Godborn

Gods of Bronze #1

by Dan Davis

An ancient evil. A godborn warrior. An oath to save his clan.

It is 3000 BC. A hundred clans have been destroyed and thousands of people are dead.

The Wolf God commands an inexperienced young warrior to hunt down the bloodthirsty demon horde. With a handful of his faithful spear-brothers and a heartbroken young seeress at his side, his quest will take him on a perilous journey through devastated lands.

He may be the son of a god and a mortal woman but he will need more than just his great strength to overcome the dark forces that stand in his way. To save his people he must throw aside his self-doubt and his fear and become what he was meant to be.

For he is godborn.

And his undying glory will change the world.

This is the Heracles myth as you have never heard it before.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fantasy

509 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2020

About the author

I write action-packed sci-fi and historical fantasy. I want to immerse readers in another time and place and for my stories to be gripping adventures. You should love my complex heroes and hate the twisted bad guys.

If you like the sound of that then check out; GODS OF BRONZE (my new historical fantasy series), THE IMMORTAL KNIGHT CHRONICLES (bestselling historical fantasy) and the GALACTIC ARENA series (smart military scifi).

Thanks for taking an interest in my stories. Follow me here on Goodreads to keep up to date with releases.

You can get the Bronze Age fantasy novella THE WOLF GOD (it’s the GODS OF BRONZE prequel) now for FREE via my website: dandavisauthor.com

And why not come and say hello at my Facebook page: facebook.com/dandavisauthor

Reviews

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly aggressive and primal read - Godborn is a tale of the Bronze Age like no other, dripping with intense, ritualistic elements, a mysterious line of fantasy and some excellent action.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow going

Dan Davis has a pretty good series in the Immortal Knight Chronicles. Unfortunately, this book does not live up to it.

Good:
- pretty realistic day in the life stuff

Bad:
- characters are incredibly ignorant, which is understandable as Neolithic humans, but they do not rise past that at any point
- no character growth
- the characters are all emotionally flat, and a little dense. So no ability to pull the reader in.
- bad guys are unrelatable
- I think Neolithic is too far back. It’s less interesting than the medieval or full Bronze Age (there’s limited bronze in the book). This doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done, but it’s likely going to handicap any story a little.
- sllllloooowwww story progression. Most of it is just a travel log.
- unrealistically, somehow all the main women avoid being raped despite being captured individually by people who habitually rape. It’s not that I’m invested one way or the other, it just strains credibility.

I can’t think of anyone who I’d recommend this to. It’s got no significant redeeming features.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Davis has clearly done his homework on the early Bronze Age, and this vision of life in Eurasia is fascinating and entertaining. But this isn't historical fiction; it's a full-on fantasy novel that's set in a Bronze Age Eastern Europe/Western Asia (I think) instead of the traditional medieval Western Europe. That the exposition is delivered in a smooth and entertaining way is worth the price of admission by itself.

The plot revolves around a young man whose father is a god he's never met, tasked with tracking down a dozen demons who've left the valley they're supposed to be imprisoned in. You don't have to be a PhD in Greek mythology to realize that our strapping young hero's tale is the one that oral tradition will, over the millennia, warp into the Twelve Labors of Hercules. This exercise in backwards myth-making is neat, but also tends to remove much of what makes those tales feel epic, grounding it in what might be a wonder-sucking mundanity if it wasn't for the intriguing Bronze Age twist.

Our hero is almost painfully earnest and swings between bull-headed certainty and paralyzing insecurity that feels true to the experiences of young men from the Dawn of Time. It carries with it the flavor of the not-so-bright version of the Hercules who, while well-intentioned, shakes the pillars of heaven and nearly destroys everything, and without the humor at the expense of Herc and the gods that exists in many of the myths.

As sword-and-sorcery fiction, Godborn is pretty good. But the wonderfully deep and fascinating world-building, based as it is on (the admittedly very little) we know about this period in history, raises it to a fascinating and unique read. If you love to immerse yourself in alien worlds that still feel real, you should absolutely pick this one up.

[Marcus Follin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice read – mythology and Bronze Age history in a good combination.
If you are a fan of his videos, I can definitely recommend this book.

[Susana Imaginário · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon Dan Davis YouTube channel a few months ago while researching some of the oldest myths in the world. I’ve watched several of his videos since then and finally got around to read Godborn last month. I figured even if it was half as good as the videos it would be a good read and I was not disappointed.

