but there are seven different things that a God can possess that would signal them as being divine, they could have three or all seven, “There are seven signs that mark a god out from a human: speed-and-strength, premonition, beauty, endurance, the ability to heal oneself, the silver of the blood, and the god’s particular gift, their demesne. I only have the last four because I’m only half-god”. I really loved meeting all of these new characters and exploring their gifts, as many of them didn’t even know the full extent of their powers, or hadn’t disclosed their full abilities to the others. I know that even Hero and Josh were technically new characters to me, but I felt like I truly knew them, not even half way in. These newer characters though, were just as well written as Hero and Josh and I think that this is why I had so many emotions whilst reading this story, my eyes may have welled up with tears once or twice, because the characters all seemed so real to me. And even though I didn’t particularly like certain characters, I could fully appreciate how fleshed out they were, if it wasn’t obvious already, the characterisation in this was flawless.
Hero and Josh’s only goal is to rescue Kestrel, they haven’t even given much thought as to what they plan to do after, if they manage it, and yet they’re now in debt to The Resistance, and find themselves being a part of something much bigger than them. The small group that they were rescued by is not even a dent in the numbers that make up The Resistance, with the rest of them being stationed in this elusive camp. Cairn was an older woman who was in charge of both this smaller group and the camp at large, “It’s a huge camp, they say, full of tents, thousands of people of godly blood, all living in secret, hiding from the Guard. Cairn is in charge of them all”. She was a somewhat distanced leader, who you can never quite figure out if she’s calculating or just removed from others, she says few words, but part of that may be, because the others know that her word is law, “Cairn knows what she’s doing, that’s Rule Number One”. There is always the sense that she’s five thousand steps ahead of everyone else, and due to not knowing whether she can be trusted and just what her motives are, you find her both impressive and unnerving. Mark was 20 and was the only human, he was actually adorable and was the sweetest with little Raven, acting as both her teacher and an extra older brother.
Eliza, 21, was next in charge after Cairn, although, she too was kept in the dark about a lot. She was serious, but kind and proved time and time again, as the book progressed, that there was more to her than she was letting on. The twins, Caleb and Luca were essentially a package deal, as they were so close to one another, they both would do anything for each other and Raven, Caleb was definitely the friendlier of the two though, as Luca was a very fierce and focused young lady. After describing Luca, I can definitely see who little Raven is most like. Raven is only 10, but she is smart as a whip, extremely brave, loyal and protective, and even manages to more than stand her ground during her training sessions with Mark. Raven is special though, as she is The Resistance’s hope for a better future and as things start to unravel, she learns just how far back this plan found its roots and we see her grapple with this information, “I don’t understand. What am I to them? What am I meant to do?”.
I could honestly talk about this book forever, because it was just so good, but I want to just mention my favourite thing about it, outside of the Gods, which was the relationship between Hero and Kestrel. I just adore the friendship that these two have, it’s always so beautiful to me to see such strong and loving female friendships in YA books, as romance is usually at the forefront, “Kestrel. I close my mind to everything but her, her face. Kestrel is what matters, nothing else.” It was also amazing to me how Kestrel loved Hero more than she loved Josh, and although Kestrel’s sexuality is open, this is in a completely platonic way. It is very clear that these girls would do anything for each other, and in this very unique case, I think they loved each other equally. They both had to make very hard decisions throughout their lives for the sake of the other and I was honestly just so proud of them, they really did melt my heart.
This book had me from the very first page and took me on a roller coaster of emotions and I’m still not over the fact that it’s finished, I would give just about anything for a sequel, I just miss everyone so much. I should warn you that this isn’t a ‘and everyone survived’ book, people die and although I was mad and upset at times, because I truly cared about some of these characters, I kind of respect the decision to do it, because realistically, not everyone is going to survive. This book reminded me exactly why I find the idea of Gods so fascinating, because of their otherworldly abilities and the idea of too much power leading to destruction and consequently, the examination of the thin line between Gods and monsters. This book means a great deal to me and I hope with all my heart that you’ll pick it up and meet this cast of characters that I’m so taken with. Helena Coggan has definitely found a fan in me and I can’t wait to read more of her work!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/museofnyxma...
4.5/5 Stars
*I was provided with an ARC by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. All quotes used may be subject to change upon publication.
Wow! I definitely wasn’t prepared for this book! This was one intense read and I truly loved every minute of it. As soon as I saw that this was about Gods, I immediately wanted to get my hands on it, as I have an unhealthy obsession with mythology and I’m so blessed that we’ve now got another brilliant YA book about Gods! I normally find that stories with characters that are on journey’s can sometimes be hit or miss for me, because there’s usually a point where the travelling becomes a bit monotonous. However, despite the fact that Hero is essentially on the run, and consequently, this is what a lot of the novel consists of, I wasn’t bored for one single second. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot, because the writing was just so good and it allowed me to focus on getting to know Hero and her brother (by bond), Joshua. It also probably didn’t feel like one endless expedition, because the book is split into three different parts, with each part being from a different characters point of view. Each part was fantastic, but the first two parts have a special place in my heart.
