Did you ever read American Gods by Neil Gaiman and think man if only there was queer version of this fever dream that was written by the Euphoria producers? Then this is the book for you.

I requested this ARC thru Net Galley and before you yell at me for talking about a book four months before it's publication date, hold on while i tell you how cool this book is. Then you can yell at me.

Gem Echols is a 17 year old, non-binary teen living in Gracie, Georgia. They struggle with the feeling that they don’t belong, family issues, and figuring out how to fit into this discombobulating world. The whole nine yards. But then there’s a new student who knows way too much about Gem, leading to Gem finding out that they are a reincarnation of a god from another universe. And they weren’t exactly one of the good guys.

If you hate being confused while reading, this isn’t the book for you. Gem’s story takes you thru their life as a god, thru all the past human versions of themselves, and the current day battles they are fighting. The story is told in this disjointed dream like writing that pulls and shakes you. The only part where i was thoroughly confused was how these gods are switching bodies, and pronouns, and identities in every lifetime. I lost track of who was who a few times.

I did like how i didn’t like any of these characters. Let me explain. Most of these gods, like with most immortal beings who have existed for eons, aren’t good people. None of your fringe morally gray daddy issues ting. These kids are full on villains. But watching how they escalate their own drama was so engaging i couldn’t put this down. Incredible world building, thought provoking characters, the plot and pacing is all over the place, making for a hell of a ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC;all opinions are my own.

Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon is a five-star read that masterfully combines intense action with slower-paced mystery-solving. The well-paced narrative takes readers on a captivating journey, keeping them engaged as the story alternates between moments of high stakes and intriguing discoveries.

The character development, especially that of the protagonist Gem, is excellently portrayed, and I hope for even deeper explorations of the characters' histories in the sequel. At first, some of the characters' choices may frustrate readers, but it's important to consider their dual nature as gods and teenagers. Their messy decision-making process adds authenticity to their portrayal, making them relatable and lovable over time.

The development of the mythology is intriguing, offering glimpses into a rich and intricate world. Readers will be left craving for more as they uncover the origins and complexities of the characters.

Overall, Godly Heathens is an enthralling read. The well-paced narrative keeps readers hooked, while the realistic portrayal of flawed yet endearing characters adds depth to the story. The glimpses into the fascinating mythology will leave readers eager for the sequel, where they hope to delve further into the histories and intricacies of these compelling characters.

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Godly Heathens*
I sat with my feeling regarding this book for a week prior to reviewing it. I'm still not completely sure what to say about it! Did I hate it? Absolutely not! Did I love it? Not completely. I did thoroughly enjoy it and it left me thinking on more than one occasion so mission accomplished I guess. Just not quite enough to warrant the coveted 5 stars from me.
One of my favorite things about this book is the inclusion. I am so happy for teens to read this now and be able to identify with the indigenous as well as the queer/trans/non-binary aspects. As I personally cannot identify with any of these groups, it was a crash course for my 'cis' self. I appreciated the perspective and enlightenment I received and was elated that so many others can pick this book up and be able to identify with it.
The world-building was sufficient but left a little to be desired. I would have enjoyed a little more elaboration on "The Ether".
The characters were somewhat well developed yet I had a hard time seeing beyond their sexual orientation and how they identify. I know there had to be more to them and their personalities than their orientation. It was a bit in your face and took away from who they really were beneath. I would have also liked some more details as to the godly part of their personas. I feel that their powers and origin story could have been much more complex and elaborated on.
There was a good, slow-burn romantic element. The romance added a little to the story but once again, it seemed to kind of take over the main plot.
Overall, this was a solid 4 stars for me. I really enjoyed the premise of the book. I appreciated the romantic elements and the education in a world I was not very familiar with. I just feel like there should have been more to the story than that. I'll still be looking forward to the sequel!

Love the “ there are no cis gods” cause very true. Great book and characters can’t wait to read it again when it comes out

Suspenseful, Enjoyable, great pacing, exciting settings kept me hooked. Great novel that will be the perfect to lose yourself in. Thank you Net Galleyfor ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I loved Edgmon's previous novels so much. While I can see the comparisons, Godly Heathens is darker, sexier, and more complicated in so many other ways than the previous ones. There is a vast cast and thousands of years of history to catch up on. I loved the queer representation, but the plot was confusing. I think that character development suffered at the hand of developing so many characters simultaneously.

I LOVED THISSS
this book was everything, one of my new favs and comfort reads even though most of the characters are morally grey and despite them sometimes being awful I would want to be apart of their group. This had identity reveal, sort of enemies to lovers, poly relationship, queer rep, and so much more. It's one of those books where I predicted a lot but I was so happy it took the path I was hoping it would. Also, everyone has cool unique abilities.

Plot: 4.75
Characters: 4.75
Writing Style: 5
Cover: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Buyable/Re-readable?: Yes. I am absolutely buying this duology, as a boxset or if they're sold separately. Heck, I'd even re-buy down the line if they did new cover re-releases. This makes not just the Top Ten of 2023, it makes the Top Three. I could have sat and finished this in one to two days, honestly.

TRIGGER WARNINGS! At the very beginning of said book, there is a content warning list from author. This is a dark book.

