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The Godskeep Trilogy #1
The Gods Have No Secrets
Dienna Darpentus is next in line to be the Keeper of the Gods, a role she must undertake after her brother Sonder abdicates the position for reasons unknown. As a series of mysteries begins to unfold, Dienna's world is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a sorceress from the East, who unleashes an army on Dienna's home. Now she, along with her lifelong friend, Meredith, must undertake a journey to reclaim the Godskeep, and discover for themselves if the gods truly have no secrets.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2018
34 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 1, 2022
God's secret
I found this book on Kindle, and its surprisingly good even though the ratings still very few. The fantasy theme here was not boring, not just about Kingdom vs kingdom. Though the title was gods have no secrets, its actually a huge secrets. Secrets that made the gods like human beings revealed in this book. The war for more faiths.
I found this book on Kindle, and its surprisingly good even though the ratings still very few. The fantasy theme here was not boring, not just about Kingdom vs kingdom. Though the title was gods have no secrets, its actually a huge secrets. Secrets that made the gods like human beings revealed in this book. The war for more faiths.
July 9, 2019
Full disclosure - I am a friend of the author. Spoilers are likely in the review below.
In another sense, I feel obligated to disclose that fantasy books are not a typical read for me. While I indulge in fantasy worlds in games, music, television, and movies, I tend to focus my already-limited reading on political and drama genres. With that said, my commentary reflects a lack of comparable stories within the literary world, and my experiences compare and contrast with alternative media sources more than books.
As to the book itself, I read it a few months ago and am re-reading it now as time permits. On the first read, I felt the story dragged early on, taking too much time to create a world that simply didn't seem very magical or interesting. What makes this world any different from those crafted in say A Song of Ice & Fire, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Guild Wars, or Warcraft? On second read, I'm finding nuggets and tidbits of foreshadowing and character development that I underappreciated the first time.
There's a particular scene, about 17% in, that really morphs the pacing and tone of the story in a positive way. It's when I started to enjoy the plot developments, seeing changes in the characters and surroundings, and being opened to more details of the world. People, places, and topics mentioned at a glance are elaborated on and explored, while the world becomes bleaker and grittier. Themes of darkness, war, politics, magic, kinship, and romance, are all touched and elaborated upon. The approach of a chapter being devoted to a specific character's perspective works well, allowing deep dives into different, though at times convergent, times and places of the world.
The way magic is woven into religion is written in a way that has interesting parallels to religion on Earth, speaking to human nature, fallibility, and battles of fact versus faith. The story does a nice job showing the pains of this journey and discovery with minimal preaching. Discoveries that arrive later in the story, be it through character's observations, tribal knowledge, or written evidence, significantly transform the characters' (and mine, as a reader) perspective of the world, challenging known or believed dogmas. It's a long buildup to a nice payoff of suspense unleashed.
While I still think the beginning is a slow trudge, I'm remiss to not focus on this being book 1 of 3. Assuming books 2 and 3 would be of equivalent length, the 16% that starts off dry can be considered just over 5% of the final page count. Perhaps without the slower start, story arcs that come later would seem less contrasting and dramatic. A slower start also sets up an emotional backdrop for characters who undergo a tremendous amount of internal growth throughout the story.
I can't say all of the story arcs resonated with me. I found one of the love interests to seem a bit unusual for the time, location, and nature of the relationship. I could see friendship, but love seemed rapid and uncharacteristic. I also found one of the main character's dialogue grating at times, though I believe this to be intentional as a representation of the character simply being an oft-grating person.
The book is a labor of love, to be sure. With that said, there isn't large financial backing for an editing staff, which shows itself in infrequent spelling and grammar errors. Thankfully, these are few enough as to not be distracting, and don't negatively impact the flow. Additionally, the author's Tumblr page (linked at the end of the e-book) has a world map posted (look in the archives for June 2018), which serves as a wonderful add-on to better understand the journey of each character and those places mentioned but unseen. Fairest of all, is that the book is free to download and read.
I am excited that book #2 is on the way later this year. The world established in book #1, as well as the way the story has been settled, should allow #2 to hit the ground running.
In another sense, I feel obligated to disclose that fantasy books are not a typical read for me. While I indulge in fantasy worlds in games, music, television, and movies, I tend to focus my already-limited reading on political and drama genres. With that said, my commentary reflects a lack of comparable stories within the literary world, and my experiences compare and contrast with alternative media sources more than books.
As to the book itself, I read it a few months ago and am re-reading it now as time permits. On the first read, I felt the story dragged early on, taking too much time to create a world that simply didn't seem very magical or interesting. What makes this world any different from those crafted in say A Song of Ice & Fire, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Guild Wars, or Warcraft? On second read, I'm finding nuggets and tidbits of foreshadowing and character development that I underappreciated the first time.
There's a particular scene, about 17% in, that really morphs the pacing and tone of the story in a positive way. It's when I started to enjoy the plot developments, seeing changes in the characters and surroundings, and being opened to more details of the world. People, places, and topics mentioned at a glance are elaborated on and explored, while the world becomes bleaker and grittier. Themes of darkness, war, politics, magic, kinship, and romance, are all touched and elaborated upon. The approach of a chapter being devoted to a specific character's perspective works well, allowing deep dives into different, though at times convergent, times and places of the world.
The way magic is woven into religion is written in a way that has interesting parallels to religion on Earth, speaking to human nature, fallibility, and battles of fact versus faith. The story does a nice job showing the pains of this journey and discovery with minimal preaching. Discoveries that arrive later in the story, be it through character's observations, tribal knowledge, or written evidence, significantly transform the characters' (and mine, as a reader) perspective of the world, challenging known or believed dogmas. It's a long buildup to a nice payoff of suspense unleashed.
While I still think the beginning is a slow trudge, I'm remiss to not focus on this being book 1 of 3. Assuming books 2 and 3 would be of equivalent length, the 16% that starts off dry can be considered just over 5% of the final page count. Perhaps without the slower start, story arcs that come later would seem less contrasting and dramatic. A slower start also sets up an emotional backdrop for characters who undergo a tremendous amount of internal growth throughout the story.
I can't say all of the story arcs resonated with me. I found one of the love interests to seem a bit unusual for the time, location, and nature of the relationship. I could see friendship, but love seemed rapid and uncharacteristic. I also found one of the main character's dialogue grating at times, though I believe this to be intentional as a representation of the character simply being an oft-grating person.
The book is a labor of love, to be sure. With that said, there isn't large financial backing for an editing staff, which shows itself in infrequent spelling and grammar errors. Thankfully, these are few enough as to not be distracting, and don't negatively impact the flow. Additionally, the author's Tumblr page (linked at the end of the e-book) has a world map posted (look in the archives for June 2018), which serves as a wonderful add-on to better understand the journey of each character and those places mentioned but unseen. Fairest of all, is that the book is free to download and read.
I am excited that book #2 is on the way later this year. The world established in book #1, as well as the way the story has been settled, should allow #2 to hit the ground running.
October 16, 2018
The book was captivating and full of drama. I can't wait for volume two of the Trilogy.
February 9, 2024
Stopped at 43%. I thought I would like this book, because stories involving gods/goddesses are my thing. It also seems to be a great social commentary about faith. But I kept waiting for it to be interesting and it just isn't? It's way too wordy, and this is coming from someone who likes wordy, overly descriptive books in general.
September 16, 2018
For those who enjoyed the world of Harry Potter, Charlotte Stone invokes the discovery of the early volumes, We learn of wizards, elves, ogres and others living in a strained co-existence and joining in a time of crisis to save their world. Balance of Trilogy will continue the story , Looking forward to learning more,
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews