Synopsis:
An orphan, without a trueborn name, returns to the city of her birth to uncover her past. Hounded by the servants of the Dark God and dying from the poisonous mist that covers the land, her path leads to one of the magical seals protecting the holy ruin of Eminence.
A father, murdered and reborn, aims to bring down the floating fortress hovering over his homeland. Burdened by loss, he’s willing to sacrifice his soul to free his city and get revenge for the destruction of his family.
A mother, captured and bonded to a daemon, kills in the name of the Dark God so she can free her tortured daughter. Relentless in her vengeance, she hunts the one person who could end her suffering: the man who would destroy her vile master.
A drake, the banished hatchling of a failed advisor, seeks his father’s stolen horns. Untested, he desires to right his father’s wrongs in the eyes of the gods and restore his family’s honor.
As all converge in the occupied desert city where the world’s fuel source is mined, one family’s bond will be tested. Old betrayals will resurface, anger and resentment will flourish, but one thing remains clear: blood rules all.
Review:
The Godsblood Tragedy is a really difficult book to sum up succinctly. So much happens between the covers that I know I’m going to forget some important detail as I write this review. But I can say this much up front: It’s worth adding to your TBR list, and I enjoyed the story immensely. There are also many things that I’d love talk about here but can’t, because it will ruin the story for the rest of you.
So… On with the review.
While there are multiple viewpoints featured, the whole story really centers around Ashe, a girl who knows nothing of her origins, but who has been marked for something greater. Ashe reminds me of some of the great Final Fantasy heroines. So much of this book reminded me of that franchise that it would be a failure on my part if I didn’t mention it—the way the world felt, how the individual character arcs were portrayed, the villains… If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy games (or those like them), this book is definitely for you. It reminded most of 3/6 and the original version of 7 (I haven’t played the updated one yet, so I can’t compare.)
And if you’re unfamiliar with the games, I’d still recommend it if you like reading fantasy, because it features many of the classic fantasy elements too. Good vs evil, an unlikely chosen one, a form of magic (in this case, aethurgy—more on this below), fantasy species (some unique, some familiar), gods, drakes, daemons, and more. But The Godsblood Tragedy sets itself apart with its original twists on many of the familiar fantasy elements, and I loved that.
One of the more intriguing concepts was aethurgy. It’s the fuel that runs the world’s machines, but it also can be harnessed by people to grant them inhuman and/or elemental power. But there’s also the Mist, which seems to be a form of aethurgy, but only certain people can use it. The flip side of the Mist, however, is it can kill those who breathe it in too often. Ashe is one of those afflicted with the Mist’s sickness, and it’s something that comes up fairly often in the book. It weakens her, sometimes at the most inopportune times.
But what made this book a standout read for me was the character work. Every character had a history, each had flaws, and all of them were working toward their own agendas. Some couldn’t be trusted—and there’s one in particular that I still don’t trust, even after everything that happened. That the characters would inevitably collide was no surprise, but those collisions were oftentimes epic in scale.
This was a great read, and I’m excited to see where the series goes from here.
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