I have yet to read this author's most famous series but I've really enjoyed what I've tried by him so far: his science fiction and this Bronze Age series. I have been on the lookout for Bronze Age fantasy and it's surprisingly difficult to find. This author has a history background and also does reenactments of this era and I felt like I was in good hands.

That said, this is a second world fantasy (at least I think it is) and although the different lands have real world analogues nothing is exact. It took me a while to really get into the book because the first chapter is from gods' POV. And the gods are truly horrible beings. Their chapters are somewhat sparser than the human chapters, fortunately. The first part of the book introduces us to our cast of characters: Gamash, an old warlord/mage who wants vengeance agains the gods since they killed his pregnant daughter, Era, a dancer and bard who is a survivor, Zos, a godborn (think Hercules) soldier who's tired of being a mercenary for other idiot godborn, Pollon, a scribe who's so naive that he tries to do the right thing. And then their companions who include a smith, several soldiers, a very strange young boy and a donkey who may be a god.

It takes a while to get them all together. I did enjoy reading their individual stories (I was especially fond of Zos and his fatalistic humor) but when they all get together that's really when the action takes off. And there are gods manipulating some things behind the scenes because there are always conspiracies in heaven. And there are terrifying bug-people who can make magical resin that heals!

Some warnings: there's cannibalism, some rather raunchy scenes, slavery and a good deal of death.
The book is very good at avoiding any sort of Christian morality, since that sort of philosophy has yet to come to this world.

Going up against the gods feels all but impossible. But the gods themselves are in some dissarray and they are distracted by their own petty rivalries. And the humans have a new discovery on their side.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a rich world full of gods that I saw had traits from many ancient and current religions, but were completely original also. Full of action and tension, I would really recommend this book for any high fantasy fans!

This was something different for me and I'm glad I read it and super happy I got the arc I really enjoyed the story and loved the writing.

Against All Gods is a story that mixes gods, demigods, and humans in an alternate Bronze Age world. I love mythology and books that mix fantasy, history, and mythology in particular and was excited to read this book!

First off, what a idea for a setting! However, for some reason, I came into this story expecting Mesopotamian mythology (yes I know that's not Bronze Age and I'm stupid) and then saw some reviews mention Greek mythology. I was then confused because I didn't recognize any of the gods and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of Greek mythology. Literally just now I realized that it is set in an alternate timeline, which is a cool idea, but I as confused for the entirety of the book on the location, setting, and how the gods work.

This book just generally wasn't for me, even though usually really like books like this. I was not prepared for how violent this book is. It starts off super violent and stays that way the whole time. The language in general is really coarse. Characters swear literally every page, which didn't bother me but did kind of take me out of the time period, whatever that time period might be. Characters are really brutal to each other. Again, this doesn't necessarily bother me in some books, but here it just felt unnecessary and mean. The prose that isn't like this is super basic and all characters talk exactly the same, making it hard for me to remember who was who. I also couldn't tell the gods from human characters and kept getting lost.

Additionally, I thought that the writing of women left a lot to be desired. They are only described by appearance and in a way that was so clearly written by a man. There was a huge focus on breasts, thighs, waist, and butt, and not much else. I felt like we were supposed to know if the readers should like a female character based on her positive or negative physical description, which doesn't exactly lead to a lot of nuance. The one queer character is a woman and expresses multiple times that she does not want kids. Within the same chapter she meets and adopts a child and allows him to call her "mama." Eeugh, no thanks. A female goddess frets about how she thinks that she gained weight for way too many pages and another goddess calls her fat. Again, no thanks. I felt like the male gaze was staring at me the whole time I read this.

Again, I really like books like these that involve history, mythology, fantasy, and even the brutality of living in a difficult world. I don't mind reading about violence or gore if it has a point. However, this book made me feel like I wasn't meant to or welcome to read this story, and that makes me sad. I wish that there had been a stronger balance between these factors because I think it would have made for an interesting story. As it is, it was not for me. 2 stars. Thank you to Hachette Book Group and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

A mythical fantasy with an interesting plot. There is a lot of world building and it moved slow for me initially but as a whole I liked the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Hatchette Book Group for the eARC.
#NetGalley

I found this book pretty confusing, especially in the beginning. It through me off and I sort of skimmed through the rest of it. It has promise though. Maybe I'll re-read it if I can a physical copy one day.

Miles Cameron once again delivers a good book and hopefully just a start to another great series. Didn't warm to right away but as I kept reading it just got better and the ending was really so good. The characters are people that are flawed and have been through hardships but still seem capable of being true to themselves in the end. Some are driven by revenge and others honor and a sense of justice. I think Zos is one those who is a mix of those, Looking forward to see ow these characters grow and who stays alive. I don't want to get attached to anyone as they are war against powerful enemies. That leads to the so called gods. Don't know where they came from and they seem to gods of human beings anyway. They found this world because it doesn't have star metal which is iron. Not wanting spoil anything their so readers should read about that and other things about the gods themselves. The magic system was discussed but want to know more about it and hopefully that will happen in the next book as well as learning more about the gods origins. This is also not a book for the squeamish probably or those who don't like the use of certain words. I didn't like that myself that much but overall this was just a part of a well written and engaging story. I don't like that I will have to wait until next year but I guess me something to look forward to. Will probably have to reread this one before reading the next unless he adds what happened in the story so far. Thanks to the netgalley and publishers for the chance to read another good by a great author.

