I wasn't able to finish this book. I am very much a mood reader that I couldn't get into the book.


Thank you Netgalley and author for a chance to read this.

The synopsis of this book drew me in, and I can honestly say that this book had a lot of great stuff going for it.

A headstrong princess who is unafraid to venture onto the battlefield is always attractive in a book. Saran is unafraid to make the choices she knows are right, despite them going against her own country, army, or people. Not respected by many in her court, Saran, a Time Mage, is also the "black sheep" of the royal family, which is refreshing for a novel with a royal protagonist.

This story is epic, everything you would expect from a fantasy novel. Magic, prophecies, royalty, and epic battles make for an exciting story. The characters interact within the story in ways that are unexpected, and for the most part, this improved the novel itself. However, there were some issues that I just could not see past with this story.

The beginning of "The Living God" did not hook me in at all, unfortunately. The excitement of starting in the middle of a battle was overshadowed by the fact that I had no clue what was going on, who was fighting, or (most importantly) WHY they were fighting. Where some novels can start in the same way and earn the reader's attention by giving the right details in the right way, unfortunately, this novel does not.

Although the story and characters were entertaining and exciting, it just didn't meet my expectations as a reader

What happens when two elemental mages, bound together by love and magic, are pitted against each other with the fate of a kingdom at stake? This is exactly what happens in Kaytalin Platt's novel, The Living God. The book follows the journey of Saran and Keleir as they struggle to overcome their doomed destinies and save their world from destruction. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves a good fantasy novel filled with magic, political intrigue, and epic romance.
The Living God is set in a world brimming with magic, where elemental mages are revered and feared by the common folk. The story centers on the relationship between Saran and Keleir, two young and powerful mages who are bound together by love and magic. Saran is destined to rule the kingdom of Ardaleth, while Keleir is fated to become the feared Vel d'Ekaru, a demon who will bring about the end of the world. Together, they conspire against Saran's fanatical father, who worships the Vel d'Ekaru and seeks to use Keleir's power to bring about Armageddon.
Platt has done an excellent job of weaving a romantic storyline into the larger plot, making it a perfect read for fans of both romance and fantasy genres. The chemistry between the characters is undeniably palpable, and their love story is one of the main factors that keeps the readers hooked until the very end.
The book is also filled with political intrigue that makes the plot even more engaging. The dynamics between the characters are complex and well fleshed out, with each character having their own motivation and goals. This makes for a more immersive reading experience as we follow the characters through their journey, wondering how their relationships and choices will impact the larger story.
One of the biggest strengths of The Living God is the well-crafted and imaginative world-building. Platt has created an incredibly vivid and enthralling world, filled with unique magical creatures, eerie landscapes, and intricate lore. The author's attention to detail and descriptive writing style makes it easy for readers to visualize the world and immerse themselves in the story.
Overall, The Living God is a captivating novel that will appeal to fans of fantasy, romance, and political intrigue genres. With its well-crafted world-building, well-rounded characters, and engrossing storyline, the book is sure to keep readers hooked from start to finish. Kaytalin Platt's novel is a brilliantly written story that is not to be missed.

DNF at 25%. It's been over three years since I received this ARC. I gave it a go and have decided it is not for me. It interested me then and no longer does now.

DNF 50%

I wanted to love this book so much. The premise and the cover caught my attention so quickly. Unfortunately, this story just wasn't for me. The concept of time magic was so entertaining but it was gone before the story even got started. The pacing was an issue for me even though the writing style was beautiful and flowery. I will try other books by this author in the future even though this one didn't work for me.

The Living God by Kaytalin Platt is a book about beautiful princess who is a mage actively working to rebel against her father the King.

I tried to read this twice and DNF. The writing never pulled me in and the main character was so cliché that she was boring. I really struggled trying to read this book.

One star because I could not read this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Kaytalin Platt for the free copy. This was an honest review.

I was really excited for this book, but unfortunately just couldn't get into it. The premise itself is fascinating, but it takes a while for the plot to really get going. This, combined with the extensive world building, made this book quite slow overall, and I found myself losing motivation to continue as the story went on. The world and lore were interesting, but weren't enough on their own to keep me invested in the story and characters. Overall, I think this book just wasn't really for me, even though I really wish I'd enjoyed it.

The premise of this book sounded interesting enough so I decided to give it a shot. There wasn't as much action as I thought that there would be and so the story seemed a little slow. We start of strong with a battle and action but then the book takes a turn and we are left with plotting and scandals. There was a lot of drama and court intrigue that I'm sure is setting us up for book two. I just wish we had a lot more action so it would make picking up book two that much easier for a reader.

