God Killer by Hannah Kaner

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Godkiller (Godkiller, Book 1) by Hannah Kaner
Published by HarperCollins UK on January 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780008521486
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Epic, Historical, General
Pages: 304
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
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THE INSTANT NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘A wonderful, gritty, explosively violent, and beautifully realised debut’ DAILY MAIL
‘GODKILLER will have you in its grasp from the first pages’ Samantha Shannon, bestselling author of PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE
You are not welcome here, godkiller
Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins.
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.
Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning – something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.

God Killer….oh how to start? I’m starting this review off on a downer, but I was so looking forward to reading this book, the cover alone made me so excited to get begin a devouring reading session. The reality unfortunately is quite different. This was a highly anticipated novel of 2023, but I just feel like it fell flatter than pancake on Shrove Tuesday. Truth be told the cover was the only thing about the book that stood tall. The artwork is incredible and prior to reading the eBook I had considered investing in the beautiful, sprayed edge edition for my personal collection, I’m afraid as beautiful as it is, I just cannot justify parting with my hard-earned cash for a book that will gather dust.

Now on to God Killer itself I did enjoy the prologue (again, I always seem to love a strong prologue) it had a really strong start but that’s where my enthusiasm for Godkiller started and stopped. I picked up the book in mid-February and I’ve only just finished now. For some that might be okay, but I usually start and finish several books in the space of a week, so for me this book has taken quite some time to get through. Hand on my heart – the only two parts that held my attention was the prologue and the ending, the middle really didn’t hold my attention. I’ve picked up and put down the book a fair few times.

In the author’s defence (I know it seems like I’m tearing the book down, but credit where credits due) the story is stunningly written. The language flowed like a river in the summer, smoothly. It’s got the kind of narrative that you could fall into, I guess the book just wasn’t for me. It’s got a lot of rave reviews, once again it appears that another hyped book has passed me by.

The things that irked me the most was the poorly developed characters apart from Kissen. I just didn’t think that enough time or care was given to building up the other characters. I was hugely confused by the worldbuilding. I love a map in fantasy but this story with its back and forth just left me scratching my head at times. I wanted to be able to follow what was happening but had to go back and reread sections, the whole process left me feeling frustrated.

God Killer follows Kissen, a Godkiller. The backstory of Kissen is full of trauma and tragedy. Everyone knows what can happen when you are left with the ever-present scars of a haunted past, it either kills you or throws you into a completely different road. For Kissen that is the beaten track of god killing. She funnels her anger into killing gods, her reputation precedes her and she damn well knows it. When she chances upon the noble child, Inara Crainer things go arse over tit rather quickly. The child appears to be bound to a god that has no shrine and yet it seems impossible for Inara to be bonded with this god, and yet it is there right in front of her eyes. Kissen refuses to allow another child bow to the mercy of yet another god but how can she ensure that Inara doesn’t die in the process?

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