In the opening chapter we are thrown in when Hero and Josh are preparing to have an encounter with the Guardsmen, as Josh has had a premonition that they will come to them. This scene had me on the edge of my seat, it was honestly so tense. Here we get introduced to Josh’s power, which is the ability to manipulate light, for example he can conjure balls of light in his hands and even create lightning, “a spark of sunlight coalesces in his palm into a bulb the size of a pebble. He flicks his wrist and the light soars ahead, illuminating a stone corridor”. We’re not immediately told what Hero’s power is, but it is clear that Josh is much more powerful than she is, in terms of the amount of power thrumming within him and because his power can also be used as a weapon, Josh is also a God, whereas Hero is a half-god. All of the Gods have varying powers, although more than one person can have the same power, but with the disastrous effects of the revolution, it is very rare to find more than one person of the same power. The Gods with more ‘destructive’ powers and therefore the most powerful, are even scarcer. These powers are called a Gods demesne, their gift. Hero’s demesne is the ability to heal others, so it’s obviously a very beneficial power to have, but it is no help in a fight and so when they run into trouble, she more or less has to rely on Josh.
Hero and Josh’s relationship is strained to say the least, and is growing ever more so, the more days pass and they don’t have Kestrel, Hero’s sister (by bond) with them. The three of them have always stuck together since they met at the Orphanage, it’s been the three of them against the world for as long as they can remember. However, as Kestrel is no longer with them, Hero starts to wonder if she was all that linked them. Josh is in love with Kestrel, whereas he sees Hero as a sister, and although that’s perfectly okay with Hero, as she only sees him as her brother, sometimes it hurts just how much more he cares about Kestrel. The longer they spend on the road, the more apparent it is that loosing Kestrel has changed Josh, in a way that both bewilders and frightens Hero, but for all of his temper tantrums and distrust of her, she knows she’ll never leave him. He is her brother and she loves him. The tension between them builds throughout the course of the book and Hero starts to doubt that he ever even cared about her at all, with him becoming more unrecognisable by the minute, Hero is forced to look at how powerful Josh really is and just what that power could do to her, “Please be alive. I don’t know what he’ll do if you’re dead. I don’t know what he’ll do to me, if you’re dead”. I really have to commend the author here, because Josh is constantly acting like a brat and there were more than a few occasions where I would’ve liked to give him a piece of my mind, but I’d find that Hero was already doing it for me. Or I’d find that no matter how much I wanted to hate him, I found myself almost bound to him in a way, because of how ferocious Hero’s love for him is and that’s truly remarkable.
As Hero, Josh and Kestrel are no longer at the Orphanage, also known as Fitzgerald’s House, everything we learn about the Orphanage is through their memories. And what’s weird is, for the most part, it sounds like a regular Orphanage, nothing particularly monstrous happens. And then you remember that all the kids that are at this Orphanage are a by-product of the revolution that happened. These kids are homeless, either because their parents were Gods and therefore killed, or are human and their parents were killed in the crossfire. Again, it appears very run-of-the-mill, and so one could argue that it is therefore, more frightening when the true nature of those who run the Orphanage is shown. For example, some kids just disappear, here one day and then gone the next. Now, these kid’s aren’t just disappearing for no reason, if they show the slightest signs of having Godlike abilities, then they are most likely to disappear the very next day. Some children are lucky and manage to keep their ability hidden, until they turn 18 and they have their final ‘finding-day’ blood testing, to see whether they are allowed to enter the world on their own or be sent straight to Elida, a colossal black tower in the middle of nowhere, where they hold Gods. The testing involves having to be cut to see what colour you bleed, if you bleed red- human and free to go, grey- half god, more luminous silver – God. If you are one of the lucky ones, who haven’t let your powers show or spilt your grey/silver blood, than you essentially have until you are 18 to figure out what you’ll do when they discover you. So it’s unsurprising that the trio choose Josh’s final testing day to try and escape, but the price of doing so, is that their trio is now a forever changed duo, with all the irony in the world, that the only human in their group is now being held in a prison for Gods.
Whilst in the Orphanage the kids are occasionally told about The Resistance, a group of surviving Gods that live in the North, who are trying to fight back against the Guardsmen. They are told monstrous things about these Gods, “brutal in their revenge for all the murdered Gods, that they killed and ate human children, tortured their captives, that they were artists of violence”, but Hero is clever enough to realise that the Guard are probably lying, but because she is shrewd, she still doesn’t trust The Resistance anyway, so it never even crosses her’s or josh’s minds to seek them out and ask for help. But The Resistance have already been watching them, and after Hero and Josh have a particularly close call with some humans, The Resistance make themselves known. The Resistance offer their help to rescue Kestrel, but both Hero and Josh are adamant that they do this alone and Hero can’t help but notice the almost hungry look in The Resistance leader’s eyes when she figures out what Josh’s power is. It isn’t until they are desperate beyond measure, that Hero gives in and they come to her aid. She does this without consulting Josh and this ultimately becomes the final nail in the coffin of their relationship, on Josh’s end anyway, and for certain this time, Kestrel is the only thing that keeps them from completely cutting ties. But through Josh’s distance, Hero gets to know those around her, this makeshift family of Gods, Half-Gods and their human.
This small part of The Resistance that Hero now finds herself part of consists of Cairn (leader), Mark (human), Eliza (second in command), Luca and Caleb (teenage twins) and their 10 year old sister Raven. Each of them have unique powers, there was someone who could turn their skin rock solid, someone else was a telekinetic, one was a telepath, another a teleporter and last but not least, and probably my favourite, there was a shapeshifter. These powers are extremely varied, but there are seven different things that a God can possess that would signal them as being divine, they could have three or all seven, “There are seven signs that mark a god out from a human: speed-and-strength, premonition, beauty, endurance, the ability to heal oneself, the silver of the blood, and the god’s particular gift, their demesne. I only have the last four because I’m only half-god”. I really loved meeting all of these new characters and exploring their gifts, as many of them didn’t even know the full extent of their powers, or hadn’t disclosed their full abilities to the others. I know that even Hero and Josh were technically new characters to me, but I felt like I truly knew them, not even half way in. These newer characters though, were just as well written as Hero and Josh and I think that this is why I had so many emotions whilst reading this story, my eyes may have welled up with tears once or twice, because the characters all seemed so real to me. And even though I didn’t particularly like certain characters, I could fully appreciate how fleshed out they were, if it wasn’t obvious already, the characterisation in this was flawless.
Hero and Josh’s only goal is to rescue Kestrel, they haven’t even given much thought as to what they plan to do after, if they manage it, and yet they’re now in debt to The Resistance, and find themselves being a part of something much bigger than them. The small group that they were rescued by is not even a dent in the numbers that make up The Resistance, with the rest of them being stationed in this elusive camp. Cairn was an older woman who was in charge of both this smaller group and the camp at large, “It’s a huge camp, they say, full of tents, thousands of people of godly blood, all living in secret, hiding from the Guard. Cairn is in charge of them all”. She was a somewhat distanced leader, who you can never quite figure out if she’s calculating or just removed from others, she says few words, but part of that may be, because the others know that her word is law, “Cairn knows what she’s doing, that’s Rule Number One”. There is always the sense that she’s five thousand steps ahead of everyone else, and due to not knowing whether she can be trusted and just what her motives are, you find her both impressive and unnerving. Mark was 20 and was the only human, he was actually adorable and was the sweetest with little Raven, acting as both her teacher and an extra older brother.
Eliza, 21, was next in charge after Cairn, although, she too was kept in the dark about a lot. She was serious, but kind and proved time and time again, as the book progressed, that there was more to her than she was letting on. The twins, Caleb and Luca were essentially a package deal, as they were so close to one another, they both would do anything for each other and Raven, Caleb was definitely the friendlier of the two though, as Luca was a very fierce and focused young lady. After describing Luca, I can definitely see who little Raven is most like. Raven is only 10, but she is smart as a whip, extremely brave, loyal and protective, and even manages to more than stand her ground during her training sessions with Mark. Raven is special though, as she is The Resistance’s hope for a better future and as things start to unravel, she learns just how far back this plan found its roots and we see her grapple with this information, “I don’t understand. What am I to them? What am I meant to do?”.
I could honestly talk about this book forever, because it was just so good, but I want to just mention my favourite thing about it, outside of the Gods, which was the relationship between Hero and Kestrel. I just adore the friendship that these two have, it’s always so beautiful to me to see such strong and loving female friendships in YA books, as romance is usually at the forefront, “Kestrel. I close my mind to everything but her, her face. Kestrel is what matters, nothing else.” It was also amazing to me how Kestrel loved Hero more than she loved Josh, and although Kestrel’s sexuality is open, this is in a completely platonic way. It is very clear that these girls would do anything for each other, and in this very unique case, I think they loved each other equally. They both had to make very hard decisions throughout their lives for the sake of the other and I was honestly just so proud of them, they really did melt my heart.
This book had me from the very first page and took me on a roller coaster of emotions and I’m still not over the fact that it’s finished, I would give just about anything for a sequel, I just miss everyone so much. I should warn you that this isn’t a ‘and everyone survived’ book, people die and although I was mad and upset at times, because I truly cared about some of these characters, I kind of respect the decision to do it, because realistically, not everyone is going to survive. This book reminded me exactly why I find the idea of Gods so fascinating, because of their otherworldly abilities and the idea of too much power leading to destruction and consequently, the examination of the thin line between Gods and monsters. This book means a great deal to me and I hope with all my heart that you’ll pick it up and meet this cast of characters that I’m so taken with. Helena Coggan has definitely found a fan in me and I can’t wait to read more of her work!
January 24, 2019
The premise of this sounds similar to strange the dreamer so was a bit hesitant, but other than it’s about gods and god spawn it is completely different. I did enjoy this but found it a bit slow to start, although action starts straight away I found it hard to get into at the beginning. But I felt there was a bit too much action going on for me, needed a bit of a slow down at some points or could have been spread over another book. I couldn’t really connect to the characters as much as I’d like, there were no shades of grey in them. It was a good read but I feel could have been better.
Read
February 15, 2020I'm afraid I had to DNF this one. I tried, I really did. I was determined to see past the low rating this novel has but honestly I think it's justified. It wasn't that the writing was bad, I actually enjoyed the writing style, I just didn't like the characters and the worldbuilding felt shoddy - it took me ages to realise it wasn't actually set on our planet. Full review to come.
dnf
March 2, 2019 DNF @ 40%
Like so many others it seems, I was beyond excited for The Orphanage of Gods because it gave me strong Strange the Dreamer vibes. Right in the beginning it was clear that those expectations were completely unfounded.
I wasn't a big fan of the way The Orphanage of Gods was written. The characters mull over tragedies endlessly. They go in circles on and on about things that happened to them very vaguely so that the reader doesn't know what has happened but still has to endure the endless cycle of whimpers. This happens to be a pet peeve of mine; I think reaching suspense by making the main characters constantly mull over their adversities without revealing said mishaps, is a cheap way of achieving a thrill.
Me reading The Orphanage of Gods:
(MC) Hero: oh no, oh no no no, what should we do? What have we done? How are we ever going to make it out of this situation?
Me: What situation
Hero: Oh Kestrel. Poor Kestrel. What should we do? How will we survive?
Me: Who's Kestrel
Hero: This wasn't supposed to go like this. Oh Joshua. Oh Kestrel. I cannot do this. I cannot.
Me: Wat
Hero: I can hear it now, boom boom boom, coming closer, oh no what are we to do. Oh Kestrel.
Me:
The writing wasn't only vague and overly-dramatic, it was also a bit too much at times.
'If she's still alive' he says at last, he's never said if before.
🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 It is quite an achievement to live 18 years as a native English speaker without ever using the word 'if' 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
Also the characters did pretty much nothing for me. Hero was the whimper (and I don't even know if she knew herself what she was always whimpering about). Joshua is the worst ever. He is unnecessarily violent, totally brainless and such an unreliable, bad friend. His storyline was that he was once a 'gentle, kind person' but nah, I don't buy that. He was too much of a jerk.
I'm sorry to have DNFed The Orphanage of Gods as I was kindly given an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. But unfortunately I couldn't do it. Life has so many great books, let's all focus on the ones we will love, this one just didn't do it for me. Regardless, someone else could fall in love with it.
Like so many others it seems, I was beyond excited for The Orphanage of Gods because it gave me strong Strange the Dreamer vibes. Right in the beginning it was clear that those expectations were completely unfounded.
I wasn't a big fan of the way The Orphanage of Gods was written. The characters mull over tragedies endlessly. They go in circles on and on about things that happened to them very vaguely so that the reader doesn't know what has happened but still has to endure the endless cycle of whimpers. This happens to be a pet peeve of mine; I think reaching suspense by making the main characters constantly mull over their adversities without revealing said mishaps, is a cheap way of achieving a thrill.
Me reading The Orphanage of Gods:
(MC) Hero: oh no, oh no no no, what should we do? What have we done? How are we ever going to make it out of this situation?
Me: What situation
Hero: Oh Kestrel. Poor Kestrel. What should we do? How will we survive?
Me: Who's Kestrel
Hero: This wasn't supposed to go like this. Oh Joshua. Oh Kestrel. I cannot do this. I cannot.
Me: Wat
Hero: I can hear it now, boom boom boom, coming closer, oh no what are we to do. Oh Kestrel.
Me:
The writing wasn't only vague and overly-dramatic, it was also a bit too much at times.
'If she's still alive' he says at last, he's never said if before.
🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 It is quite an achievement to live 18 years as a native English speaker without ever using the word 'if' 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
Also the characters did pretty much nothing for me. Hero was the whimper (and I don't even know if she knew herself what she was always whimpering about). Joshua is the worst ever. He is unnecessarily violent, totally brainless and such an unreliable, bad friend. His storyline was that he was once a 'gentle, kind person' but nah, I don't buy that. He was too much of a jerk.
I'm sorry to have DNFed The Orphanage of Gods as I was kindly given an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. But unfortunately I couldn't do it. Life has so many great books, let's all focus on the ones we will love, this one just didn't do it for me. Regardless, someone else could fall in love with it.
March 24, 2019
This was Illumicrate’s February box pick and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would.
Firstly we have 3 different perspectives but it doesn’t read like they are any different at all apart from who they refer to based on their relationships. The one perspective is of a 10 year old but it doesn’t read like a 10 year old at all.
I enjoyed some parts of the story and a few of the characters but the side characters (who you don’t get a perspective for) seem a little 2D and flat. Their only real personality is to look after someone or to hate someone else.
My other main issue with this is that it felt like I was reading a first draft where things were only half there and it kept cutting from past to present without warning which broke up the flow of the reading.
I considered DNFing it more times than I would care to admit and though it was very tempting I thought it might redeem itself. Of course that wasn’t the case personally.
The “magic” system makes no sense to me and it changes part way through the book. I mean it’s not really magic because their gods with powers but I don’t know what else to call it.
Firstly we have 3 different perspectives but it doesn’t read like they are any different at all apart from who they refer to based on their relationships. The one perspective is of a 10 year old but it doesn’t read like a 10 year old at all.
I enjoyed some parts of the story and a few of the characters but the side characters (who you don’t get a perspective for) seem a little 2D and flat. Their only real personality is to look after someone or to hate someone else.
