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.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars rounded up because I could tell this would be extremely engaging for me at 15, but not me at 25.

Godly Heathens is the kind of book that I really appreciate from the standpoint of being a former teenager, especially a teenager who was queer and a little bit weird and edgy. Gem is selfish and makes a lot of poor choices, but while it was frustrating for me to read as an adult, I could definitely empathize as someone who has been sixteen before. While there were a lot of reveals I saw a mile away or found just a little too obvious, I think Edgmon captures the teenage psyche really well, and as a young adult novel, I think it will resonate well with its audience. This would be especially compelling for a teen who wants something darker or more horror adjacent from their fiction, or for a queer teen who wants something clearly written with them in mind. I think Edgmon did a good job with writing queer kids with a whole host of problems, from very real ones like unsupportive parents and very fantastical ones like being a reincarnated god.

There’s some plot points here that didn’t work for me, though I suspect that they will be answered in the sequel to this—for example, there is a scene with Gem and another character that is important to them that feels like it gets abandoned with no resolution. By the end of the novel, while it’s not really brought up again at all, the way the book is going it certainly feels like it will be addressed at some point, but while reading I just sort of felt like “why is this happening right now?” There were some other aspects that took me out of the story personally. This is, in part, because the story clearly takes place in the present day. I was not at any point expecting to see an Ouran High School Host Club or Ashnikko reference, and it did take me out of the story, but I feel like this reaction will vary by reader.

Godly Heathens is a fast read, but I did find that the plot meandered a little bit and it almost went too fast for me towards the end. The characters Edgmon has written definitely feel tangible, though they’re all quite dramatic and though they are ancient reincarnated gods, they absolutely read like teenagers. I think it’s impressive just how teenager-y they feel, and I appreciated the strength of Gem’s voice and sense of self. I do think it was sometimes difficult to see Gem’s side of things even though it was in their perspective, because the way the conflict is set up makes all but one of the antagonists very, very sympathetic (and also, Gem is not the most reliable narrator, but I felt this sometimes backfired from its original intent). This is obviously a villain story, but sometimes I felt like this steered out of morally gray and into “do you actually not realize why everyone is mad at you?” in a way that was less fun for me.

Ultimately, there were parts I liked a lot and parts I didn’t like very much at all, and what it boils down to is that this is probably the right book at the wrong time—if I had gotten this into my hands a decade ago (or, I guess, if I was ten years younger) I would’ve eaten this up and it would’ve done something to my brain chemistry and what I expect out of reading. Unfortunately I’ve personally outgrown what this book is doing, but while adult me didn’t love it all that much, I’m still aware that teen me would have. I definitely think that there is a target audience for this, and that target audience will love it.