You know how there are good things in the world that just aren’t for you? I experienced a massive dose of this lately. To preface, let me begin by confessing something: I am a fantasy reader who is very picky about epic fantasy. I didn’t like The Lord of the Rings. I loved the movies, but the books? I barely finished The Two Towers. Nevertheless, I persist in trying new epic fantasies. I’ve tried Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Jacqueline Carey, and others. I read the first two novels of A Song of Ice and Fire, and technically, I’m still reading the third volume…and have been for about ten years. I did read and enjoy The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I credit Kvothe and his completely ballsy attitude for that one, but I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it. Indeed, the only epic fantasy series that I truly love is Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings, but I’m seven novels behind at this point. I’m stubborn enough to want to keep trying to find new books to love, so it was with great anticipation, that I applied for, and was then granted, a review copy of Micah Yongo’s Lost Gods.
Written by: Micah Yongo
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 448 (Kindle)
Publisher: Angry Robot
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Why I Chose It: Angry Robot’s stable of authors has produced some of the most interesting and unusual fiction that I’ve read in the past few years. The idea of an epic fantasy based in African legend was too tempting to pass up.
The premise:
In this extraordinary fantasy debut, a young assassin finds himself hunted by the brothers and sisters he has trained alongside since birth.
Neythan is one of five young warriors trained and raised together by a mysterious brotherhood of assassins known as the Shedaím. When Neythan is framed for the murder of his closest friend, he pursues his betrayer — and in so doing learns there’s far more to the Brotherhood, and the machinations of the rulers of the warring kingdoms, than he’d ever thought possible. His journey will lead him across the five realms, from the Forest of Silences to the Ash Plains of Calapaar, and reveal the breaches that lie beneath the world, and the hidden truths of his oath.
There will be no spoilers.
When I started this novel, I was breathless to keep reading…for the first three or four chapters. You see, the story starts out strong, with the story of Neythan and his compatriots infiltrating a celebration in order to carry out an assassination. Things move quickly, and I couldn’t read fast enough. The next few chapters give you some background on Neythan and the Shedaím, before a mysterious ceremony where the newest fully fledged assassins essentially graduate from assassin school. They’re each given a scroll with a secret task and are told that they will carry out these tasks at the same time. Intriguing!
Then? Action! Intense moments! Betrayal! I thought I was hooked!
But then came the first change in point-of-view, and I started to get lost. I also started to get a little bored, I’m sorry to say. I ended up putting the book down and not picking it back up again for a few weeks. By the time I was ready to return to the story, I had forgotten where I was and which character was which. I started over, and remembered how exciting the beginning was.
Unfortunately, I got stuck again, at about the same place. I gamely kept at it for a few more days until I had to throw in the towel. This was clearly not the right book for me at this time. There are a few reasons that made me decide to put it on hold.
1) The frequent POV changes were disconcerting. This is definitely my own issue. I acknowledge that I am, perhaps, not in the best state of mind to read a book that demands this much attention. Trying to keep track of which character belonged where, and who was related to whom, became a big challenge.
2) After the thrill of the beginning, I wasn’t terribly interested in the political intrigue that started to play itself out. I enjoy novels with this particular element, but for some reason it didn’t work for me.
3) I was interested in Neythan’s story, and being dragged away from it definitely colored the way that I viewed other segments of the novel.
4) The electronic format doesn’t work well for me in a book of this magnitude. I tend to forget things, so I like to make notes and underline. This is a habit I picked up in college literature classes, and I’ve not been able to break it.
Yongo shows great promise as a writer — his worldbuilding is detailed, Neythan is a compelling character, and the story is obviously shaping up to be something big. If you look at it from the right angle, you might think that this novel could be Game ofThrones’ second cousin. I intend to attempt it again when I can have a physical copy. Being able to make notes on Post-Its to keep track of the characters will help a great deal, as will being able to flip back to previous passages that I need to re-read.
In Conclusion: Lost Gods, it’s not you. It’s me. I encourage fantasy readers to give this one a try. The fact that it isn’t your typical Eurocentric epic makes it stand out all on its own. I want to see more books like this exist in the world. I want to be one of those readers who drowns in them, escaping from this world into something entirely different. Right now, Lost Gods just isn’t the book for me. Maybe it will be for you.
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