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

Is it safe to start this review with 'What the fuck just happened?' They were finally working together towards the end, and then Gem just goes, you know what? You want to make me the monster? Cool. SAY LESS.

I mean, yay? I'm speechless at the moment and not sure what to write here exactly. Also, I need the next book as soon as possible because I'm not sure how I'm going to recover until I find out what is going to happen next.

Betrayal. Romance. Teenage Gods/Deities. What more could a girl want? Peace would be nice, but I feel like that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea after that ending. Maybe after the next book? I have no idea, but I definitely need more. I really enjoyed the concept of them regaining their memories and becoming reincarnated deities. That being said, I still have some unanswered questions and would like to learn more about them in the next book.

All I'm going to say is that I definitely enjoyed the audiobook of this and can't wait to dive into the sequel. I hope it's equally enjoyable.

The representation in Godly Heathens was truly top notch and I really appreciated that the characters felt natural and relatable as they were. The main character struggled with depression and I felt that the depiction of their mental state was incredibly raw. I also really appreciated that the author pulled no punches with their personality traits. The main issues that I had were with the storyline. I thought that the plot was incredibly chaotic. I felt almost like I was being jerked around on an amusement park ride, while simultaneously make out faces of individuals standing still along the perimeter. The setting was also certainly unexpected and I think a big reason why it took me so long to make it through this book. After reading the synopsis, I could not have been more surprised that the majority of the story took place in a contemporary high school. I had severe difficulty relegating these extraordinarily powerful Gods to high school students playing football and being worried about being accepted into NYU. The way that the characters bounced back and forth between begrudging student allies/classmates to mortal enemies was extremely confusing. I also grew to dislike Gem following his treatment of Willa Mae (Rory.) While I can imagine that it would be difficult finding your fated mate after already having formed feelings for someone else, Gems complete disregard for their feelings on the matter really bothered me. The way that they would beg them back after disrespecting them again and again with Enzo brought me back to a dark time of my life and I could not bring myself to respect Gem after that. While I think there were several really cool elements in this story, unfortunately as a whole, it was not for me.

I really liked the concept of this book as I feel like it hasn’t really been done before — a fantasy with gods being reincarnated as teens in a small town in southern USA, super interesting set up!
I quite liked the fantasy elements in this world as well as the cast of characters, even the characters we weren’t supposed to be rooting for were fleshed out and well rounded.
The writing style was really enjoyable and I think it’s very important to be telling stories with queer
characters— especially in YA.
I quite enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what else this author has in store.

Godly Heathens begins as an unsettling look at the mental health of an indigenous trans & non-binary kid, and then blooms into a fantastical tale of reincarnated teen gods at war among themselves. It's a story about pain, trauma, found family, and grappling with mental health challenges, but also about being your truest self.

You know when you have a really cool dream, wake up, and think about how that would make a great book. But then as soon as you try and explain it you realize it doesn't make sense and is kind of garbage?

That's what this book feels like.

Applause for concept
Tomatoes for execution

This was such a unique take on what I would call a YA magical realism novel. I enjoyed how the author was able to weave the average teenage experience into a book about gods and magic. I was entranced by the magical scenes. I thought those were especially well done. I was hooked and needed to know what would happen.

The characters were also great. I like how there was a variety of representation. I found the poly relationship especially interesting.

The one critique I have is that at times the characters seemed like they weren’t worried about the imminent threat they were facing. While I lied those scenes on their own, they did kind of mess with the overall pacing of the story.

I’m excited to check out book 2 when it comes out. I’m hoping with pre-established characters we will be able to dive more into the gods/magic.

I know they say do not judge a book by its cover, but seeing this cover made me want to read it so bad. This YA fantasy was full of trauma, found family, mental health, lgbtq characters. I also love that the characters were all sorts of not normal. There was something with everyone. I did have to reread some things because I wanted to make sure I read it right. I think everything that makes us questioning what is going on, is leading up to something much more bigger for sure. I swear if I had this book when I was younger this would have been my go to book.

