Was not able to get to this prior to punishing but I've read it since. It's not a bad book I do feel that it may be too much for those who don't like in depth detail. Personally I really enjoyed it

I think this had more description than needed for an YA book. It felt too complicated and a lot of things could have been explainee simpler.

Unfortunately I realised very early into the book that I will not be able to enjoy it due to subject matter (aka it would be triggering). It is a big shame- the premise sounded very interesting. I wish I took a look at other reviews before.

Interesting story. A story written like a diary of a boy and his journey and growth thru life.
Unique magical elements and adore Puff! The realism of religion interference and youth abuse is a tad graphic for me. Overall an average read. Took me awhile to get into this world and finish it.
Weird enough. It is published but I do not see it on any retail platforms.?

This book is so thing else. Hez as a main character is equally adorable and badass. The magic was clever and the supporting charactets are interesting and well developed.

The cover art is just so amazing. I was hooked from the first page. I need more of this story.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

A family, single mom with 3 sons. Having trouble on how to live their lives in a normal non-judgemental way. Mid way Hez found himself in some kinda teleportation, meeting a being called "God" which he was given a task to do, in exchange for a better life or is it?

Met an overseer and told him regarding his father and his intention of contacting him. Hey met his father and discovered more things about his family background and his abilities. Last chapter of the book, Hez went into a journey with few more characters and friends.

I found the book has a lot of dimension from the start to finish, which I thought not necessary however brought the story in a good finish.


Thank you @Netgalley for the ebook copy and @BooksGosocial.

3.3/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

The cover was the first thing that attracted me to the story, aside from the title which is the name of the main character and from which we get to see the whole story. It was all a bit confusing because it's in the form of a diary, but it hasn't been at all what I expected. I give it 3⭐ out of courtesy to the author.

Hezekiah's childhood is full of abuse to the core and I found it over the top. All the details are really graphic and I think it didn't fit this type of story. Vrail and Puff are among the few redeemable things in this book, because the story feels like it's straight out of a 14 year old's diary.

I will try to read the next book, but no promises.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars

The story itself is interesting - abused boy mistreated by family/cult, turns out his powers are real and he's actually the most powerful one of them ever, shenanigans ensue. The worlds and the monsters are wonderfully created - I thoroughly enjoyed Hez's friends.

The first thing people need to know about this book is that the first 20% (literally, 20% on the ebook tracker) is essentially a first person account of graphic child abuse. Barely anything happens around the abuse, it's just pages and pages of violence. In fact, that 20% could be summarized by: 5 year old reveals his supernatural ability to his mother, She hits him and changes. She moves them to a cult. More abuse happens. They move states again. The abuse worsens. Except it goes on for something like 50 pages,

Next is the writing style. It's tough to get through. The main character is 14 writing reflectively about his life. So it makes sense that the writing is choppy and meandering, it's just not very engaging, Plus there is the occasional slip into adult nuance that again breaks any immersion.

I don't like leaving low star reviews, and I genuinely feel like the bones of this story could be built into something excellent but the book as it exists now is not for me,

i had hard time reading this one. it has so much potential and, don't get me wrong i do enjoy hard stories & stuff like that, but this was just too much. even for me. most of the time, when i wasn't absolutely shocked & disgusted, i was confused. and unfortunately, the writing style confused me more than it interested me.
it's, unfortunately, a no for me. but i feel like it can find its audience in-between book community

DNF; no opinion on how good/bad it was but from what i read, it was quite graphic and goes into detail about abuse happening

Sadly this wasn’t for me at all, the main character is only 14 writing style is naive as it should be, but it was anything but, it was brutal. You are thrown the MC’s horrible abuse situation, (which you are warned about but I feel should be a lot more severe a warning) There’s a cult and then there’s another group and I was just confused and everything felt so rushed and unbelievable. So sadly I wouldn’t recommend this book as I felt it needs work

DNF and really my opinion has nothing to do with whether the book is good or bad, I simply could not keep reading as coming from a religious family and finally getting away from it this was quite triggering for me, I did not read the synopsis carefully!

First of all: thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC I received of this book.

This book just wasn’t for me. The plot made absolutely no sense at all, I hated every single character and the severe abuse was too much for me. I’m begging publishers to put trigger warnings in their books, honestly. This book described brutal child abused for approximately 25% of the book and it made me extremely uncomfortable and unhappy. I didn’t expect that. The description of the book said that Hez, the main character, lived a hard life with his family etc but I really didn’t see the graphic horror of his abuse coming. Please take this warning very seriously.

As for the rest of the book - I’d say that it gave me PET by Emezi Akwaeke and Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White vibes. We have a Christian Cult and also the “monster” thing going on. The main character is only 14 years old so the writing style of his diary is, of course, a little childish so it felt like a middle grade book to me, yet it wasn’t. It was very gorey and brutal. I’d label it Magical Realism with Horror elements to it. I really liked the aesthetic of the book though. The different realms and everything sounded amazing to me and I personally think I would’ve enjoyed this book so much more without the cult aspect. Everything felt so rushed.
First we were thrown into this horrible abuse situation, then we discover the depths of the cult and suddenly there’s another group? I was so confused. The actions the second group took against the cult seemed so rushed and were always weirdly effective? Like, they never failed?
And personally I found it extremely unbelievable and unrealistic that Hez took years of severe abuse so easily like - it didn’t show in his personality AT ALL. I expected him to have some sort of PTSD or whatever but he literally just acted like a normal child and sorry but no. I didn’t suffer through those super detailed abuse descriptions just for them to have no impact on the rest of the story. That was just sloppy execution in my eyes.

Anyways, I wouldn’t recommend this book at all. I feel very bad to rate an ARC this badly but this has to be said.

The first thing that should be said about this book is that it is a brutally dark read that goes into detail about the abuse that the protagonist had to suffer as a child. Dont get me wrong it was a good read but anyone that finds this triggering or does not like reading about this topic in brutal detail should probably swerve this book.
Even thought it was a difficult read I did enjoy it. I liked the fomrat of the book as it was in jounral form and felt like Hez was actually talking to me, telling me their story. I was engaged all the way through. An enjoyable but somewhat uncomfortable read.

Hezekiah was an unexpected read. The story is told from the perspective of Hezekiah, aka Hez, as if we are reading his journal.

His childhood is described in painstaking detail, and ordeals of his abuse are graphic. Hezekiah was shaped by his traumatic childhood and his mother’s mental illness. He has always known he had abilities others did not and yearned to learn about them.

Hez causes a nearly catastrophic event in his efforts to test his powers, and is shortly thereafter captured by God’s Own; the religious organization he grew up in. He discovers he is not the only one with powers and has to decide who to trust.

This story has some of the most unique characters I’ve ever read about. I loved the descriptions of each realm and their respective inhabitants. Vrail is a mysterious protector and Puff gives some comic relief through his cuteness. Thread and Dust are incredible and work their powers in tandem to cause destruction for their enemies - they’re my favorite of The Group.

This story is a great magical realism read, though the writing style didn’t always appeal to me. However, the story is written as if you are reading a 14 year old boy’s journal, so the prose reflects that and connects the reader with Hez. While this book wasn’t my favorite, I’ll give the next book a read because I simply must know what happens.

This is a really good book. A bit x-men on a more human scale. It is a dark book relating abuse (emotional and physical) but not too gory. The story is focused on a childs / youths experiences within a religious cult (with a twist). Heartwarming in places, cruel in others but considering the content it is upbeat. Hez's friends (human and otherwise) really made the book interesting. I am really loking forward to the next installment of his story.