I loved the world building in this one but found it very slow moving. I had a hard time getting through 75% of the book but then it picked up towards the end which was great. The writing was well done but I don't think this was the book for me.

****Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.****

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read Against all Gods.

This took me a while to read. The first half of the book is kind of a set up for everything that happens in the second half. I liked the world building and how descriptive the author was but I felt like I truly had to work for the reward at the end. I did like how I could picture everything the characters were going through and felt like I was in the book with them.
This book is definitely for true fantasy lovers.

Thank you NetGalley and Hatchette Book Group for the chance to read and review the ARC of Against All Gods.

I'm going to start by saying this isn't my cup of tea it seems like. I didn't enjoy this and found it really hard to get into and almost wanted to DNF. But I try to push through, out of respect, so I finished the book. While it seems to pick up near the end, the pace is still off for me. But just because it's not for me, doesn't mean it's not for someone else.

Miles is great at world building and characters are a bit interesting. I really love that he put the glossary of names and titles in the beginning for each character, plus he explained some word usage and what to expect of the Bronze Age. I deeply respect and appreciate that. Give it a read and find out for yourself if you'd enjoy!

I received an arc from netgalley for an honest review.

This is definitely a book of two halves.

The first half of the book is a setup of the world, the characters and the story arc. It's not bad, it's just VERY confusing. The POV bounces around, there are lots of new characters, there are gods and mortals etc. etc. I found it heavy going and wasn't really into it for the first quarter, then the second quarter pulled it together.

The second half of the book was where it all came together, the characters, the story arc and it became a great book. Lots of action, characters with depth, and a few twists and turns.

I give this 3 stars, but the book is better than that at the conclusion, you just need to dig in for the first part. Now that the setup is out of the way, I'm looking forward to book 2 and hope it keeps the pacing of the excellent 2nd half

I was completely and utterly lost and confused by the plot of this book, or at least what I could read. I get this guy’s gods accidentally killed his daughter and some nameless, possibility, evil god answers and the guy goes on a quest for enlightenment, but I don’t understand why I should care.

Miles (Christian) Cameron never ceases to amaze me. I mean, the guy will bust out a brilliant heroic fantasy one year, release an outstanding space opera the next, and now he brings us a historical fantasy with mythology. There is no genre that is safe with Cameron as he deftly crafts each particular story with equally impressive mastery. AGAINST ALL ODDS is just his latest success story and here are my thought upon finishing the book late last night.

Right away I was sucked into this awesome story that involves gods, godborn, who are those descended from gods, mortal god-kings appointed by the gods to ensure that their interests are protected, and various other really interesting characters. There is also an underlying conflict running through this book between the "old gods" and "new gods", so that adds a special dimension to this already multi-layered fantasy epic and got me even more invested as I progressed through each chapter.

Whispers eventually make it to the gods ears that star-metal has fallen from the sky in an area of the mortal-inhabited lands and all hell breaks loose to put it bluntly. You see, star-metal is the only thing that can kill a god and should a weapon or weapons be forged from it, well the results could be disastrous and could threaten the gods' power and unlimited control. Once this occurs the book becomes utterly unputdownable and the action picks up to a fever pitch. I mean, I couldn't be away from this book for more than a couple of hours before I wanted to jump right back in.

I love stories where its kind of difficult to decipher who the good guys are. Just when you think maybe someone has emerged that can fill that role, something happens that makes you question your assessment. And that's where Miles Cameron is truly great at blurring the lines, making you doubt every assumption, he really keeps the reader on their toes with every intense scene and passage of dialogue. There is zero predictability in a Cameron book and as someone who can't stand when plots are predictable, it's why he's always been a go-to author for me.

My favorite parts of this book are the meetings between the gods where I couldn't really tell who was allied with who and vice versa. There were also some moments during those conversations and meetings that made me chuckle as Cameron defuses some of the tension with a good dose of biting humor. A few of these gods are quite gifted wisecrackers to say the least. And yet I could sense that at some point there was going to be a serious reckoning where all bets were off and it got pretty brutal.

Ultimately I really enjoyed AGAINST ALL GODS and see it as the beginning of yet another fabulous series from Miles Cameron. If you want something a bit different from the usual high or epic fantasy, this one should satisfy you on a number of different fronts. The battles are violent and dirty, the world is teetering on the edge of war, the mythology and magic are some of the best I've come across, and the writing as always is top-notch. You are going to want to preorder this one now so that you can begin reading it the second it is published roughly three weeks from now. Believe me though, it is most certainly worth the wait and you will be glad that you decided to start this wonderful journey.