The stunning sequel to instant New York Times bestseller, Wicked Saints 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. Their paths are being orchestrated by … intertwined. Their paths are 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.
In their dramatic follow-up to Wicked Saints, the first book in their Something Dark and Holy trilogy, Emily A. Duncan paints a Gothic, icy world where shadows whisper, and no one is who they seem, with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.
This edition uses deckle edges; the uneven paper edge is intentional.
more
I’ve been saving this sequel on my shelves for a while now, wanting to have the proper time to really lose myself in the story, and that turned out to be the perfect choice. I fell in love with the first book when I first read it after its release, and this one was just as incredible, with a whole lot of heart-wrenching moments that all but wrecked me. Highly recommended!
This book devastated me. It was so intense and deep. Now that Malachiasz has done the unthinkable everything begins to unwind. Nadya must deal with what his betrayal means for her and Serefin must deal with the monster in his head. Here we find answers to many of the questions that have been asked but we also find more questions. So much happens in this book and the ending left me gasping for air. The gods really are ruthless and some have been playing a longer game than the others knew or anticipated. Things that should have been left slumbering are beginning to awaken and the world will never be the same when this is over, if it survives at all.
I’m honestly so invested in this series now. I NEED to know what happens from here. The fates of our three are more intertwined than before and betrayal after betrayal leaves them all heartbroken, untrusting, and bitter. Here is a world on the brink of disaster and I’m not sure our band will be able to stop it. I wait with great anticipation for the next instalment. This series is brilliant.
5 out of 5
The Gods are ruthless and so are friends!
This was an amazing book. So much happened and I loved it all. Like Wicked Saints, nothing in this book was predictable. It was truly an adventure fantasy. The three main characters and their sidekicks started out in the capital city of Tranavia and ended up going on an Epic Journey to the far side of Kalyazin to change life as they know it by either ending the war or freeing the Gods from whatever made them stop talking to the cleric, Nadya.
This book was scintillating, thrilling, intriguing and heart wrenching. The world-building was amazing, the characters were multi-dimensional and well thought out. The romances were sweet and heartbreaking all at the same time. This is one of my all time favorites already. It has Blood Mage’s, Witches, Dark Magic, Kings, Queens, Gods and Monsters, what could be better?
It starts out with Malachiasz retreating to the salt mines, which is the domain of the vultures. We still aren’t aware of what exactly happened to him after the plan to kill the King of Tranavia didn’t go as expected. Nadya is at the castle with Serefin and is still pretending to belong at the Travanian court, though both her and Serefin know that it is a weak explanation and watch for his detractors to figure out she is from Kalyazin and come to execute her as a traitor. If that happens, it won’t be long after that they come for Serefin for harboring her.
The main detractor is Żaneta’s Father, Patryk Ruminski who wants her retuned and is threatening Serefin. So Serefin, Nadya, Ostyia, Kacper, Parijahan, and Rashid leave the palace to travel to the salt mines to try to talk Malachiasz into letting them bring Zaneta home to her father for the good of the country. The descriptions in the book on places like the salt mine are great. It makes it feel like you are there.
”It never got any lighter and so she was never able to see. The air tasted of iron, a metallic tinge clung to it. The darkness was unbearable. Things moved in the depths of the dark and she could not tell if the creatures that crouched in the corners of the labyrinthine passages and slunk in the doorways, with their rows and rows of teeth, that appeared vaguely human, were real, or if her brain was imagining them.”
I won’t give away any spoilers past the beginning of the book and what is in the blurb, but the rest of the book is just as awesome. Serefin is hearing a God in his head from what happened to him at the end of Wicked Saints, Nadya is stressed because the Gods of the pantheon aren’t talking to her and Malachiasz is struggling with his power and hunger for more. So much happens and there are plot twists and obstacles along the way all leading to a brilliant ending. Of course there will be a third book so it ends in a cliffhanger, but the book is so great I actually didn’t mind.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Why? Why do we support cliffhangers? That was new and heartbreaking and I’ll be in a hangover until the next one comes out!
