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The Gods are Bastards #10
And Justice for All
Brother Ingvar is plagued by nightmares of his god, Shaath, in desperate need of aid. Strange elemental creatures begin to arise around Viridill, the ancient homeland of the Sisters of Avei, wreaking havoc and vanishing with no trace. The University at Last Rock comes suddenly under attack from the unlikeliest source: in the court of public opinion, at the instigation of the Universal Church.
In these suddenly dangerous days, dangerous people will rise to the challenge. Basra Syrinx, the disgraced Bishop of Avei, sets out to redeem herself by saving her country; the unfolding drama around Last Rock draws the interest of both Imperial Intelligence and the Black Wreath, engaging in a deadly game of chess, while the enigmatic kitsune Ekoi Kaisa plays her own game. And Ingvar is joined in his quest to aid Shaath by the unlikeliest allies he could have imagined–and pointed toward the most stunning revelations he could possibly have feared.
In these suddenly dangerous days, dangerous people will rise to the challenge. Basra Syrinx, the disgraced Bishop of Avei, sets out to redeem herself by saving her country; the unfolding drama around Last Rock draws the interest of both Imperial Intelligence and the Black Wreath, engaging in a deadly game of chess, while the enigmatic kitsune Ekoi Kaisa plays her own game. And Ingvar is joined in his quest to aid Shaath by the unlikeliest allies he could have imagined–and pointed toward the most stunning revelations he could possibly have feared.
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Published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2023
Okay this is properly a review for Books 8, 9, and 10 of the gargantuan serial – which I’ll freely admit I read more than a month ago in one week-long fugue along with all the books before them and the next few after. Which is to say I really shouldn’t have waited this long to write this review, and my apologies for all the vagueness and inaccuracies that are going to result. Which is a pity, because this is the best volume of the serial I’ve read and it isn’t even particularly close.
The serial continues the story of a Dungeons & Dragons-esque generic fantasy world advanced a couple hundred years and in the throes of a magical industrial revolution. The story theoretically stars the now-sophomore class of almost comically privileged and powerful students at what’s basically Adventurer University, but compared to the previous volumes they get barely any screentime in this one. Instead you get the Bishop of the god of thieves, the Archpope of the Universal Church, their respective pet openly-plotting-and-near-mutinous adventuring parties, political intrigue in the goddess of war, and a huntsman we’ve never met before learning the secrets of creation and also that his god was always just kind of a dick. It’s great! Also, to reiterate, the students get barely any screentime!
Really I kind of get the sense that I’m a deeply atypical fantasy reader, in that I find 90% of both involved romance plots and drawn out action scenes deeply tedious and basically the price you pay to get at the good parts of the story. In this case the good part is incredibly byzantine and too-complicated-by-half political shadowboxing carried out by proxies only barely kept on their masters’ leashes. Also several thousand words of pure exposition about the deep lore of the setting delivered by a malfunctioning AI.
Because yes, the big massive reveal of the volume is that the elder gods who were overthrown millennia before the story began had actually pulled a Lord of Light. The world runs on generic fantasy tropes because it was created by powermad demiurges who were also specifically insufferable 20th/21st century earth fantasy nerds. The different types of magic were just the results of them folding and rewriting physics, the fact that mortals can only access four is down to the vast majority getting wrecked when their creators died in the Titanomachy. Gnomes are an apparently successful attempt to perfect humanoid life.
This is, first and foremost, an absolutely hilarious bit of worldbuilding. Like, I actually burst out laughing. Knowing that orcs existed because the elder gods were big Tolkein and Warcraft fans may have permanently damaged my ability to take the setting seriously on its on terms but like, honestly? Probably worth it. Also just an excellent excuse for any shotcuts of contradictions in the worldbuilding and for all the kind of lazy fantasy worldbuilding tropes.
While it hasn’t happened yet, I hold out some hope that the increased pivot to the divine and Deep Lore means the serial will start to live up to its title and foreground the gods and their bastardry more – as I’ve said before, a narrative where the literal lords of creation are present but only because they just show up sometimes to descend to earth and make the protagonists lives easier is just boring. Which is why Archpope Justinian, the scheming mastermind who wants to overthrow heaven and earth and works exclusively through needlessly convoluted schemes that don’t stop a single person from knowing he’s to blame. I’m sorry but ‘somehow brainwashed the gods into making him their high priest so he can use the resources of their church as his personal power base’ is such a great bit. Also he’s opposed by literally every major POV so of course I need to root for him. (Honorary mention to Basra Syrinx, who is literally just The Worst in an incredibly entertaining way)
The serial continues the story of a Dungeons & Dragons-esque generic fantasy world advanced a couple hundred years and in the throes of a magical industrial revolution. The story theoretically stars the now-sophomore class of almost comically privileged and powerful students at what’s basically Adventurer University, but compared to the previous volumes they get barely any screentime in this one. Instead you get the Bishop of the god of thieves, the Archpope of the Universal Church, their respective pet openly-plotting-and-near-mutinous adventuring parties, political intrigue in the goddess of war, and a huntsman we’ve never met before learning the secrets of creation and also that his god was always just kind of a dick. It’s great! Also, to reiterate, the students get barely any screentime!