Godborn is a well written and well researched book, faithful to the settings and cultures of the time while still leaving plenty of room for fantasy and mythology. It reminds me of Bernard Cornwell’s Stonehenge, although I have to admit that sadly I haven’t read many stories set in the Neolithic/ early bronze age (something that needs to change).

I admired the careful use of language to tell the story within the limitations set by the time period and the characters’ personalities reflect this perfectly as well. Herkuhlos and his spear-brothers are far from the usual teenage ‘heroes’ in modern fantasy and I appreciate that.
Unsurprisingly, my favourite thing about Godborn was the mythological elements woven into the story and I can’t wait to continue the series.

[Paul J · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW .... Conan to the Max and more

If you are a Conan fan much will feel familiar. Davis clearly understands myth and mythology better than most authors. He takes the myths of our past world turns them on their head to make a fully developed well woven tapestry upon which he places richly. Developed characters that get under your skin or fill you with admiration. My personal dislike is all the intensely described blood and gore with cananabalistic vampiric description that accompany the battle scenes. The are drivers of the story but not to my liking. This is a very compelling read.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

frustrating, the protagonist is poorly written starts smart and wise in 3 chapters he becomes a hard-headed brute, the enemy presented is impossible to defeat without you losing any suspension of disbelief, the protagonist until chapter 6 does not even avoid relations with his brother, the romance of the story is cool but it won't offer you anything since the protagonist has no real goals, he has no love for his own life, he's dumb as hell, he has no motivation for anything other than killing himself and facing impossible enemies in the dumbest way possible

[Richard Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This book is about a young boy of 16 who learns how to become a man. He is god born which means he is half mortal and half god who will live many mortal lifetimes. IF he can fulfill his pledge to kill all twelve of the half gods that have brought evil into the world.

[Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has an interesting concept, but was unfortunately a bit of a slog. There are also quite a few grammatical errors throughout, and I get the general sense that the book could have benefited from slightly more editing.

The world building is interesting, with a few things that I still don't really understand. The link to the Heracles myth is there, if a little tenuous - it's very much a reimagining, but even then it suffers from only covering a very small section of this original myth, and taking a long time to do it.

I do love some good third millennium BC, though

[Paithan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook.

It was decent! Spoilers ahead...

I liked how the author never goes full mystical. The gods and supernatural beings in this story are hard boiled. I would call it low fantasy, possibly historical fantasy, if such labels matter at all.

I recommend it.

[Allan Ashinoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable read. A genuine page turner. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mix together Greek mythology (the adventures of Perseus, the lusts of Zeus, and the bad blood between the Titans and Olympians) with the mulish obstinacy of Robert E. Howard's Conan. Throw in a pinch of Luke Skywalker v Darth Vader. Season this with Dan Davis's research into the Copper and Bronze Ages in Eurasia - helped along with the scholarship of Marija Gimbutas (The Living Goddesses) and David W. Anthony (The Horse, the Wheel, and Language).

This recipe will yield the Heracles myth as you have never heard it before and immerse you in a deep and fascinating world where the sword-and-sorcery action is believable.

The story begins with a band of young warriors working their way home across the cold, wind swept-steppes of what is roughly now eastern Ukraine/southern Russia . They have nearly completed their six-month long, manhood initiation/test of surviving in the wild on their own. They have done this through skilled field craft and aggressive raiding, They are essentially a pack of wolves looking forward to returning to the joys of the hearth and promotion to full members of the clan. Then they discover that home ain't there no more. It has been obliterated by what the tracks tell them is a super-sized clan reinforced by giants. Hordes led by giants? Their people scattered or killed. This is not a situation they were trained for, yet deal with it they must. But how?

The plot centers around a young man of 16 who learns how to inspire and lead other men. He is god born which means he is half mortal and half god who will live many mortal lifetimes. We pretty much count on him surviving the trials and hardships throughout the story. It's his brother and friends whom the reader will agonize over during the tons of deadly action and exciting moments. Plus success is never guaranteed for each and every operation,

This is a superb novel, and I found it hard to tear myself away to deal with the real world. It's a long read, but quick and enjoyable.

[Charles Inglin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author takes us back to the Bronze Age and imagines the world that gave rise to the legend of Hercules, or Herkuhlos as he's named by the Wolf God Kolnos. Son of a mortal woman and the Sky Father, Herkuhlos is a "Godborn," more than a mortal but not quite a god. Twelve demons have escaped and are ravaging the clans on the steppes and in the woodlands of modern Russia and Ukraine. It's the task o Heerkuhlos, just grown to manhood, to destroy them

The author has created a rich heroic age world to set an epic tale in. He's clearly done his homework researching what is known of the people of that time and blended myth and fact into a page-turning tale.

[Nathan Wikman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a few things about this book that might he a turn off to many people. A) it's a pretty violent book B) there's historical misogyny.

It's hard to write a book about the early bronze age and not have there be patriarchy and certain attitudes about women at the forefront. Because the bronze age was largely terrible to be a woman in from what I can tell. The book follows a koryos, a group of boys separated from the clan at between mid-teens and early twenties. The separation is part of their manhood ritual, where boys are cut from the order of the tribe, given wolf skins (where werewolfs come from) and told to raid and plunder neighboring tribes for cattle, horses, and women (this colonization strategy with horses, who this group was the first to domesticate, is why the Indo-European language is so large). So that's the kind of cultural setting of the novel.

The magical elements in the story are what made it fascinating to me. The author seems to remix various gods from later European traditions, there's a character like Oden but they also refer to sky father (deus pater, Jupiter, Zeus pater) which later religions would also have. The magical elements and the fact they're chasing Jötnar (Norse giants) around kept me going through the book.

I'd like to see more character development and less attention to the brutality of this time period. I feel like the task the author has in future novels is to make me care about the characters, I didn't really care when any of them died because the book is just so saturated with death lol

[Robin Grooms · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of Neolithic into Bronze Age Eurasia? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The concept of the Heracles story reworked into the war bands of the steppe?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The characterization?
⭐️

The villains feel barely worse than the protagonists. True to many Greek epics, I do not feel that any of the characters are truly likable or hold wisdom that is applicable to today (or back then). I suppose I want to watch the guys beat the demons that eat people and burn settlements down? However, I get to watch them prove themselves the barely lesser evil as they attempt to enslave children, rape women, subdue the lower classes, and prove themselves the superior ethnic group.

I suppose I was hoping for the historical setting without the Hellenistic moral flavor. I was not expecting to read a Greek epic in a different setting. I was expecting to read a narrative from the Neolithic that would go on to inspire a Greek legend. I do plan to keep reading this series but I will approach it wayyy different knowing what I know now.

If you are like me, please go into this story fully expecting a world that isn’t accurate to the way people are. This is a story of who ancient men (and modern Alpha Males ™️) wished themselves to be.

If you are sensitive to SA? Stay away.

[Mandy Lehti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godborn is a fierce, thunderous, and beautifully primal reimagining of ancient myth one that grips you by the throat from the first shattered clan to the final echo of destiny. Dan Davis takes the familiar silhouette of the Heracles legend and transforms it into something rawer, darker, and far more human.

Set in 3000 BC, the world feels carved from blood, bone, and stormlight. The devastation of the clans isn’t just backdrop it’s the pulse that drives the story forward. The young godborn warrior, torn between fear and fate, becomes an unforgettable anchor as he moves through burnt villages, haunted wilderness, and war torn lands with only spear brothers’ loyalty and a heartbroken seeress to hold him steady.

The blend of mythic grandeur and gritty realism is masterfully balanced. Every battle feels visceral, every choice feels heavy, and every moment of doubt makes the protagonist more compelling. The Wolf God’s looming presence adds a divine tension that threads through every page, and the emotional undertones loss, loyalty, destiny give the story depth far beyond its carnage and spectacle.

This is the Heracles myth resurrected with fire, feeling, and ferocity perfect for readers who crave epic fantasy shaped by ancient legend but lived through fully human hearts.

[Austin Sappington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book to read!! Dan Davis really did his research on the history of Yamnaya and Proto Indo Europeans and their expansions and conquest. I am very interested in this topic so it was a pleasure to read. I remember thinking years ago that it would be so interesting if someone would write a book about the proto Indo Europeans on the steppes, and Dan Davis did just that. This book follows a band of teenaged wolf warriors on a quest to save their tribe from a demon, and through this it follows the expansion of Indo Europeans from the steppes into north western Ukraine. The intensity and thrill of the quest make it difficult to step away from the book. I am curious where Davis found some of the names he used, the book seems very well researched!!

[Chaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Godborn* by Dan Davis delivers exactly what I was hoping for when I picked it up: solid historical fiction with strong pacing and engaging action. I liked the presence of the fictional belief system.

