Synopsis
When the saints fail, the sinners step up.
Cruel gods rule the steam-powered city of Chime, demanding worship and tribute from their mortal subjects. Kayl lost her faith in them long ago, and now seeks to protect vulnerable and downtrodden mortals from their gods’ whims. But when Kayl discovers powers that she didn’t know she had—and destroys a mortal’s soul by accident—she becomes Chime’s most wanted.
Quen’s job was to pursue sinners, until the visions started. Haunted by foreboding images of his beloved city’s destruction, Quen hunts soul-sucking creatures made of aether who prey on its citizens—and Kayl is his number one target.
To ensure Chime’s future, Kayl and Quen must discover the truth of Kayl’s divine abilities before the gods take matters into their own hands.
For a city that bows to cruel gods, it’ll take godless heathens to save it.
Review
This book was on my TBR list for a shamefully long time, but a big part of this is because it was so highly anticipated that I wanted to read it when I was really in the mood. I ended up buying the full series before I got round to reading the first book when I was in the mood for something fantasy but with a more modern feel. This one is described as a “gaslamp fantasy of bad manners” which honestly would have won me over without hearing anything more – and I’m delighted that the book more than lived up to the pitch.
Stories with really creative worldbuilding always grab my attention, and the premise for this one is awesome. The Cruel Gods series is centred on a place where gods rule over a world divided into twelve regions whose inhabitants take on different physical characteristics and have different abilities depending on which god they belong to. There are Vespers, who can control shadow, Diviners, who have influence over time and can see an hour into someone’s past or future, stone-skinned Umber, and so on. All are obliged to serve their gods with worship and offerings… in theory. The city of Chime offers a neutral ground in which the gods can’t set foot but still exert an influence over their mortal subjects.
As you can probably work out from the series title, these gods are not in the least bit benevolent.
One of the main characters, Kayl is a godless, someone who’s turned her back on the gods and who works to protect mortals from their whims and improve prospects for the downtrodden among the peoples of Chime. Her life is upturned when she ends up witnessing something that she shouldn’t have seen and manifesting an ability that puts her in danger. The other protagonist, Quen, is the stark opposite, as a Warden, representative of all the domains and supposedly in charge of keeping order in the city of Chime. He has problems of his own: bodies of Diviners are showing up, all killed in a strange manner, with their souls gone and away from their gods. His path crosses with Kayl’s as he tries to learn the truth and is sent to hunt her down as a suspect… and shenanigans swiftly ensue.
The story is told from two perspectives, both in first-person, and the author successfully makes each of them distinctive enough that it’s easy to tell whose head we’re in at any given time. Kayl is chaotic and impulsive and undeniably likeable despite some of the mistakes she makes. She and the uptight Quen play off each other delightfully. Quen took a while to grow on me but it’s hard not to root for him after seeing how brutally his god and the other Diviners treat him.
With a complex world like this one, it would be easy for the worldbuilding to overtake the story, but the author skilfully layers in the details through the eyes of the characters so it never feels as if the pacing is bogged down by infodumping. The balance of action and character development kept me glued to the pages – I was so hooked by the final third that I nearly missed my bus stop, which I feel like should be an endorsement all on its own, lol.
There are some serious twists at the ending that left me both annoyed at myself for waiting this long to read and relieved that I have the sequel ready to dive into immediately. Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about this book. The premise hooked me initially, but it was the characters who kept me reading on. Now… to the sequel.
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