Really I kind of get the sense that I’m a deeply atypical fantasy reader, in that I find 90% of both involved romance plots and drawn out action scenes deeply tedious and basically the price you pay to get at the good parts of the story. In this case the good part is incredibly byzantine and too-complicated-by-half political shadowboxing carried out by proxies only barely kept on their masters’ leashes. Also several thousand words of pure exposition about the deep lore of the setting delivered by a malfunctioning AI.
Because yes, the big massive reveal of the volume is that the elder gods who were overthrown millennia before the story began had actually pulled a Lord of Light. The world runs on generic fantasy tropes because it was created by powermad demiurges who were also specifically insufferable 20th/21st century earth fantasy nerds. The different types of magic were just the results of them folding and rewriting physics, the fact that mortals can only access four is down to the vast majority getting wrecked when their creators died in the Titanomachy. Gnomes are an apparently successful attempt to perfect humanoid life.
This is, first and foremost, an absolutely hilarious bit of worldbuilding. Like, I actually burst out laughing. Knowing that orcs existed because the elder gods were big Tolkein and Warcraft fans may have permanently damaged my ability to take the setting seriously on its on terms but like, honestly? Probably worth it. Also just an excellent excuse for any shotcuts of contradictions in the worldbuilding and for all the kind of lazy fantasy worldbuilding tropes.
While it hasn’t happened yet, I hold out some hope that the increased pivot to the divine and Deep Lore means the serial will start to live up to its title and foreground the gods and their bastardry more – as I’ve said before, a narrative where the literal lords of creation are present but only because they just show up sometimes to descend to earth and make the protagonists lives easier is just boring. Which is why Archpope Justinian, the scheming mastermind who wants to overthrow heaven and earth and works exclusively through needlessly convoluted schemes that don’t stop a single person from knowing he’s to blame. I’m sorry but ‘somehow brainwashed the gods into making him their high priest so he can use the resources of their church as his personal power base’ is such a great bit. Also he’s opposed by literally every major POV so of course I need to root for him. (Honorary mention to Basra Syrinx, who is literally just The Worst in an incredibly entertaining way)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2024
I ended up reading this on his own website, I'm currently in book 11 so the reviews for book 1-10 will be the same.
I think this series is pretty decent, otherwise I wouldn't already be on book 11. I actually think the story is very well made and almost all the characters are good/interesting and fun to follow, most storylines are interesting.
My biggest problem and why I'm giving it 4 stars is that it just jumps too much between characters. Every single time a storyline drags me in and has all my attention it switches to a totally different (group of) character(s) and I get pulled a bit out of the story. This doesn't just happen once, this happens virtually every chapter change and it's very jarring. I think either the chapters need to be a lot longer or the storylines need to be solved further before switching completely unrelated characters.
I will keep reading it because the story is good, but for me it could've been amazing/great if this didn't happen while reading.
I think this series is pretty decent, otherwise I wouldn't already be on book 11. I actually think the story is very well made and almost all the characters are good/interesting and fun to follow, most storylines are interesting.
My biggest problem and why I'm giving it 4 stars is that it just jumps too much between characters. Every single time a storyline drags me in and has all my attention it switches to a totally different (group of) character(s) and I get pulled a bit out of the story. This doesn't just happen once, this happens virtually every chapter change and it's very jarring. I think either the chapters need to be a lot longer or the storylines need to be solved further before switching completely unrelated characters.
I will keep reading it because the story is good, but for me it could've been amazing/great if this didn't happen while reading.
February 14, 2020
I am finding the story to be picking up much better at this point. There were moments when the viewpoint shifted and I was less interested in the goings-on of that group or that part of the world, however I always found myself inevitably returning to reading, to determine what would occur next. Also, that secret that Darling, Joe, and Ingvar found under the Elven Grove blew my mind. And Kaisa is my favoite.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews