Godly Heathens is a fast-paced, queer, and thought-provoking tale of gods reincarnated into humans. Holy cow, how do I start this review? I was hooked from the first chapters of this book. I loved the way we see Gem struggle and react to changes in their life. The author made their struggle feel real and their choices difficult. Who doesn't love a morally gray main character?

I loved how Gem didn't always make the right choices; how they struggled in that in between stage. It was a refreshing change from most YA books. The MC doesn't always do what's expected of them and you find yourself wanting to pull your hair out but at the same time being like, hm, maybe they're right about this.

This book has so much humor, self-deprecation, sarcasm and tomfoolery that you'll find yourself sucked into the world. It addressed hard issues and pushed our societal norms and I cannot wait to see what the author does in the sequel.

4.75 Stars
I don't know where to start with this book. I read so few books with nonbinary mc's, and nonbinary mc's written so damn well. There is not a single instance of misgendering or deadnaming in this entire book, which is a beautiful thing sometimes. You can tell me it's not realistic, but it is fantasy, and anything can be true when you put your mind to it.
Morally grey characters are another big thing to me, and this book has done it so well that I'm still conflicted on how I feel about every goddamn character in these 400 pages. It is usually easy to find who is the hero in a story, but there is not a single one in this book.
My only big critique is the action. I struggled with this in H.E. Edgmon's other duology as well. While there are only a few action-packed scenes, they're important ones that drive the story forward. I get lost in it all quickly. The details and so many characters at once get hard to distinguish, especially when each character uses 2-3 names, as they did in this one. I am not great with names as it is, and this made it harder.
This story will continue to sit with me as I wait for its release and eagerly anticipate the sequel coming in April 2024.

I hate this word, but I've got to be honest. There's not another word that encapsulates the feelings that this book gave me. GODLY HEATHENS is freaking EPIC.

H.E. Edgmon has to be one of my all time favorite writers. I am always obsessed with with how they think, the way they craft worlds, the way they craft stories. They have such a unique perspective and voice that feels so similar to me that I'm convinced that every book they write is specifically for me.

I think my favorite thing about GODLY HEATHENS and H.E. Edgmon novels in general is how much LIFE is put into them. I always feel so exhausted after finishing a book by Edgmon because I've lived several lives throughout each novel. And not only that, but I always have so much fun while reading anything by Edgmon. And in a world where a lot of books feel like work to get through, having fun is so important to me.

GODLY HEATHENS might be hefty, but Edgmon knows exactly when to add the perfect amount of levity. Like I said earlier, GODLY HEATHENS is fun and also pretty freakin' hilarious. It's an epic fantasy of teenaged gods, all fighting for some sense of normalcy, but wow, it'll make you laugh, too. Even more so, it'll make you feel the entire spectrum of emotions. It'll also remind you of how beautiful that feeling is.

And that ENDING? Talk about a cliffhanger, my god. But I am sooooooo intrigued now and SO ready for book 2! GODLY HEATHENS is one of my favorite reads this year.

The world building, craft, and voice in this were impressive and engaging! The character development, especially in the slow unraveling of what the dreaming meant, were spot on from the start. Thank you so much to the author and the publisher for this eARC!

I keep having high hopes for H.E. Edgmon's work, and something just stays... off about the execution. GODLY HEATHENS has such an interesting premise, and Edgmon writes queer characters with such an attention to fluidity and expansiveness, but I kept having to push myself to return to actually reading it.

What I enjoyed: unlikeable characters, characters revealing their identities (to themselves and others!) causing more chaos!, "There are no cis gods," messy complicated feelings from teenaged characters.

What I struggled with: inconsistent pacing, SO MUCH backstory introduced without being fully integrated, sometimes the ways characters were introduced and described felt like an attempt to check off characteristics or identities off of a representation checklist rather than a holistic approach to characterization.

I think this book will suit readers looking for darker, messier YA, who are more invested in engaging characters than a consistent plot. It wasn't the book for me, but I think at this point I may just be bouncing off of Edgmon's writing style.

The premise of this book sounded absolutely amazing. Gods from another world reincarnated, and a cast filled with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ characters?!?
However I found myself extremely bored with a lot of the story. The pacing was off, the world building and characterization were extremely flimsy.
Our characters are supposed to be Villains. While I do agree they all do bad things. The story didn’t do anything to make me feel characters so I could root for them. They were all just extremely unlikeable. Trust me I love a story with morally grey characters but this just wasn’t able to deliver.
There were some exciting twists and turns throughout that did surprise me. However the pacing just felt off and there were a lot of moments where I had to really push myself to continue reading.
I personally wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this one and I won’t be continuing with the series. However I will definitely check out this author again. I’ve read their other book The Witch King and The Fae Keeper and loved them.

OMG.
This book is everything.
I'm going to be honest; I read The Witch King and the character, it didn't strike me the same but Gem? Gem. I love Gem. And Enzo. And Willa Mae. And you left me on a cliffhanger? OMG. H.E. Edgmon? I will not forgive you for 1. making me wait for this book to come out and 2. for making me wait for the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this eARC!!

I would like to start by saying that this book, through no fault of its own, was a DNF. That's truly not on the author or book at all, but rather on me for not checking CWs before reading!! The book is wonderful, however, and I will be reviewing the 24% that I read!

Having never read any of H.E. Edgmon's books, I was delightfully surprised by how rich and illustrative the narration was. Gem's voice was raw, honest, and left an immediate and inescapable impression of who they are. The worldbuilding drew me in and held me there, the representation was refreshing and much-needed, and the characters, twists, turns, and morality were a delicious mix of all the best things.

If you don't mind your fantasy on the darker side and (like me) enjoy deities and loveable characters who sometimes do horrible things, I'd strongly urge you to pick up this book!

I was excited about this one based on the cover, early reviews, and the premise…but I felt like it was a repetitive mess. The world building was haphazard/fairly nonexistent, especially after Gem discovers who they are. I only cared about Gem, Enzo, and Rory; other characters (especially gods) came and went too quickly. The writing style was quick and Gem’s voice seemed authentic, but those good qualities weren’t enough to carry it. Some mature content, but nothing to prevent it from being on shelves. Good representation.

This book does start off slow with world building. With the length of the book it felt like information was just getting thrown at me so it got a little confusing. It took me awhile to get hooked in the book. This book has intriguing characters and plot. While I didn’t like any of the characters I could understand them and in a way understand their perspective. I really enjoyed the flashbacks but it did make me want to see all of their lives that they’ve lived. While I didn’t necessarily like the characters I was invested in their relationships and wanted to see those outcomes play out. Just as I was so invested and couldn’t put the book down it ended! And it ended on a cliffhanger! If I was reading a physical copy I would have thrown it. I also loved the message of this book that sometimes you are the villain. There are just plain bad people and sometimes there are people who make bad choices. And even lose themselves in those bad choices.

My first experience with this author was to give a book 2 stars, but as I could see the heart and promise in The Witch King I decided to give their work another shot, and I was overall pleasantly surprised. I think this author has grown a lot in their character building and gotten out some of the angst that led them to writing The Witch King, though the characters still have an edgy teenager vibe here.

Godly Heathens is a book of villains: reincarnated gods who have to handle both the whims of their teenage bodies and the knowledge of their millennia of existence. This creates a very interesting dichotomy and I think it is overall represented well. Sometimes the characters make youthful mistakes, but they are informed by the lives they’ve lived.

Throughout the book all of the characters reckon with what it means to be both human and divine and what the right thing to do with regard to their omnipresent feud is, and the ending has a decent amount of twists and turns to it. One of the best parts of the book is the characters’ unapologetic queerness and how the author usually doesn’t hold your hand explaining it. In that way it is a book for queer people.

Where this book struggled most was the world building. I don’t think the author planned it all out in advance, and there were definitely a few convenient situations that were akin to magically writing yourself back out of a corner just because the reader didn’t have enough information to argue with you. I found the world building interesting, but not groundbreaking and I definitely had a lot of questions.

Finally, I’m not really sure where this book was trying to go with its discussion of mental illness. Some was explained away as the behavior of gods, while the main character’s father seemed to be legitimately struggling, where his illness was disappointing to the main character because they hoped it would be actual information for them instead. Either way, it was the characters’ parents and families that got the bum deal in this story, and I don’t think they deserved it.

I love a pantheon with complicated relationships. Absolutely one of my favorite tropes in fantasy fiction. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Everyone in this book is terrible and I adore them all.

I don't know what I was expecting when I started this, but I was so invested by the end I was pacing my living room, anxious to see what was going to happen next. And that ENDING?!

The world building was effortless and I fully was in Georgia with Gem and this rag tag bunch of terrible, awful, messy, beautiful, queer gods. I bought all of this, hook, line & sinker and it was so refreshing to read a YA fantasy where the "bad" guys are quite literally everyone so it doesn't matter who you root for.

Gem is flawed and just- so absolutely lovely and stupid and angry and lost and perfect and I will fight for them. They're also hilarious and I was no expecting to laugh SO much. Everything about them just works and I want them being slutty and terrible and thriving.

H.E. Edgmon really said I support queer rights *and* queer wrongs, and I can't get enough. I need the second book, like, yesterday.

This book means something special to me that I don't see in other books. Good sapphic representation especially in fantasy. This is a book I've been waiting for and this book will be my personality for awhile.

This raw, queer, contemporary fantasy is near the top of my list for reads of 2023. This book was filled with interesting characters, a diverse cast, and a well developed plot that had me intrigued throughout most of the story.

The cover itself is the first thing that caught my eye, and is sure to pull focus in any bookstore, drawing a potential reader in to become a reader. This book was beautifully written, with many sentences that made me stop just to appreciate the craft that went into them.

When looking at this book through the lense of a young adult, I struggled with the worldbuilding. It faltered in some areas, and made it difficult to understand. I felt like the magic system (?) lacked some structure that would have made this a little easier to follow. And while I did love the characters, I did find the main character to be a little bit lacking in development.

However, overall this was a book that I did enjoy. It would have been a book that gay little teenage me needed.

It was a little hard for me to get into it . I loved the dreaming aspect of it but once we hit real world I got a little confused my brain couldn’t understand it was real world. But I will def be buying it when it comes out to give it a fighting chance maybe the physical copy will do it for me . I loved the cover it soooo stinking gooooddddd

Gem, nonbinary queer disaster, has always felt a call to the land through their native Seminole heritage. They've also always felt different than their peers, desperate for connection. They take solace in their relationship with Enzo, a trans boy from Brooklyn, who takes care of Gem in the best way he can from so far away. After a night of painful nightmares, Gem meets Willa Mae, who acts like she's met Gem before and has the answer to all of Gem's questions - even if she won't share them. Soon Gem's life makes more sense than it ever has, the only price is the perfect life he pictured with Enzo seems to fade to little more than a daydream.

There is no character currently popular in YA who holds a light to Gem. They are so human, and messy, and unapologetic in their choices. Even when I wouldn't make the same choices as Gem, I find myself rooting for them. Godly Heathens is wild, and all the characters even wilder. I would read any story with these characters. I will be desperately waiting for book 2.

I am going to be so annoying about this book, because it is so so good, and I need everyone to read it. The very first line made me stop, cackle, and send it to my partner so they could appreciate it too, before I could continue, and that really set the tone for the rest of the book.

Gem, as a protagonist, was amazing. I loved their voice and their anger and their bravado and their ruthlessness and their vulnerability, and I want nothing but the best for them. I loved all of their characters, and I loved all of the dynamics going on in this book, but Gem has to be my favorite because they're wonderful. I also really enjoyed their voice--they were funny, but the jokes in the narration (or the conversation) never detracted from the depth of feeling going on there. I felt everything Gem felt, and I recognized a lot of myself in them too, even though we're very different in a lot of other ways. I so wish my teenage self had this book.

I really appreciated the articulation in this book of the difference between "evil" that comes from a person's needs being in opposition to yours vs. evil that comes from the desire to set the world on fire to smell the smoke (I'm paraphrasing, but also, what an image!), people who hurt because they're hurt vs. people who hurt just because they can. I feel like I see a lot more of that now than I used to, and I'm so glad for it, but it was particularly centered here, which I'm extra glad for. I love that queer kids and trans kids are now getting to see that no, actually, they are allowed to be angry about the things that happen to them.

Also, that fucking ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the arc, and thank you to H.E. Edgmon for writing it.

The longer I sit with this one, the more I love it. It feels like a queer Game of Thrones meets Percy Jackson. It’s genius, it’s diverse, it’s entertaining. I’d pay to see people cosplay these characters.

I don’t think I will be continuing with the series, despite really believing this book is great. Though I do think this is a genius book and one I enjoyed, I don’t think this is for me. More of a different tastes thing than a quality thing.

But it doesn’t really need to be, because it’s PERFECT for my audience. I can’t wait to promote this for the queer bookstore.

This was a complicated read. I liked so many things about it; the unabashed queerness, the honest self-reflection, the cruel selfishness. I loved Gem as a character and everything they had to offer, I loved their journey and their thoughts, and the way they tried to fit the pieces of their life together. The side characters and relationships were also really strong, the themes came through so well, and I loved the feeling that the narrative left me with. That mix of sharp hurt and biting anger really hits, and the monstrous queer in me can't get enough of it. All of that being said, the pacing was very off. It felt like nothing was happening until suddenly everything did. The story unfolded in a very unnatural manner, there was something forced and almost manic about it, and I think it could have used some more polishing to ensure a proper flow. And sometimes the language felt incredibly dated; like I adore queer community speak, but it can also make the dialogue stilted and frozen in time. I just think the book wasn't as fluid as I had hoped it would be. I think I might also be the wrong audience, and someone younger or fresher than me might love it more. So if you're looking for a sharp, queer, and intense read, this one might be for you!