I anxiously waited a year for this beauty after really loving Wicked Saints. Wicked Saints had great world building, blood magic, feuding kingdoms, and characters that I enjoyed.
Ruthless Gods was such a let down in comparison. Rather than using the second book to further focus on the world that was initially built and dive deeper into the magic system that wasn’t explained as well as it could have been, this one was essentially a character study of the three main characters (Nadya, Serefin, and Malachiasz) with little focus on magic.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for further character development, but even with the new revelations in this book, these characters didn’t grow or develop. Instead, I’m left wondering what was really the point of this sequel.
Thank you to Wednesday Books for my gifted copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
Ruthless Gods: A Novel (Something Dark and Holy Book 2) Kindle Edition
by Emily A. Duncan (Author
I have been waiting for this book since I opened Wicked Saints.
The book is physically beautiful. The cover, the inside cover pages and the start of each chapter are all gorgeous. That alone means you have to buy this in paper form.
The story starts a little after we left Malichiaz, Nadya and Serifin in the last book. The characters and the plot move fast from there. In fact, there are points where the plot jumps a few weeks without telling us!
Enriched by Slavic-Russo mythology, the story is just amazing. For instance one of the characters is seen multiple times with moths, a symbol of death in Russian and Slavic mythology. A very perky empress appears as a major actor who changes the story.
I enjoyed how incredibly committed Ms. Duncan is with her magickal systems, both the ‘Cleric’ and blood mage types.
I have to confess that I didn’t realize this was a ‘Young Adult’ novel. It plays well for that age group but like The Hunger Games series, it plays extremely well to us old fogies! I was enraptured with this book and it predecessor. I really would like to see this turned into a series or even a heavy duty, grimishdarkish series of movies.
The battle scenes were glorious in that Viking/Celt way. I could feel the desperation of Nadya and her friends as the battle rolls over them.
All in all, I can’t wait for the next book, even though we don’t know the name.
5 gruesome, glorious, macabre and beautifully crafted stars out of 5
https://www.amazon.com/Ruthless-Gods-Novel-Something-Dark-ebook/dp/B07S8K7L62
After the glimmers of divinity and magic in Wicked Saints, Ruthless Gods opens the door to a world of fallen gods and eldritch horrors and I am absolutely ready to step through it. Gruesome, grotesque, and so, so glorious.
Come for the Gothic horror-fantasy, stay for the eldritch nightmares, cosmic despair, and irreverent, unforgettable characters. RUTHLESS GODS will leave fans demanding the final installment in the trilogy.
Blood, Gore, and Magic.
I received an ARC of Ruthless Gods. I had high hopes for Ruthless Gods after really liking Wicked Saints. I did enjoy the book and will read the next book in the series. But, much of this book felt like filler and it jumps around a lot. Nadya’s relationship with Malachiasz is so ridiculous at times. How many times can someone lie to you and manipulate you? One minute she hates him and wants to kill him. The next she loves him a can’t live without him. You could probably remove 100 pages and have a better book. It seemed as if Emily A. Duncan wasn’t sure what was going on with the story half of the time. I hope she’s able to correct some of the issues in her next book.
RUTHLESS GODS is Book Two in the “Something Dark and Holy” trilogy by author Emily A. Duncan. This book picks up four months after the events in WICKED SAINTS, and yet I was immediately drawn back into the familiarity of remembered characters.
“. . . Monsters have always slept at the edges of your world . . . ”
The sarcastic banter is still present–despite the dire circumstances–and is easily one of my favorite things about Duncan’s writing. Her characters sound real, whether she’s talking about their inner emotions, or in a conversation with others. When you believe in the characters, it’s so easy to completely immerse yourself in a story.
