I enjoyed The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne (@john_gwynne_author), which I listened to on Audible.
Wow!
I will get a wee negative out of my system early on and say that the arc was perhaps a little of a slow burn. By the end of the novel, I felt the story had just begun. It’s a good thing the second volume is already in my library. Okay, so sometimes authors have a long story, and it’s best to split them—like LOTR, which is basically one book split into three. However, I do prefer individual books of a trilogy to be able to stand on their own feet.
Now that is out of my system, I must repeat my earlier comment: wow.
The author and narrator brought me on a fast-paced journey through the magical world of Vigrid—based on Norse mythology. I found myself staying in the gym for too long because I couldn’t bear to stop the book. Putting it into perspective: having just had a recent total hip replacement, too long on the treadmill is not recommended and I have been paying the price in pain.
Listening to the audio, it was almost as if I was watching the story in a Cineplex with surround sound. I was always a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist when it came to my fantasy fix: Tolkien, Gemmell, Fiest, and Wurts, but I branched out last year following a recommendation by Dublin Book Reviewer (@dublin_book_reviewer) to read The Faithful and the Fallen, which is in my Kindle library and top of my TBR. I started with The Shadow of the Gods because it was in my Audible library. I am so glad that I did.
I give the book 8.5/10.
PerchedCrowPress 