My other main issue with this is that it felt like I was reading a first draft where things were only half there and it kept cutting from past to present without warning which broke up the flow of the reading.
I considered DNFing it more times than I would care to admit and though it was very tempting I thought it might redeem itself. Of course that wasn’t the case personally.
The “magic” system makes no sense to me and it changes part way through the book. I mean it’s not really magic because their gods with powers but I don’t know what else to call it.
wishlist
April 26, 202026 April 2020: $3.99 on Kindle
December 28, 2018
I tried very hard to read this book as it seemed like a great concept and storyline. However, in my opinion, the actual writing style and complicated plot lines that confused me, made it a difficult read. I abandoned it about 50% of the way through as I felt it was not worth trying to complete.
April 5, 2019
Sadly that book wasn't meant for me. I couldn't connect to any of the characters. And there were just so many things I found way too illogical.
And none of the relationships between the characters were believable to me. I had a hard time finishing this book. :-(
And none of the relationships between the characters were believable to me. I had a hard time finishing this book. :-(
February 28, 2019
When I first heard about The Orphanage of Gods, I had an idea in my head about what the story would be. I imagined a wildly fantastical story, sort of like Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. And there were definitely aspects of that... if you cross it with The Darkest Minds and add a bit of an X-Men feel. I love all three of those things, so you can imagine how excited I got as I read more of this book!
The premise is simple. The children of Amareth live in orphanages, under guard their entire lives. Any child who shows signs of god like power disappears in the night and is never heard of again. No one has escaped this fate... until Hero and Joshua. On the run, afraid for their lives and faced with the prospect of trying to rescue their best friend, Kestrel, the stage has been set for an epic story that Helena absolutely delivers!
We jump straight into the action on page one and it doesn't stop until the very end, which I loved. I have to say, I'm not usually a fan of books written in the present tense, but I loved how it made this story completely immersive and real. The writing was visceral and fierce and just made me want to keep reading and reading (I read this book so fast)!
Parts of the story are told in flashback, which gives us a better understanding of the relationships between Hero, Joshua and Kestrel and how they've handled the way they've been forced to grow up. You really get a sense that these characters would do just about anything for each other, so when their relationships start to become more strained as the book progresses it makes it even more painful to read. Hero and Kestrel's relationship was probably my favourite. They may not be blood related, but they're as close as sisters and trust each other implicitly. Getting to read from both of their perspectives was really beautiful, and the way Helena described their characters and their relationship with each other was perfection.
I think what really struck me about this story was the way it made me question the way we view the world, and how power can corrupt even the most innocent people. It's very difficult throughout the book to decide who the antagonist is - so many characters have legitimate reasons for acting the way they do, even if what they're doing may not be the right thing. Some characters started off as "good", but their choices and actions force you to shift your perspective.
I genuinely loved this story, and I'm actually really happy that it's a stand-alone novel. There aren't enough well written and perfectly wrapped up stand-alone books in the world for my liking, so while I'd love to read more about these characters and this world, I'm completely satisfied with the way it ended.
The premise is simple. The children of Amareth live in orphanages, under guard their entire lives. Any child who shows signs of god like power disappears in the night and is never heard of again. No one has escaped this fate... until Hero and Joshua. On the run, afraid for their lives and faced with the prospect of trying to rescue their best friend, Kestrel, the stage has been set for an epic story that Helena absolutely delivers!
We jump straight into the action on page one and it doesn't stop until the very end, which I loved. I have to say, I'm not usually a fan of books written in the present tense, but I loved how it made this story completely immersive and real. The writing was visceral and fierce and just made me want to keep reading and reading (I read this book so fast)!
Parts of the story are told in flashback, which gives us a better understanding of the relationships between Hero, Joshua and Kestrel and how they've handled the way they've been forced to grow up. You really get a sense that these characters would do just about anything for each other, so when their relationships start to become more strained as the book progresses it makes it even more painful to read. Hero and Kestrel's relationship was probably my favourite. They may not be blood related, but they're as close as sisters and trust each other implicitly. Getting to read from both of their perspectives was really beautiful, and the way Helena described their characters and their relationship with each other was perfection.
I think what really struck me about this story was the way it made me question the way we view the world, and how power can corrupt even the most innocent people. It's very difficult throughout the book to decide who the antagonist is - so many characters have legitimate reasons for acting the way they do, even if what they're doing may not be the right thing. Some characters started off as "good", but their choices and actions force you to shift your perspective.
I genuinely loved this story, and I'm actually really happy that it's a stand-alone novel. There aren't enough well written and perfectly wrapped up stand-alone books in the world for my liking, so while I'd love to read more about these characters and this world, I'm completely satisfied with the way it ended.
May 12, 2019
Firstly I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book; all opinions discussed below are entirely my own.
This book was honestly quite a disappointment for me, I was so excited to read this book because the premise sounds fabulous and really sounds like something I would enjoy, but the reality was actually very different. I really struggled to connect to any of the characters and honestly struggled to understand the motivations of most of the characters. There was very little world-building in this story; we’re shoved into the book in the middle of the plot, and we get very little information about the world itself, or how the world came to be. Sometimes I don’t mind this in a book if it’s done well, but personally I don’t think it was done well in this book. I saw a comment saying that this plot is meant to be set in our world, and I never got that from the book? Like that was never clear to me, and I think this was the overall problem that things were just not set out clearly and were all a bit muddled.