The writing itself is simple and direct, which works well for this kind of novel. It keeps the focus on the plot and the action rather than ornate prose, making the book easy to settle into and hard to put down once things get moving. The action scenes are especially well done—clear, energetic, and frequent enough to keep the story driving forward.

Overall, *Godborn* is an enjoyable read for anyone in the mood for historical fiction that prioritizes story and momentum. It doesn’t overcomplicate itself, and that restraint is part of its strength.

[Rob Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godborn tells the story of young Holkis, accompanied by his brother and close friends, as he tries to fulfill his oath to a God to kill demons that have escaped the sacred mountain and are now destroying everything in their paths. Set in a world with warring clans (think ancient Scotland) you will find plenty of action and exciting moments throughout the book. Dan Davis does a stellar job at world building and character development in everything he writes and I can't wait to see where this story goes!

[Martin Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow is all I can say

You are taken back to an ancient world of gods, demons and chaos. Where a boy becomes a man, alongside his brothers, experiencing wins as losses. This is a fascinating and exciting story created by the author. I found it hard to put down, forget what you know or think you know about the story and the main character. Read the story as it's woven with great as skill, and you'll enjoy yourself. Roll on the next instalment.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new fantasy series based in the era of change between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. We begin with 16 year olds, one who is Herkuhlos. Herkuhlos is "Godborn" with his bio father a god and a mortal mother. I won't give the story away, but the only thing that bothered me a bit was a lack of character development. But given how young our protagonist is, maybe that is to be expected. I hope to see more in the next book.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Startlingly good!

There's a few typos but overall neatly done. You really get a ride out of this one. And hey, if you have kindle unlimited, you can munch this most savory haunch for free.

I will say though... If I hadn't watched some of the author's YouTubes I would have been so lost. It's a very particular place and a very particular age our heroes traverse. So go watch some of those, time not wasted I promise, then come back and read this corker!

[Yemic · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a blast I had reading Godborn. Characters, plot and story was well developed and paced. Agreed it started off slow and I had to put it in hold once. I liked that the gods where not overly powerful.

The final fights were so good that I read it like four time. Won't mention the names of those involved so as not to spoil it. Godborn is slightly similar to GoT in that you don't know who lives or dies until the end.

[Madeline Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun series based on Mr Davis' extensive historical knowledge... Don't expect anything redeeming, non-sexist, or even remotely intellectual though. This is pure testosterone induced hacking through bad guys (re Conan the barbarian style).

As a side note, I decided to try this series after watching a lot of his very informative and engaging YouTube videos on the ancient peoples of Europe (very much worth watching if you're in to that sort of thing!)

[John Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome.

WoW, what a start to a new series. I couldn't put this down. I'm already impatient for the next one. A brilliant read. Set in the bronze age, the author takes you to that time in your head. Bronze knives, even swords combined with flint axes, hammers and knives. Herkuhlos, born of a mortal mother and an immortal father. A great warrior tasked to kill the demons who have "escaped" their chains and left a trail of death and destruction in their wake. His clan dead, his mother and sister captives. Their only hope is their godborn son and brother Herkuhlos, their human son and brother Belolukos and a few warriors as close as brothers from the Koryos. An epic adventure and superb story from a brilliant writer.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical fiction

A worthy and different slant on the Hercules saga. Plenty of action throughout the first instalment. Good and gradual character development. The hero has plenty of insecurities but has courage in spade loads. Very descriptive battle scenes. Looking forward to volume 2.

[Christy McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing concept and great action!

I was intrigued at first by the idea of the novel, but was really pleasantly surprised by how well the characters and the actions was written. The story rarely drags and by the end you really feel a sense of feeling for the characters and there struggles. Also the battle scenes are awesome and remind me of the great Bernard Cornwell.

[Suzanne Tidwell]

Quite a Good Retelling

The very gory details of dead bodies and equally disturbing descriptions of battle were not to this old lady's liking. However, this retelling of a very old classic tale was exceptionally well written.

I may have to cleanse my pallet with a nice romance story before I decide whether or not to read the sequel.

[Paul Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godborn

An absolutely brilliant tale ,i was drawn in right from page one and struggled to stop reading constantly wanting to go to the next chapter.looking forward to the next book in this series,well done dan.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent period adventure

the period of the chalcolithic and bronze ages are sparsely covered generally so it was good to find a series set in it; especially one that has been based on a decent amount of research, by all appearances.