Against All Gods is the first book in the Age of Bronze trilogy. This author, under both this name and another name, has written a lot of fantasy and historical fiction books. I'm planning on starting his ancient Greek series after this one.
The book is set in an alternate universe during their age of bronze. So think ancient civilizations time. It opens with a note on their systems of money (none, as they barter) and distance, followed by a map. One of the areas jumped right out at me: Narmer. With cities like Memis and Lukor. Running through the middle of it is the Iteru River. Do you know what the ancient Egyptians called the Nile? Iteru. (Which means river, so in the book, it's the river river. Heh.) There are loads of cities and my knowledge isn't so great that I'm picking up on references for all of them. Dardania appears to be Greece with a city called Mykoax (Mycenae). There are the Noan islands, which have the city Noa, so Minoan. One of the characters is a bull-leaper, which was a Minoan thing, although he learned it in Mykoax, not Noa. One of the semi-divine attendants to the gods wears a Minoan dress. Others are less obvious. We haven't been to Dendrowna yet, but they almost sound like Native Americans. The Hakrans are a non-violent people that I think are more Eastern-inspired. I'm sure there are other connections to real world inspiration that I'm missing, but I don't think every single thing is inspired by something real.
In this world, the new gods have killed the old ones a few hundred years ago. It's like Greek myth where the gods are physical beings that are more involved in human life. The gods, both old and new, have a variety of names, some of which have no clear inspiration and others that do. Temis, the virgin huntress, is the only one of the old gods to be active in the new pantheon, though they hate her. Obviously, Artemis. But her sister Tyka is the blue goddess, who sports antlers and doesn't speak. So less obvious who she's referencing, if anyone. Ranos, the father of the old pantheon, is Uranus. Ara, the current god of war, Ares. Urkigul, the lady of the Underworld, is Ereshkigal, and her husband Gul is Nergal. They rule Kur, the underworld, which is exactly what it was called in Mesopotamia. Interestingly, we also have some godly names amongst the human characters: Zos, Era, Pollon, Hefa-Asus (he's even a smith), Dite, and Gamash (I think Gilgamesh).
The book switches from individual character PoV chapters set on Earth (or whatever they call their world) to ones set in Heaven, where you see what the gods are up to. There are A LOT of characters. Like there's a character guide in the front and you will reference it. But each character is very well-developed and they have in-depth personalities and backstories.
The main players:
-Gamash: A former warrior who's now a mage. Resheph, son of the war god, killed his daughter, so he's out for revenge.
-Era: Era is awesome. She's a warrior, a bard, a dancer, and very, very gay.
-Zos: Zos is the bull-leaper. An excellent fighter who works as a sell sword. But he's older and isn't quite as good as he used to be.
-Daos: A young orphaned boy that Era meets in a destroyed city. She becomes his adopted mom basically. Daos talks to the gods through his stuffed bear, Bror, so he's kind of like a seer.
-Pollon: A scribe and archer. Less major than the others so far, but he has some PoV chapters. He has the interesting ability to connect to the "God's Eye" network. The God's Eyes are sort of like surveillance cameras, set up by the messenger God Nisroch, to observe what's happening on Earth.
-The Hakrans: These characters are three men and three women, all of whom form a single marriage group. They're traders who essentially live on their boat, although there are more members of their marriage family that live in their homeland. They're all each other's wives and husbands, which is an unusual dynamic, but I love that it's presented in such a commonplace way that it doesn't seem unusual at all. Aanat is the oldest husband, a mage. Jawala is the eldest wife, who often acts more like a captain. The other two husbands are less important, though the other two wives are more present. Pavi is the middle wife, who's a really good sailor and very knowledgeable. Miti is the youngest, maybe a bit of a stubborn brat. I have moments of liking her and moments of not. The Hakrans don't believe in the same gods and they're all pacifist vegetarians.
There isn't a single one of these characters that I didn't become invested in.
The god characters aren't nearly as loveable. Heh. That's the entire point of the story, after all. The head god, Enkul-Anu is a storm god with the head of a bull. He's like Zeus gone wild. His consort is Sypa, goddess of lust. Druku, the god of drunkenness and orgies, can change gender at will. He's like Dionysus gone wild. Three newer gods are seen fairly often. Nisroch is the messenger, often mocked by the others. Resheph is the son of the war god. He's the god of pestilence in war or something like that. He's an asshole. Nerkalush is another death god, who doesn't really do much until the final battle. Then there's Laila, who's some sort of demi-goddess that basically bounces from one god's plot to the next.
Temis and Tyka (the sisters) bring the humans all together on the Hakrans' ship, along with an unnamed Dry One. The Dry Ones are a sort of insectile people that occasionally attack, occasionally trade with humans. They produce a substance called resin, which is what keeps the gods immortal. The Dry One on the ship helps them out immensely, because he's a healer. All Dry Ones likely are. The sisters have sent "star-stone" down to Earth and it's the humans' job to collect it and make weapons out of it. Star-stone is iron. It can hurt the gods. So you've got a bit of fairy lore in there, combined with a hint that the Bronze Age will be followed by the Iron Age. A lot of the book is spent getting all the humans together in one place, and then the rest is spent on this plot to free a bunch of slaves from this island, which is where they're sold.
I'm not going to spoil how that plot turns out. It is seriously some of the most action-packed writing I have ever had the pleasure to read. And I can't talk about how the book ends in detail, because spoilers, but I will say that the cast is spit up on two separate ships, so it'll be interesting to see how they come back together, if they come back together.
The book hooked me right away. Why? Because the opening line is "What the fuck just happened?" Said by none other than Enkul-Anu, the king of the gods. The gods speak in an almost modern sort of way. Like the humans swear, but the gods' dialogue feels more modern in tone, which is absolutely hilarious at many points. Nerkalush has a moment where he sounds like Michelangelo the ninja turtle. Enkul-Anu frequently calls his fellow gods "fucking idiots." It's so great.
So what makes this so good?
The world-building is excellent. You've got a clear Bronze Age world with some real-life inspiration and a lot of new stuff. The different lands are well-described and you can reference the map at the front to see where things are.
The character development is top notch. You're not going to confuse this cast. They are all very distinct. One of my favorite things is a huge cast of characters that are well-developed and well-written. That's why Battle Royale is one of my top favorite books. That is a good part of the reason why this book joins it in that top spot. It isn't hard to follow either. I read a few reviews and one complaint was the character switches, but if you can't read multiple PoVs, then this is not meant for you. They couldn't be more clearly separated.
There is inclusivity and diversity. Era is very much a lesbian. It's a big part of her character. The interactions of the marriage family are great. Druku can be whatever gender he wants and flips around frequently. The races of the cast aren't exactly the same as the real world, but there is a clear wide variety of skintones and all of them are appreciated. Sypa, the lust goddess, is a blonde, but Laila is much darker, yet also clearly seen as very beautiful. Dite, who appears later in the story, is very dark-skinned, yet described by both Era and Zos as the most beautiful woman they'd ever seen. No one is judged as more or less based on their skin color.
The writing is fast, fun and accessible. If you've seen the A Song of Ice and Fire series, you know how damn fat those books are. These books aren't as long, handle the characters even better, and the plot also moves along much more smoothly. The language isn't flowery, over the top, spending paragraphs describing a single thing. This series would make an excellent TV show, because it's got a lot of awesome elements that people would get hooked on, and it's written to flow quickly, not bog you down with too much information.
I highly recommend this to anyone. Especially if you have any interest in ancient history, mythology or fantasy series. It seriously blew me away and is now alongside Battle Royale and Whom the Gods Would Destroy in my favorite adult books of all time list.
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