I read the first book a little while ago and adored it and was fortunate enough to get a chance to read Ruthless Gods early through Netgalley. Let me just say, that this book blew me away. I stayed up very late reading it and I truly did not want to stop reading. The story takes place very shortly after the events of Wicked Saints and the action keeps coming. The characters are wonderfully done and literally everyone has an ulterior motive, which keeps you guessing about what will happen until the very end. Slight warning though, for anyone made uncomfortable by blood or eye horror, this book does get a bit gruesome, but its brilliantly done. The dark, gritty atmosphere was wonderfully written and I adored reading about this world. I can’t wait until the third book! I will definitely be buying a copy of this book on release and recommending it to all my reader friends. If you love dark fantasy, you will love this. Also there is a kick-ass heroine and the right amount of romance. Loved this book and it guaranteed that I will be reading everything this author writes.

So very weird and so wonderful. So vastly dark and deep. Everyone is whispering and everyone has so much to say. It's all so beautifully said and it's all lies. The forest is alive and wants to eat you.

I loved Wicked Saints with my entire weird-book-loving heart. I'm so happy to say Ruthless Gods is even better. Questions are answered. More questions are posed. They are all so anemic. EYE HORROR GALORE. It kills me that they're just children in over their heads. They're all so sad and have been through so much. THE SCENE IN THE FOREST CLEARING. Emily manages to make you understand just how small you are. And the freaking ending, yall, omg. 

I love this book so much and am in awe of it. I read Wicked Saints a second time immediately after finishing it. And I have every intention of reading Ruthless Gods again very soon.

Thank you so much, Netgalley, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even start with Ruthless Gods..

Well let me start with this, I knew Ruthless Gods was going to be good. In fact I knew it was going to be incredible..but this book is just so far beyond those two words. This book is EVERYTHING I have ever wanted in a dark fantasy. If you've read Wicked Saints then you know these characters are each so different but they all come together and their stories intertwine so perfectly. Nadya, Nadya, Nadya. I love her so much as a MC her character development is just incredible. Emily Duncan has done an amazing job with her character and has brought her so far from Nadya The Cleric. Malachiasz. M a l a c h i a s z. I have never encountered a character like this before!! He is everything!! His jumps between the boy and the vulture are probably one of my favorite things about Ruthless Gods. and of course, my love, Serefin. I just can't believe everything he's been through, the lengths that boy goes to just to be free (before you finish the book make sure you DIDN'T just eat -fyi) and who he has become.

I love all the characters of course - Kacper, Ostyia, Parj, Rashid, Pelageya and even Kostya - they all fit the story so perfectly and I'm very excited to see where the third book takes them.

Now what REALLY has me messed up about this book and why I haven't stopped thinking about it for two days now is , the mythology of it all. Emily Duncan has done such an incredible job putting together the myths, the legends and fusing them into the reality of this book. All the folklore come to life, the little passages at the beginning of each chapter (Vasiliev's Book of Saints, The Letters of Wlodzimierz, Codex of the Divine, the Books of Innokentiy) It all ties in so perfectly with the story and I always read them to see if I can connect them into the story, which of course you can. the world building just gets to me because it just all feels so perfectly thought you.


I'm not posting this to my goodreads or my blog yet because I want to go through the story one more time and be a little bit more in depth about it but seriously this did not disappoint and I'll probably be thinking about it forever. are there unanswered questions? of course but theres also a third book so i'm just going to tell myself everything will be fine until then!


Ruthless Gods gets a 5 out of 5 from me

The second book in the Something Dark and Holy series follows the bad decisions made by everyone at the end of Wicked Saints as all the characters continue to make worse and worse decisions.

Serefin, Nadya, and Malachiasz are each at the whim of the gods and their own power. Serefin is now the King and drinking heavily to cope, Nadya is looking for answers about what Malachiasz has become, and Malachiasz is...something. Each character is working towards their ultimate goal of ending the war, knowing that it'll mean betrayal and heartbreak. Eventually everyone ends up on a journey together to visit a forest where they'll learn the truth of what the gods really are, and whew, mistakes are made. There's lots of blood, incoherent and prophetic ramblings, and kissing, and this book's ending will make you desperate for Book 3. Ruthless Gods is heartbreaking, kinda confusing at times, and really really smart. I enjoyed it in a way that kind of hurt.

As with the first book, I devoured Ruthless Gods in a day. The books are infinitely readable while also being so dark and unlike anything else out there right now, and Ruthless Gods pushed that boundary even further. Did you think this was a nice if bloody fantasy about a girl who was going to win a holy war for her country? THINK AGAIN. The book picks up after that chill-inducing, if vague and insensible, cliffhanger of an ending and then somehow gets WORSE from there until it's impossible to figure out how the main characters will turn this all around for Book 3.

Heck, it's impossible to figure out if they even WILL turn this all around in Book 3. Whatever the conventions of the genre tell the author to do, she seems to like gleefully doing the absolutely bonkers things instead, and it all works. Plus, the descriptions of the world and the vivid politics that drive it get deepened in this book, making it feel even more real -- as terrifying as that is to conceive of now that I've finished this book.

This is cosmic horror at its finest. Nadya, Serafin, and Malachiasz pull no punches in this nail-biting tale of false divinity and intricate politics. Nadya struggles with new revelations; Serafin grapples with his new role as king; Malachiasz straddles the line between man and monster. Forces of darkness stir, orchestrating a macabre show. With heart-pounding pacing, intimate characterization, and a world hanging in the balance, Ruthless Gods shocks and tugs at your heartstrings. Plot twists are plausible yet wildly unpredictable. The ending utterly destroyed me. I eagerly await the last installment.