“Clandestine meetings by your enemies don’t suggest a list of demands that can be provided for . . . ”
Yet for all that, they stay true to themselves (from the previous book). These characters have grown and continue to change–in a natural response to their circumstances–throughout this journey. The changes are perfect for what precipitates them and I feel this is one aspect that the author truly excels in.
“. . . She wasn’t particularly good at saving the people she cared about, she considered . . . ”
As for the novel itself, the actions, revelations, and individual situations I found to be every bit as captivating–if not, more so–than those in Book One. Perhaps it’s simply because we’ve been in this world, with these characters, longer now. However, I’ve read so many series that don’t stay “on track” with how they began–where the actions in sequels seem unbelievable in light of what we’ve already learned of the characters–that I feel it’s more likely that Duncan is just that good, and knows her characters inside and out.
“. . . Let her stay; let her see . . . Let her fear.”
In this world where half the land put their faith in divine gods, and the other half, human magic, the most unlikely of alliances need to be made in order for anyone to survive.
“Having the power of a god and knowing what to do with it are two very different things . . . ”
Filled with all the bloody conflict as WICKED SAINTS, and then some, RUTHLESS GODS is a book I honestly did NOT want to put down. I was completely immersed in this novel as situations changed and the “truths” as we knew them to be became questionable, at best.
. . . what if these gods we worship aren’t gods at all?”
In a land of human and divine monsters alike, what if there’s something . . . more? What if every move you made was already predestined to some extent? This story kept me going–needing to know what would happen along with the characters.
“Darkness never works alone.”
The only thing I was disappointed about was not being able to dive into another novel by the author immediately after this one. I will definitely be looking forward to her future books!
Highly recommended; to be read after Book 1, WICKED SAINTS.
Ruthless Gods picks up in the same dark, gothic, and mind-bending world that Wicked Saints left us in. But then it throws in even more betrayal, far too many WTH moments to count, and of course, a cliffhanger at the end.
In Ruthless Gods, Nadya, Serefin, and Malachiasz are back—and I still don’t know who to root for. They’re all just as dark and full of angst as in book one, but I can’t seem to actually dislike any of them. Malachiasz—in his monstrous new form—has fled to the salt mines. Serafin is struggling to keep his kingdom from being overthrown, while also struggling to maintain his sanity against the relentless new voice in his head. And Nadya is still dealing with the aftermath of the gods having left her. But when they come together again, the story becomes rich with betrayal, vengeance, and, well…blood! Now, I love a dark, vengeful book, but there are a few things that have me struggling with Ruthless Gods. Emily A. Duncan used a lot of descriptive repetition in this book, it comes off as very heavy-handed rather than being seamlessly woven into the storyline. I also feel the characters—although I’m still interested in how they finish this journey—aren’t as emotionally engaging in this book as in book one.
Overall, I didn’t find Ruthless Gods as enjoyable as Wicked Saints, but I’m still looking forward to the next book because I was fully invested after book one and I need to know what happens!
*I received a copy of Ruthless Gods from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review
Darkness never works alone…
Another one of my most anticipated read of this year. I was so happy when I got en email of Netgalley saying that I was approved for an e-arc.
Ruthless Gods is the sequel to Wicked Saint and was really more dark and violent.
Nadya is struggling with both losing the voices of the gods in her head as well as with a huge betrayal that had happen months ago. Also, she doesn’t trust her own magic anymore.
Serefin, him is trying to keep is sanity as he’s hearing a voice inside is head that doesn’t belong to him and trying to get is kingdom to be taken by the Ruminski.
Malachiaz fail is attempts to become a god and is a war with himself and what he’s becoming after killing his father and become the Black Vulture.
I really have loved this sequel and looking foward for the last book in the trilogy with how the end left us.
I don’t know why I forget how dark this book is. It just has such a heavy and depressing aura and air about it as soon as you start in to reading it. I almost feel like I should be wearing heavy eyeliner and dark clothing to really get in the mind frame to read this book (sadly I don’t feel inclined to do either, so I must grin and bare it).
