Godkiller is a fantasy novel written by Hannah Kaner which was originally released overseas to apparent great acclaim by both readers and some critics/authors I trust and like a lot. The story came to my radar when one of my favorite critics, Liz Bourke, posted a review on the Tor.com blog, in which she offered it pretty strong praise. It's also the first in a longer series - I think a trilogy - but, to the book's credit, while it's not a stand alone novel it does have a complete plot arc so readers who aren't sure if they can get invested in a trilogy might want to give this a try.
And what the novel is about is a world where gods are multiple throughout the world, small, wild and large, and demand tribute and sacrifices for their help...and for their holding off cursing their followers and those who come across their path. After a war between humans and harmful gods, the King of Middren waged war even on those gods who had helped the kingdom and outlawed their worship, with certified godkillers - known as Veiga - helping to hunt down what gods remain and rise up in the country. And in this context we get a group of four travelers to a city now forbidden from access due to its ties to the gods - a Veiga named Kissen, a young noble woman named Inara, Inara's little god of white lies Skedi, and the King's former chief Knight Elogast - as they each for their own secret reasons heads to the city to seek help from the gods who remain there.
Unfortunately, while the novel's setup was certainly interesting and I liked the ideas of the characters, the development of the characters and their relationships kind of didn't work for me, which made me not love this book as much as I'd hoped. In particular, as I'll explain further below, the story midway through seems to feature a bunch of relationships and bonds that grow between certain characters and those bonds never really felt earned or natural in the context of the story....as if there was another 40 pages of happenings and character interaction that was originally in there but had been excised before publication. The result is that the book's ending didn't quite work as well as it should have and it made it so I was more nonplussed by the resolution than really invested in the characters.
More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Years ago the country of Middren used to be, like the rest of the world, filled with gods - some old, some wild, some large, and some small. There were gods of all kinds and they generally demanded tribute...and some demanded sacrifices and offered only curses in return. But after a war broke out due to the gods turning on the Queen left only the royal family with only the unlikely King Arren, King Arren responded by outlawing all of the gods and taking action to prevent them from returning. And part of that action was employing Veiga - the godslayers - who specialize in killing gods before they cause too much harm.
Years ago, Kissen's family was killed in a conflict of gods in her home country, with Kissen only surviving due to her father's sacrifice (and the cost of her leg). Now she's a godkiller in Middren, using her skills to cut down wayward small gods in the country. But when she encounters Inara, a noble girl whose mother is killed, and Inara's bonded god of white lies Skedi, Kissen finds herself on a quest to return to Middren's old city of the gods to beg for help for Inara. But the three of them, together with the King's former knight-commander Elogast (on pilgrimage for his own reasons) will soon discover that dark forces still exist on the road and that not every problem can be solved by slaying a god with a sword.....
Godkiller is a book that alternates the POV character every chapter (although it doesn't necessarily give each character an equal amount of chapters) between the story's four POV characters: Kissen, Inara, Skedi, and Elogast ("Elo"). Each character is very different from the rest and is at least interesting in setup, even if none of them are super unique: Kissen is a woman whose history resulted in her losing her family to a god and has, after much hardship, stabilized with her life as a godkiller and who may have a heart of gold but is also very much in favor of killing gods when they pose potential threats (she's practical however and won't go seeking to kill gods she can't handle or who stay out of her way and haven't earned contracts on their heads). Elo is a man who used to be a knight and the best friend of the King until he quit to become a baker three years ago when the King turned on even the friendly gods, something Elo couldn't countenance despite their friendship. But when the King comes to beg Elo for help from a god to save the King's life, Elo goes on a dangerous quest to find a pilgrimage to the city of gods to save both the King and the King's secret. The two of them make up the experienced members of the cast.
Inara is a young woman who is seemingly the heir to a powerful noble woman...except her own people don't seem to now about her and somehow she's bound up with the weak god Skedi...meaning she and Skedi will both suffer pain and potentially die if they get too far apart. She's also incredibly naive about the way the world works even if she's well meaning. Skedi meanwhile is the naive sort of god - he wants to have a shrine of his own and be free, feels the urge to use his power to make people believe in little "white" lies, and wants the best for himself and Inara. But Skedi doesn't understand people's relationships and that his actions in manipulating Inara, who he cares for, could possibly cause her harm and cause her to no longer trust and like him.
The result of this, as well as our world of gods of all kinds is a plot that follows to some pretty standard structures, but in a generally excellent way. Both sets of characters have character development that generally works well as Inara and Skedi discover what they want for themselves in worlds that have seemingly made them outcast and Kissen and Elo struggle with their own secret pasts, their own obligations and what it really means to owe people something like one's own life...and whether one should really ever sacrifice one's self not for one's own sake but for another (spoiler: the person Elo is supposed to sacrifice himself for might not actually be worth it!). There's a lot pretty interesting here.
Unfortunately, the development relies upon certain character relationships growing and honestly that's where the book didn't quite work for me. Elo and Kissen go from being entirely adversarial to a point in the latter third where romantic feelings grow between them, and that romance never feels natural - it just goes from adversarial to romantic at a point midway through in a way that just feels incredibly abrupt. The same is true of Inara and Skedi, who have a major conflict midway through that Skedi manages to redeem himself and re-earn her trust REALLY fast. It's like there were 40 pages in the middle that disappeared where the characters grew together, talked, and discovered their attractions and issues with one another...but it's not here.
The result is a book that does some interesting things and has an interesting setup, especially about sacrifices, belief and faith, but relies upon character relationships that just didn't work for me. Obviously, based upon other peoples' praise for this book, it worked better for them, so I don't want to make this book seem that bad. But for me, it was more of a miss than I wanted.
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