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A review by tej_reads
The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
3.5
The Gods Below is the first book in a new series called The Hollow Covenant by Andrea Stewart. The story primarily follows Hakara, who is searching for her younger sister Rasha who were separated during the Restoration of Kashan.
The novel is split into multi-time POVs. Through, Nioanen we experience what time was like pre-Shattering, following the journey of he and his wife Irael - two of the most powerful gods to exist. We experience Hakara and Rasha as well as Mullayne and Sheuan, the latter is trying to restore her family name by taking on the task given to her by the Sovereign. I found that because of this a lot of setting up happened in the first 70-80% which meant that all the action and in turn the plot went fast in the last 20%.
One of the best things about this book is the world building, Stewart creates a world that is so expansive with so much lore and an intriguing magic system. But also characters that we loveable from the start, my favourite is Thassir, who at first did annoy me but by the end I thought his looking after the cats was a perfect expression of who his is and who I want him to be in the coming books.
The novel is split into multi-time POVs. Through, Nioanen we experience what time was like pre-Shattering, following the journey of he and his wife Irael - two of the most powerful gods to exist. We experience Hakara and Rasha as well as Mullayne and Sheuan, the latter is trying to restore her family name by taking on the task given to her by the Sovereign. I found that because of this a lot of setting up happened in the first 70-80% which meant that all the action and in turn the plot went fast in the last 20%.
One of the best things about this book is the world building, Stewart creates a world that is so expansive with so much lore and an intriguing magic system. But also characters that we loveable from the start, my favourite is Thassir, who at first did annoy me but by the end I thought his looking after the cats was a perfect expression of who his is and who I want him to be in the coming books.
"Sometimes, in the stories, the hero fails," he said. "But it's not truly a failure. It only means they've been after the wrong thing."
Hakara was unfortunately very annoying, I couldn't stand her chapters nor those of Rasha and Sheuan which meant that I was at times fighting to get through the book. For someone who is meant to be sneaky and essential to the cause how Hakara could not whisper confused me, and it was only little but it grated on me to the point where I just disliked her, it didn't help that she was cocky and brash even though she really didn't understand what was happening. Hakara, because the typical YA protagonist in that sense and I was hoping for a bit more.
I'm very much looking forward to book two.
The Gods Below releases in the UK on the 5th September!
Thank you to Orbit, NetGalley and Andrea Stewart for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.