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© Kay Adams 2020
Darkness never works alone.
Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who - and what - he’s become.
As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone…or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet - those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.
★★★★★
Last year, Duncan rocked the YA community with her debut Wicked Saints. She was a stunning, daring new voice in YA Fantasy, and the stakes are only getting higher in Ruthless Gods. Set months after the events of Wicked Saints, our heroine Nadya is struggling with both the absence of the gods in her head and a disturbing new connection to dark magic that shouldn't belong to her. Grieving Malachiasz's betrayal, she is less welcomed guest and more unwanted prisoner in Serefin's court, and people are getting suspicious. Meanwhile, Serefin himself is struggling with a new voice in his head - an old god Nadya never meant to release upon the world - and his court's divided loyalties. In an effort to survive what will likely be an assassination attempt on both their lives, they flee for the other side of the world, for answers held deep within the monstrous forests of Kalyazin. They both need to be free of the mysterious magic holding them captive, but only a god-like being can help them traverse the ancient forests on the other side of the world, and that being just happens to be Malachiasz. Tenuous relationships form once more, along with tense alliances with enemies from all over. The only problem is, Nadya is still in love with the monster boy, and her devotion to her goddess will be put to the ultimate test.
As dark and lush as before, Duncan takes the monster boy we grew to love in the first book, and dials the monster factor up to 15. The Salt Mines at the beginning was only a small glimpse into the horror. You have to admire the amount of disgusting eye imagery throughout this book. No human should be able to look upon a god, especially a being who is so close to god-like that eyes and mouths keep opening up where there shouldn't be eyes or mouths. It is disturbing to say the least, cosmic horror at its finest, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Duncan's writing hooks you in with the sharpness of a dagger and holds on tight with the strength of a god. Her worldbuilding is so rich and gritty that most chapters will leave you grimacing in discomfort, but it's the characters we love that leave our hearts bleeding on the floor. Nadya's endearing recklessness. Malachiasz's chaotic struggle. Serefin's exhausted desperation. These characters will leave an impression on you much like how mysterious magic left a mark on Nadya. There will be times when you'll want to wrap them all in blankets, and then take them out and knock some sense into them. No human should have to suffer as much as Nadya and Serefin.
If you want a lush, rich, dark fantasy with blood magic, eye horror, casual affection, gritty betrayal, and eldritch beings of immense power, Ruthless Gods is the perfect sequel to keep you turning the page.
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