This book, like the first one, skipped around be a lot. There was a lot of jumping between character stories. I don’t mind multiple character stories being told congruently, per se. It’s when there are so many that it’s easy to forget what has happened in one because the author hasn’t been to some storylines in awhile – I as the reader have no idea what is going on it’s been so long since the author has picked up this characters’ storyline, I’ve now forgotten what’s going on. It’s confusing.
Now let’s talk about the cliches (cause let me tell you they are there). Like in the first book and it’s “onyx-eyes”, this book has “a beautiful Tranavian boy” or “tortured beautiful boy” or “this sad lonely boy” every time to describe Mal. Gag me now. Is Duncan trying to subconsciously get us to feel sorry for Mal?
Let’s move come to the next trainwreck for this book – romance or maybe I should say the trainwreck of romance in this book. I understand this is a YA book (though there is more blood and darkness in it than some of the “adult” novel I read). What I don’t understand is how Duncan thinks that the unhealthy “relationship” Nadya has with Mal is romance? I understand darkness and allegory and all that stuff but her character development continues to enable him.
I leave you with this – it had the potential to be a fantastic fantasy but got sacrificed in to a world a muddled love story.
** I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. **
Holy crap! This book was so good! It is completely unpredictable. The character development is so incredible. I have fallen hard for these characters. They have etched themselves into my heart. Emily Duncan does an amazing job of putting so much emotion into their stories. So much so that they feel real. My heart was pulled in so many directions in this book. It is hard for me to even put into words how much I loved this story. I want to just start it over again. I cannot wait to read the next installment in the Something Dark and Holy series!
Three and a half
This book like its predecessor Wicked Saints is one that will be divisive because you will either love it or hate it. Let’s start with the gore aspect that so many previously mentioned because yes there is still cutting involved as Blood magic is used but honestly it’s definitely not the most violent book I’ve read. The author has herself written a review and she talks about the horror that one character goes through due to their eyes and yes I can see that some are squeamish about those pretty little peepers but honestly it’s not something that will have you hiding behind the sofa .
The relationship between the three central characters does move forward although it’s the connection between Malachiasz and Serafin that makes the most sense. I’m in the minority because I just don’t ship Malachiasz and Nadya and even here when he’s this vicious changing monster she still trusts him and I’m left screaming at her to just wake up and realise what he’s let himself become !
Oh and then we get back to the central theme of the Gods or are they really Godlike ? Could they be inherently evil and if so is Nadya on the right path because for much of this book she herself isn’t really sure. I’ve no wish to spoil this for others but I will say everything that’s significant happens towards the end so we have to wait quite a while because this just goes at a snail pace. Just one more book to go and then the torture for both characters and readers alike will be over and I admit as much as I felt this dragged I did feel the ending was worth the pain.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair
Second read: dark, violent, blood soaked, this story is heartbreaking and beautiful. There is something so soulful about these mortal characters trying to find their place and balance with the saints, gods and magic. Amazing read. Top of 2020 for sure. Still all that stars I can give it.
*******************
First Read:
I don’t want to review the plot, I think plenty of other reviewers will do that so these are my impressions of the overall book:
First off, I was unaware this was book two so when I received this story I decided to read book one. That story blew me away so I immediately read this one and boy, did the author blow me away again!
I don’t know which book I liked best, but this book is darn near perfection. The story line, the characters, the plot, the descriptions, the atmosphere… all perfect!
There is never a dull moment in this book. No time to stop, relax and take a breath. Even in the slower moments, the author creates a tension or atmosphere that leads the reader to the next action. As a reader, my next heart beat seemed times to the words on the page. I could not get enough!!
The characters are unique, deep and well detailed. I’ve never read a book with such interesting and different people. They are all complex, both good and bad, strong and weak; all so realistic.
I will be wanting a book three. I have found a new favorite author. I received an ARC via NetGallery and I am leaving an honest.
#NetGallery #RuthlessGods #StMartinsPress #EmilyADuncan #EpicReads #PerfectReads