I think the main issue with this plot is that there is far too much stuffed into one book. If this had been split into three story’s it might have worked so much better but we had three different perspectives, all of which were muddled and rushed from my view, and I just never really felt the overall arcs and motivations of the characters were fully fledged out. I feel like we never got the time to really understand what was going on, and considering that this wasn’t a short story it’s a bit confusing to me how we never got things explained. There were so many different motivations and plot points throughout this book but I just never connected to them, or was invested in it. In a world such as this you would normally expect to feel some tension about what’s going to happen, and who will emerge victorious but I never felt that tension, I was honestly a bit bored about the plots and didn’t particularly care about what happened.
Again, in terms of the characters, I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters? I enjoyed Hero’s perspective, but when we jump to the other two perspectives she all but disappears; and I think this was the main problem for me, at each change in perspective the other main characters seem to become forgotten and so it makes it hard for you to feel invested in them. And again I struggled to understand their motivations; the relationship between Eliza and Kestrel in particular really confused me because it literally seemed to come out of nowhere, and then it almost seems to suggest that Eliza manipulated Kestrel into loving her, but it’s never clear? And again with Raven; we’re told that she’s meant to be the leader but I never really understood why? Yeah I get that people like her but it takes more than that to be a leader, and it just didn’t make any sense to me. We’re not really shown that she’s any better than anyone else so I just was left confused. Also, the whole Joshua plot point again had me scratching my head; he was honestly giving me whiplash a bit with his changing opinions and characterisation. I completely get where the author was trying to go with his character but it just fell quite flat for me.
I really think this book had some good potential, and the author did seem to begin on a good note, but it just was too much rushed into one story. I personally think it should have been either a duet or a trilogy, so that we actually had time to build up the world and connect to these characters. Rather than rush a lot of plots into one book. I didn’t consider DNF’ing this book at any point though, so this is why I gave it two stars.
This book was honestly quite a disappointment for me, I was so excited to read this book because the premise sounds fabulous and really sounds like something I would enjoy, but the reality was actually very different. I really struggled to connect to any of the characters and honestly struggled to understand the motivations of most of the characters. There was very little world-building in this story; we’re shoved into the book in the middle of the plot, and we get very little information about the world itself, or how the world came to be. Sometimes I don’t mind this in a book if it’s done well, but personally I don’t think it was done well in this book. I saw a comment saying that this plot is meant to be set in our world, and I never got that from the book? Like that was never clear to me, and I think this was the overall problem that things were just not set out clearly and were all a bit muddled.
I think the main issue with this plot is that there is far too much stuffed into one book. If this had been split into three story’s it might have worked so much better but we had three different perspectives, all of which were muddled and rushed from my view, and I just never really felt the overall arcs and motivations of the characters were fully fledged out. I feel like we never got the time to really understand what was going on, and considering that this wasn’t a short story it’s a bit confusing to me how we never got things explained. There were so many different motivations and plot points throughout this book but I just never connected to them, or was invested in it. In a world such as this you would normally expect to feel some tension about what’s going to happen, and who will emerge victorious but I never felt that tension, I was honestly a bit bored about the plots and didn’t particularly care about what happened.
Again, in terms of the characters, I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters? I enjoyed Hero’s perspective, but when we jump to the other two perspectives she all but disappears; and I think this was the main problem for me, at each change in perspective the other main characters seem to become forgotten and so it makes it hard for you to feel invested in them. And again I struggled to understand their motivations; the relationship between Eliza and Kestrel in particular really confused me because it literally seemed to come out of nowhere, and then it almost seems to suggest that Eliza manipulated Kestrel into loving her, but it’s never clear? And again with Raven; we’re told that she’s meant to be the leader but I never really understood why? Yeah I get that people like her but it takes more than that to be a leader, and it just didn’t make any sense to me. We’re not really shown that she’s any better than anyone else so I just was left confused. Also, the whole Joshua plot point again had me scratching my head; he was honestly giving me whiplash a bit with his changing opinions and characterisation. I completely get where the author was trying to go with his character but it just fell quite flat for me.
I really think this book had some good potential, and the author did seem to begin on a good note, but it just was too much rushed into one story. I personally think it should have been either a duet or a trilogy, so that we actually had time to build up the world and connect to these characters. Rather than rush a lot of plots into one book. I didn’t consider DNF’ing this book at any point though, so this is why I gave it two stars.
dnf
March 19, 2021This book sounds like something I would have loved, and after a disappointing start I had all the intentions to try and give this book a chance. But I DNFed not long after that. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, and I wasn’t keen on all the rhetorical internal monologue. But the thing that made my decision to DNF was the fact that the plot didn’t seem to go anywhere (except in circles...)
May 3, 2019
I had no high expectations as most of the reviews of this book weren't that great. But I actually quite enjoyed this book, especially the writing which I found nice and unique!