This was too slow for my taste. I felt like the Time magic Should have been the focus of the story because it was, without a doubt, the most interesting part of this story. Sadly, it disappeared before it even had a chance to shine.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Living God by Kaytalin Platt is a fantasy tale that follows Saran and Keleir as they struggle to reconcile their feelings with the obstacles that threaten their world, like Saran's evil father and the parasite inside Keleir. This story has a unique flavor with some fantastic writing, although the story struggled with pacing.

This book's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: its complexity. As much as I enjoyed getting into the detailed worldbuilding and magic system, this also dragged down the pace, which made it hard to get through this book. We get introduced to a lot of terms (e.g. Oruke, the titular Living God, the Vel d'Ekaru, etc.) to the point where it took me a moment to stop and comprehend what's going on. The plot just felt very slow in general, even if I really liked the various character relationships at play, especially Saran and Keleir's! I think that the balance between character development and action wasn't quite right, but hopefully, in the later books in the series this will be remedied now that the foundations are already built.

I look forward to reading the next book in this series!

The Living God sounded interesting in description and I was quite excited about receiving a review copy.

However, while the story was engaging and meandered a long, it was just to slow for me to enjoy. Picking the book up felt like more and more of a chore. I gave up at 75%. It it had been paced slightly faster, it has the potential to get completely lost in.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read. The story gets going from the very first chapter. Where we are introduced to Saran, a princess who helps innocent villagers against her father's forces hell bent on finding the rebels they believe to be hidden in the village. We are also very quickly introduced to the magic system. Which I found really interesting. We are introduced to so many types of magic, fire, ice, and time. Which is by far the most interesting. I thought the romance in this was sweet. The politics was surprisingly interesting as that usually is not something I am drawn to. Some bit were a bit confusing as alot of elements are involved( gods/ goddesses/ magic/ prophecies) overall its a good start to the series, but be warned there is a cliff hanger ending!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy of The Living God by Kaytalin Platt.
This is an adult fantasy about a mage princess with the power to move time and her rebel mage friends (one that can manipulate lightening and the other fire).

It is difficult to create a simple summary of the plot for this review because there is just SO MUCH going on. We have mages. We have a rebellion against the king. We have different kingdoms but also alternate earths that can be traveled through via portals (including to our own present day earth). There is a prophetess with prophecies, the legend of a Living God, an Oruke (like a demon), a Vel d’Ekaru (I’m still not sure what this is), The Grand Feminine and Alikons (some kind of Mage created creature). And all of this takes place over 300 pages.

This read to me like the third book in a series where everything had been laid out before but I accidentally got the wrong book. Everything from the Magic and world building to the characters were put on the page as if you were already familiar with them but you actually aren’t. It made it difficult to get wrapped up in the plot or to care about the characters.

I’m not sure what the author was going for with this one because everything felt jammed into a rather short book. It was a 3 star read for me.

I wanted SO badly to love this book because it had such an original and unique concept but while the story itself was intriguing.. I couldn’t get past quite a few things. For one, from the beginning this book didn’t feel like the first book in a series, it felt more like the second or third book where the author has explained a lot of the details in the story line. The romance was there from the first page without any sort of backstory and everything just felt so rushed.

Had this book been outlined just a bit better, I could see myself loving it completely but there were so many instances where I wished I would have more information or where the flashbacks to what led to a point in the story weren’t as well thought out as I would have hoped.

This novel is a good one that I’ve read this year! The characters are so dynamic yet relatable. I loved the flow of the story. It held my attention the whole time.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

This was a good attempt but it did not reach the expectations that I was hoping for in this book. I started out well but floundered in the middle and stayed down till the end. too bad.

I've tried a few times to get into this book, but it is not for me. It sounds like an interesting concept. Perhaps if it is ever released on audiobook, I will give it another chance.

I just could not get into this due to the purple prose and stilted dialogue. Characters constantly info-dump to each other ("As you know, X, our culture..." or worse, where one character explains to another how they met - which he also remembers!) and it makes them all seem very flat, as though they are there to talk to the audience and not live their own lives. It also, despite the info dumping, manages to feel as though you have picked up a book in the middle of the series, since there is a lot of reference to past events without explaining them. Then suddenly in Chapter 4 they transport from their high fantasy world to ours, which threw me right out of any understanding I was building, so it's a DNF from me at 12%..

Princess, mages, demons, gods and stolen magic. Does this sound appealing? Well, it was for me. This was such
and interesting read with a great villain, these things are quite uncommon these days.