The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga)

Product Information

The Shadow of the Gods is the first book in a new Norse-inspired series by John Gwynne, author of the Faithful and the Fallen and Of Blood and Bone series. Before you read The Shadow of the Gods, there are a few things you should know. With three POV-characters, The Shadow of the Gods means that this is Gwynne’s Es devastadoramente realista en el muro de escudos. Le da un toque a su historia ante el que me quito el sombrero.

I really loved reading the first part of the Bloodsworn Saga, The Shadow of the Gods, by John Gwynne and I’m already excited for the next instalment!El mundo continúa creciendo y vemos muchos lugares a medida que los personajes viajan y viajan. Este mundo tiene mucho que exprimir aún. Espero que Gwynne se quede más pues creo que da para otra saga, ojalá, porque me encantaría. The following three books in the series - Valour, Ruin and Wrath, were all shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novels of 2014, 2015 and 2016, with Wrath winning the 2017 BookNest Awards for Best Traditionally Published Novel.

I liked Elvar more in this book. (Although she is still not much better then Biorr) She stepped up and seems to be coming around to seeing how inhumane it is to enslave people. I love Grend and I thought his reaction to Orka was "interesting".Hunger of the Gods somehow improves upon Shadow of the Gods which I didn't think would be possible. Some of the fun of fantasy books is exploring a world for the first time, but Gwynne finds a way to keep this world interesting even after it was properly made clear in the first book. I was hesitant to go into this just because it is a chunky book and I did not remember everything in book one so it was a challenge. Gwynne made my life much easier by including a recap section at the beginning, a glossary for the characters and even a pronunciation guide. Believe me when I say that without those and specially the recap I would not have enjoyed this series and probably would not have continued it. I am not big into rereads and many readers are like me so I think more authors should be doing this small yet very impactful act of including summaries of the previous books in series. As whispers of war echo across the land of Vigrið, fate follows in the footsteps of three warriors: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman pursuing battle fame, and a thrall seeking vengeance among the mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn. John Gwynne has improved on everything that made The Shadow of the Gods great! The stakes are higher, the characters are more compelling, and the world is fleshed out more! However, this book does feel like a middle book in some ways. There is a lot of travelling in this book which does slow the pace of the story down a bit. However, the conclusion is incredible and heartbreaking! It is worth reading this book just to experience the last chapters of this book!

Please note that while many of these words are directly taken from Norse history, The Shadow of the Gods is a work of fiction. The historical meanings may not exactly translate into the world of this book. The brief definitions provided below however do match up with their use in the book as I see them.

These are the kind of passages you’ll get with Gudvarr’s POV chapters. Reminiscent of Glokta, right? Okay, incredible story and character development aside, let's talk about some of the fun settings and my favorite sequences. Right at the top of the heap would have to be the tongue creatures that Varg and the crew come across on their way across the ocean. I do not want to give too much away here, but these creatures infect your tongue and slowly rot the body and the mind until you become a shell of yourself and a slave to their will. The description is disgusting, and I had to marvel at the innovative idea. The second would have to be something I can’t say without spoilers. Let’s just say large things are flying that go bump in the night. The third would have to be the infiltration of Galdur Tower. It was brisk, but oh so exciting. The fourth has to do with Vol. I’ll just leave it there. Whew, it was insane. Oh, and one more thing. Can we give a round of applause to the description of the weapons and how they are handled? Also, the shield wall tactics were a fun strategy to learn about, both offensively and defensively. The chapters for this book are very short. For me, this made it even harder to connect to the characters. We rarely got to spend much time with one before switching to another.