I understand that maybe some people struggle with the book because of this. The story was action-packed and filled with lots of fun characters. Though I found the ending a little bit rushed and abrupt.
I understand that maybe some people struggle with the book because of this. The story was action-packed and filled with lots of fun characters. Though I found the ending a little bit rushed and abrupt.
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June 4, 2019I was initially super into this, but after the first change of narrator, I struggled a little to stay invested. Got more into it again in the third/final section, but not in the way I had been at the start. Will update with a more detailed review and thoughts as to why that might have been once my hands are less painful.
March 6, 2023
3.5 ☆☆☆ rounding up to 4 tho was alright just didn't hold my attention and didn't want to pick it up.
March 17, 2025
the epilogue was an interesting way to end the story, but overall this just wasn’t a very engaging read. it just lacked a lot of depth and development for my liking even if it had interesting ideas.
May 17, 2019
Such a good book! I want this turned into a film NOW and I would also like to be a God please (or a half-breed, either is fine). Could you, like, NOT killed off my favourite character who I want to marry thanks 😭😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 4, 2018Sounds like a discount ‘Strange the Dreamer’
February 16, 2019
This is a story about how humans have condemned all children to live in an orphanage until they are eighteen, they are then tested by the guards of the orphanage to see if their blood is silver, the blood of a God. I f they are a God, they are taken away and if they are human, they are let out into society to live out their lives.
At the start of this book, we follow Hero who is a half-God and Joshua, who is a full God while they are trying to rescue their 'sister' Kestrel, who is human. Kestrel was taken away by the guards as they thought she had the silver blood. I liked Hero's perspective and found this part really tense and the flashbacks interesting and informative in just the right way but then we moved onto two other perspectives throughout the rest of the book and everything seemed to change.
The next part followed Raven, a ten year old girl who lives with about five or six other Gods and one human in a camp. As she is not in the first part of the story, I found she annoyed me slightly and I found I didn't care for her character. It kept getting on my nerves how she was being overprotected one minute and then was supposed to lead them the next, it confused me.
The third perspective is one I won;t name for spoiler reasons but I found this character quite different to how I thought they would be. There was a lot of things happening between the Gods, humans and in the small group that contained Hero and Raven and I found it was all too much for me. I found the perspective of this third person to be a little pointless and I felt that as soon as the next person becomes a main character and we read the scene through them, the actual main characters become secondary people; I felt that it didn't work for me at all.
I liked that each God had their own power or demesne as it was called in the book but I found that was the only interesting thing about it. The book showed a few people's demesne but I feel like they could have shown more of them of used their powers more. I also felt that the book was very scattered for me, I didn't connect with any of the characters and only liked Hero who we didn't really see much of towards the end and I also felt that it wrapped up too quickly and as everyone seemed to be making assumptions about the guards and another character, I didn't know what was going on, for example, one character kept telling everyone they would be safe even though there was no way of knowing they would be and then they were attacked and almost killed multiple times. Overall I am not a fan of this book and found it too confusing unfortunately.
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think ? Come and talk to me about it in the comments
At the start of this book, we follow Hero who is a half-God and Joshua, who is a full God while they are trying to rescue their 'sister' Kestrel, who is human. Kestrel was taken away by the guards as they thought she had the silver blood. I liked Hero's perspective and found this part really tense and the flashbacks interesting and informative in just the right way but then we moved onto two other perspectives throughout the rest of the book and everything seemed to change.
The next part followed Raven, a ten year old girl who lives with about five or six other Gods and one human in a camp. As she is not in the first part of the story, I found she annoyed me slightly and I found I didn't care for her character. It kept getting on my nerves how she was being overprotected one minute and then was supposed to lead them the next, it confused me.
The third perspective is one I won;t name for spoiler reasons but I found this character quite different to how I thought they would be. There was a lot of things happening between the Gods, humans and in the small group that contained Hero and Raven and I found it was all too much for me. I found the perspective of this third person to be a little pointless and I felt that as soon as the next person becomes a main character and we read the scene through them, the actual main characters become secondary people; I felt that it didn't work for me at all.
I liked that each God had their own power or demesne as it was called in the book but I found that was the only interesting thing about it. The book showed a few people's demesne but I feel like they could have shown more of them of used their powers more. I also felt that the book was very scattered for me, I didn't connect with any of the characters and only liked Hero who we didn't really see much of towards the end and I also felt that it wrapped up too quickly and as everyone seemed to be making assumptions about the guards and another character, I didn't know what was going on, for example, one character kept telling everyone they would be safe even though there was no way of knowing they would be and then they were attacked and almost killed multiple times. Overall I am not a fan of this book and found it too confusing unfortunately.
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think ? Come and talk to me about it in the comments
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March 16, 2019I wasn't made for this book.
February 26, 2019
In a world where gods and humans exist, a revolution happened twenty years ago by humans called the Guard. A revolution meant to kill every single god and half-god. Now only some of them are still there, and all the children left behind since then go to an orphanage where they being watched day and night for signs of them being gods. There are seven attributes that make a god, such as speed and strength, premonition, beauty, endurance, the ability to heal oneself, the silver of their blood or their demesne, which is the god's particular gift, while half-gods only have some of these seven. Their blood isn't always silver to begin with but will change color and be before they turn eighteen, which is why in the orphanage there is a blood test eighteen years after they were brought here. If their blood is red, they're free to go in the world, if it's silver, they're sent away to Elida, never to be seen again.
