About the Book
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Author:
- Amie Kaufman
Cover Story: Big Face On Fire
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
Talky Talk: Divine Font Switch
Bonus Factors: Supporting Characters, Gods and Goddesses
Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grownups
Relationship Status: Spinoff, Please
(Caution: This review contains spoilers for The Isles of the Gods (The Isles of the Gods #1).)
Cover Story: Big Face On Fire
I can’t help thinking how Leander would laugh if he saw himself portrayed like this. The flames probably represent his goddess’ power over him and/or the threat of the upcoming war, but seeing him pose like a supermodel with his head on fire does look a little bit strange.
The Deal:
Prince Leander, his beloved Selly and their friend Keegan did everything they could to prevent twin gods – and archenemies – Barrica the Warrior and Macean the Gambler from entering the mortal world to end a war that began five hundred years ago. Instead, they’re not only back, but each one has chosen a human Messenger to channel their divine power. For Barrica, it’s Leander, a peace-loving man who resists his role. For Macean, it’s Laskia, a crime boss’s second-in-command who was not quite stable to begin with. With a gambling god addicted to risk and a warrior goddess out for blood, what can ordinary humans do to keep the world from falling to war?
BFF Charm: Mixed Bag
Selly and Leander have grown up a lot since the beginning of the first book. She’s learned the lesson of responsibility her captain was trying to teach her, and he’s outgrown the playboy image he used to hide behind, but at a heavy cost. Now Selly has to witness Leander being evaluated by his own sister as a potential weapon, physically share his pain when the Messenger’s power is too much for him, and watch Barrica’s hunger for war gradually take him over. Keegan, searching for any information that might save his friends, has to face the bride he ran away from. Meanwhile Laskia seems to have gone completely unhinged as Macean’s messenger, while her follower Jude has given up all hope of redemption … or have they?
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Leander’s becoming the Messenger fast-forwards his relationship with Selly by about sixty years. Since their first kiss bound her to him as his spiritual anchor – the only one who can keep Barrica’s power from burning him up, at least for now – they’ve gone from teenagers with a crush to sworn life partners struggling with a possibly fatal illness, all before they even get their second kiss. Even Selly is skeptical: “The way we feel about each other … it’s us, isn’t it? Or is it her?” Leander reassures her, but the question lingers.
Talky Talk: Divine Font Switch
It can’t be easy to convey the awe-inspiring power of a god’s voice, but having Barrica and Macean – whose power can burn a person to ashes with a touch, and who once wiped out an entire nation between them – speak in swirly cursive is not the choice I would have gone with.
Bonus Factor: Supporting Characters
Lady Carrie “Kiki” Dastenholz (I love that name!) is Keegan’s childhood friend and arranged fiancee. In her own words, they “schemed together beautifully” to avoid getting married, even at the cost of her social humiliation, because he’s aromantic asexual (although this world doesn’t use those terms) and she’s a good ally. She also becomes Selly’s stylist and etiquette tutor, not to make her fit in at the palace, but to empower her. I liked the detail of choosing clothes that “celebrate” Kiki’s weight and Selly’s muscles, rather than “apologizing” for them. On the other side of the ocean, there’s Tom, Jude’s boyfriend, who was barely mentioned in the first book, but is here revealed as sweet, loving, and loyal almost to a fault: someone who would support you on your worst day even after you broke up.
Bonus Factor: Gods and Goddesses
The religious aspects of this story are interesting, whether or not they agree with your own beliefs. Gods may be undeniably real in this world, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted. Barrica and Macean can take on human form, but they don’t think or act like humans. They’re archetypes – the Gambler and the Warrior – and those who pray to them start to resemble them more and more until they lose themselves. Selly, Keegan and Jude, the only non-worshippers in the story, are also the only ones who keep their common sense. There is one surprising (and rather touching) moment where a character finds faith, but they end up comforting their god more than the other way around.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grownups
All the teen narrators have at least one family member who tries to control them for supposedly their own good. Leander and Laskia have older sisters who refuse to share power (not to mention Sister Beris, the fanatic nun Laskia has for a mentor). Selly and Keegan have fathers who humiliate them for things they’re born with (Selly’s delayed magic; Keegan’s aro-ace identity). Jude’s mother keeps him in poverty rather than accept help from Leander, who was once Jude’s best friend. The difference between them is in how they respond: whether they stand up to their controlling relative, or whether they let anger or despair get the best of them.
Relationship Status: Spinoff, Please
On the one hand, it was nice not to have to wait too long for the ending, but on the other hand, this duology zips along so fast, there’s not enough time to properly appreciate the relationships or the worldbuilding. If Kaufman ever writes about Kiki, Tom and Jude, and/or the other five gods and their nations, I’ll be first in line.
Literary Matchmaking
Kaufman’s The Isles of the Gods is where this story started.
Lex Croucher’s Gwen and Art Are Not In Love also features an aromantic character.
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows’s My Salty Mary is a feminist sailor’s yarn that Selly would appreciate.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
