In a land of magic where parallel worlds are just a portal away, civil war rages. Saran and Keiler are elemental mages bound by love and sorcery: one destined to rule a kingdom, the other to destroy it. Five years ago, Saran reached into Keleir Ahriman’s heart and imprisoned the demon within him, tying her soul to his. Together, they’ve conspired against Saran’s father–a fanatical king who … fanatical king who worships that world-ending demon inside Keleir, a being known as the Vel d’Ekaru. When Saran risks everything to save a village of innocent people, the king rips her magic away, splintering the wall she built around Keleir’s heart. Powerless and desperate, Saran struggles to see her rebellion finished and stop Keleir from becoming the Vel d’Ekaru-the Living God.
In a world that is equal parts magic and political intrigue, heroine and hero must now battle their way back to each other if they are to overcome their doomed destinies.more
The Living God is a frustrating novel. Not because it is terrible or poorly written, it is neither of those things. It has an incredible opening and a great ending, but there is this massive chunk in between that makes the novel so incredibly dull. Moreover, the reason it is dreary is that there is a big problem with the pace here.
After an effective fast-paced beginning, the novel dives. The reader’s eye is pulled into multiple directions as it follows Saran and Kelier, and other characters as they set out to help the rebellion. This should be fast paced, the momentum to keep up with the opening and the ending, but it does not. It is appealing but drags, which is such a huge problem here because there are interesting bits in the novel. Some of those fascinating bits also serve as a disservice to this story. Platt devotes much time to history in this novel, and that history is far more interesting than the current story. It is so compelling that it makes this novel feel more like a sequel than the start of a series. The history between the characters, whom they were before meeting each other, would have made a more exciting novel because then that would have been the focus and then this story probably would have been allowed to flow better. Instead, this novel feels like Platt is trying to world build all at once, get the history in, and set off the series all in one go. It is not like that has not been done before, but here, it just did not work.
Another hindrance of the story is the science fiction aspects of the novel. This is an opinion but when one has set off a story or labeled it as an epic high fantasy, stay in that niche, do not go bringing in parallel universes and science fiction into the mix, at least not without the proper establishment. Another reason this novel feels more like a sequel. Platt is trying to incorporate science fiction here, but it is not working. It breaks the already slow pace of the novel and takes the reader out of the story. Once she begins to do that, furthering the world building, it twists the story up and no longer feels like the high fantasy story it is supposed to be. The reader cannot suspend their disbelief and lose themselves once Platt does this, or at the very least, she makes it challenging for the reader to be able to do that.
This novel would have worked out so much better had it been split into two. Then book one could have been character establishment and world building and then this novel wouldn’t have to focus so much on that and could just move along at that tension-driven pace because the ending is so good, it’s riveting in fact, but that vast chunk in the middle, it’s a strong deterrent because the pace is as slow as a snail crossing the road.