At the beginning of the story, we're following Hero, a half-god and Joshua, a god who just escaped from the orphanage — being the first ones to ever do that — as Joshua's blood test was coming closer, but sadly, Kestrel, a human and Hero's sister in everything but blood, who was supposed to escape with them, had been captured. So Hero and Joshua are going toward Elida to break her out. I found the beginning quite slow, but it soon speeds up as the two of them meet other gods part of the resistance and finally arrive to Elida.
The book is divided in three parts, the first one being narrated by Hero, then Raven, a ten years old shapeshifter girl from the resistance, and then Kestrel. I found myself loving all of these three girls (along with other characters), feeling for them and their troubles and doubts and fears. We could tell Raven was only ten by the way she was narrating, which I really liked. Everyone else made her a prodigy child, but she was still only a child and it showed.
The settings of the story were pretty dark, with the revolution, the resistance, all the fights, not a lot of hope, and ended with a kind of bittersweet ending but the characters still found some happiness at times with each other, and even some love (I was really surprised and happy to see a romance between two girls and even though I found their relationship a little rushed they were great together).
The relationships were also my favorite part of the book, all of them, especially Hero and Kestrel's. They loved each other so much and would do anything for the other and that's exactly the kind of relationship I love. They were always here to support and help the other. I loved that the main relationship of this story was a platonic one.
I was a little disappointed with the end, I think I wish the end was later, that we could know more about what they did after everything happened. Like I said, the ending was kind of bittersweet, outside I was smiling while reading the epilogue but inside I was just screaming. I wish we had more.
I received this book from Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.
At the beginning of the story, we're following Hero, a half-god and Joshua, a god who just escaped from the orphanage — being the first ones to ever do that — as Joshua's blood test was coming closer, but sadly, Kestrel, a human and Hero's sister in everything but blood, who was supposed to escape with them, had been captured. So Hero and Joshua are going toward Elida to break her out. I found the beginning quite slow, but it soon speeds up as the two of them meet other gods part of the resistance and finally arrive to Elida.
The book is divided in three parts, the first one being narrated by Hero, then Raven, a ten years old shapeshifter girl from the resistance, and then Kestrel. I found myself loving all of these three girls (along with other characters), feeling for them and their troubles and doubts and fears. We could tell Raven was only ten by the way she was narrating, which I really liked. Everyone else made her a prodigy child, but she was still only a child and it showed.
The settings of the story were pretty dark, with the revolution, the resistance, all the fights, not a lot of hope, and ended with a kind of bittersweet ending but the characters still found some happiness at times with each other, and even some love (I was really surprised and happy to see a romance between two girls and even though I found their relationship a little rushed they were great together).
The relationships were also my favorite part of the book, all of them, especially Hero and Kestrel's. They loved each other so much and would do anything for the other and that's exactly the kind of relationship I love. They were always here to support and help the other. I loved that the main relationship of this story was a platonic one.
I was a little disappointed with the end, I think I wish the end was later, that we could know more about what they did after everything happened. Like I said, the ending was kind of bittersweet, outside I was smiling while reading the epilogue but inside I was just screaming. I wish we had more.
I received this book from Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2019
It breaks my heart to give such low ratinv to this book because it has huge potential. An interesting world but without unclear background and non moving plot just ruined it.
This book is about a world where gods are killed by human and half god and god and other orphans are thrown into an orphanage. Reaching to age 18, kids are brought to a blood test if they are human or other things and then the guards who rule the word kill them if they are not human. Gods and half gods have supernatural powers and they kind of formed a rebellion. A group of kids run away from the orphanage and join this rebel but then the story does not go anywhere.
The characters remind me of x men but the development of them is very shallow. It fails to hold my attention at one point because of the lackings of plot movement. But I really want to like this book because the starting was so good. Deep Sigh but in a negative way.
This book is about a world where gods are killed by human and half god and god and other orphans are thrown into an orphanage. Reaching to age 18, kids are brought to a blood test if they are human or other things and then the guards who rule the word kill them if they are not human. Gods and half gods have supernatural powers and they kind of formed a rebellion. A group of kids run away from the orphanage and join this rebel but then the story does not go anywhere.
The characters remind me of x men but the development of them is very shallow. It fails to hold my attention at one point because of the lackings of plot movement. But I really want to like this book because the starting was so good. Deep Sigh but in a negative way.
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February 7, 2024In theory, The Orphanage of Gods sounded like the perfect book for me. I read the synopsis and immediately wanted to dive into the story. Unfortunately, it ended up being my first disappointment of 2019.
I very much enjoyed the first few chapters but after that, I honestly got bored reading it and had to force myself to power through parts 2 and 3.
I'm actually quite sad because I really wanted to love this one.
I very much enjoyed the first few chapters but after that, I honestly got bored reading it and had to force myself to power through parts 2 and 3.
I'm actually quite sad because I really wanted to love this one.
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