This is a great story. I really enjoyed the way the gods reincarnations were influenced by their powers, it was particularly interesting as they remembered more of their pasts. The setting was well done and worked well with plot well. I also particularly enjoyed how the characters were written it was interesting to see how their godly selves intertwined with this cycles mortal lives. This was most relevant with the main character Gem but all of the gods were influenced by their mortal lives to some degree. It's such an interesting twist to everyone's motivations and actions, it helped keep the twists coming. I did find some of the pacing a bit off, some areas felt rushed but otherwise I really enjoyed this book.

I purchased this book after reading it and appreciate the opportunity to do so. I have to admit though I didn't love it. The characters were honestly annoying and the plot was too convoluted. It could have used some more editing.

The concept was good but I struggled with the world building and odd flow.

I find God's and goddesses interesting, but they sure are bad at love.

I don't think this'll sell in hardcover at my store sadly, but I could definitely try selling it in paperback. I thought it was beautiful and well put together, but it hits a niche that my clientelle just doesn't purchase

An incredible story that had me hooked and on pins and needles to find out what the next thing to happen would be. I devourde this book and am highly anticipating the reading of the next book. It's so rare to find books this fascinating and I was absolutely blown away!

This book had everything I really love and didn't know I would love: great queer characters, epic plot with twists, and drama. I didn't know much about the book going in an it went in a direction I never would've predicted. I wished I had this book when I was a teen!

I am ALWAYS drawn to books like this, and H.E. Edgmon did not disappoint in this novel. This is something that I have recommended to so many, especially in some of my Indigenous studies classes. I am very much appreciative that I got to read the ARC of this thanks to Netgalley.

Godly Heathens follows Gem, a transmasc nonbinary teen who lives in small town Georgia. Gem has dreams that don’t really make a lot of sense to them, and almost feel like real life. Then, one day, a beautiful girl begins asking Gem questions… about the dreams. This begins Gem’s journey.

First and foremost, this book will be a great addition to a high school library. A lot of the book takes place at or around a high school, and a lot of the storyline is based for teens. THAT BEING SAID, I ultimately DNFed it about halfway through because it was clearly written For The Teens, which I no longer am. I think that the author does a fantastic job at really making Gem feel authentically like a teenager dealing with a lot of Big Issues (being queer, having multiple crushes, being a God without realizing it) without being annoying. That all being said - Gem very clearly is a teenager and therefore it wasn’t for me. I would still recommend this book to fans of YA and readers who work with young adults.

I'm late to reviewing this, and so my thoughts are more feelings when I read this:

I loved it. I loved the story, I loved the writing, I loved the characters. HE Edgmon is so good at writing YA Fantasies, and I love everything I've read by him. They are one of the best YA authors right now.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3.25 | 😘=4.25 | 🤬=5 | ⚔️=5 | 16+

summary: MC finds out they’re a god who has been regenerated over and over for like a thousand years and they have to find a magic knife and save the world or something
Thoughts: so I really really liked the first 55% or so of this—sassy protagonist, clever voice—but then suddenly the MC was like super good at using their magic?? kind of out of nowhere?? where is my training montage! why aren’t they messing up!!!!!! after that the vibes were kind of… like, off? not sure if I’ll continue the series??

I love this cover so much! This was a really good book and I really enjoyed the representation the author included in the story.

THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING!!! One of my favorite books I read in 2023 by far! The queer rep in Gem being enby and the way H. E. Edgmon wrote from the indigenous experience was excellent. This was such a high stakes fast paced fantasy novel and I can't wait to read the next one! ALL the stars!

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this before I could get into it. I think I couldn't connect with the characters in the way I wanted and though the concept and writing were strong, it couldn't hold my interest in the way I needed it to. Maybe I need to revisit it in another format, audio or physical copy. I know that this will appeal to many YA readers and fantasy fans and as I love both the age group and the genre, I was disappointed that I did not connect as I wanted to.