Iiiii love the writing style - I AM IN LOVE. Want to make out with it, it's just SO fabulous and spicy and real and magical (pun both intended and not), and messy and dark and just DAMN. If I still worked at a bookstore, this would be my employee highlight; I'd gush about it. This story is told in first person POV via our main character, who is 17. The setting is mostly Gracie, Georgia, with 'flashbacks' in various places (the deities original world, Scotland, etc). The titles of each chapter are quotes from said chapter. I thoroughly dig the world, the rules of the pantheon, the pantheon itself. I appreciate the exposure and the attention to details, that every character has their own Thing, their own voice. The world building, the bonds, the chemistry, the pacing, just... -sigh of contentment- There was only one possible hang up for me, which was the legal age for top surgery, but upon doing some research, my concerns were assuaged. I figured the author knew what they were talking about, and my assumption was correct. Excellent cliff-hanger, mostly satisfying twists (though I did find one somewhat obvious, but it didn't take away from the story, just the reveal).

Has 'American Gods' vibes (quote from the blurb - 'American Gods' meets 'All of Us Villains').

So many favorite quotes and the like, so much highlighting. Here is just one -
"'We’re immigrants. Immigrants add value to the society they join. Colonizers don’t join anything— they destroy it to build something of their own.'"

This novel was overall a good read. That being said, I believe the reader would benefit from a slower pace and more in-depth explanation of the world. Things happened way to fast in this book and went across time,space,souls, etc and was a bit overwhelming and difficult to follow. I found myself having to go back many times and god a bit of literary whiplash here.

Aside from that, great representation of LGBTQ+ characters and a unique plot of internal struggles of the human body vs the souls of the immortal gods within the main characters. Although confusing at times, this is the an epic love story between a power trio of vastly different people which simultaneously bring out the best and worst of each other as they battle to settle disputes spanning millennia and return to their rightful home.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and I would be interested in reading the second book! I hope the next novel goes more in-depth into the world building and the relationship history to tie up the many questions I had at the conclusion of the first book.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC. This book was such a wild ride. While there have been a lot of modern tales of gods, Godly Heathens manages to stand out as something utterly unique. The mix of high stakes, complex characters, and somewhat campy action sequences reminded me of the tone of Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens. Having a book with all these elements is so hard to balance without it all feeling too silly or too much like a CW drama, but H.E Edgmon nailed it. The scene with the plastic yard and massive gun fight in the middle of small town Georgia maybe went a little too silly for me, and I was momentarily pulled out of the narrative. Yet, even this outrageous scene, actually seemed to fit in in the long run. Gem is an absolute disaster and I love them so much. The cliffhanger was a bit cruel though.

I found godly heathens to be a very decent read. I found the premise to be quite unique, and I enjoyed my time with this book.

My overall enjoyment was surrounding the main character gem. I found this character to be extremely well developed and complicated and yet very interesting. He held my attention throughout the entire book, and I found his story arc to be extremely compelling. I definitely felt an emotional attachment to this character throughout the story, and I found that the trouble teen was very believable.

I absolutely enjoyed the storyline as well. While I did find some troubles with pacing periodically to my taste, overall, it was seemed to be very well done. This is my first book by this author and I will definitely be trying for others.

It was good and i enjoyed the premise of the story. I will say the ending was good.

Thank you for the arc and chance to read this story.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an ebook ARC of this novel via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Godly Heathens is an urban fantasy set in a small town in the southern U.S. Our protagonist is Gem Echols, a nonbinary Seminole teen who has always felt like an outsider.

Their closest friend is another teen named Enzo who lives in New York City, who they know through Discord, Facetime and text. Gem longs for the day when they can finish high school, move to the Big Apple, and build a new life with their friend (who they'd like to become something more).

Before that can happen, more strange teens show up in Gem's small town with startling news: They're all gods who fled their home world after Gem and another god sent their pantheon wildly off the rails. And some of the more vengeful gods want Gem to pay up.

Gem is positioned as an anti-hero who wants to be the good person. I found parts of their struggle to reconcile that choice compelling; at other times, the story dithered with its intentions. The shifting nature of teen dynamics is captured well. The cast is diverse on multiple fronts. I wished the school setting felt a little more grounded in reality and less like a set for the characters to interact.

In keeping with that observation, I felt the premise of this book felt bigger than YA's conventions as a genre. For example, there were points where the characters' choices about how to act on their sexual relationships stalled in ways that didn't feel true to who they are and what I believed they would do based on the strength of H. E. Edgmon's writing in other parts of the story.

It's not easy to balance the teen vs god perspective, but Edgmon's kickoff to this series is thoughtful and compelling. I liked the mirroring in generational struggles between the immortals and their earthbound, human families.

I absolutely love this duology so far! The first installment was all about the start of the battle. The finding out of one's true being and the discovery of one's past. I really enjoyed reading from Gem's perspective and seeing how her life and outlook change from the discovery of being a god. I liked the author's take on how people or groups are brought together by a common thing over time.
I also want to say that I loved the trans/nonbinary rep in this book! It was a different point of view than other books I've read and I enjoyed it!

5/5 stars to book about identity, adventure, fights, and gods! Highly recommend all the way! It was appeal to a wide range of folks!

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing free review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Words cannot express how much I absolutely loved this book. From the very first sentence (“So, I’m standing there, trapped in one of my favorite nightmares, discussing gender euphoria with the demon who lives rent-free in my head.”) I knew this was going to be a new favorite.

Godly Heathens follows Gem, a nonbinary teenager who lives in a really small town with their mother. Gem has always felt like no one really understands them, and they don’t understand others. They feel like they are always putting on a show and pretending to be “normal.” The only other person who gets Gem is their best friend Enzo, who lives far away. Except Gem hasn’t even told Enzo about the weird dreams they’ve been having that feel just a little too real. Shortly after the start of the story, Gem meets Willa Mae, who lets Gem in on a little secret—they are reincarnated gods who have lived across several lifetimes. The story takes off from there as Gem regains more memories of their past lives, and everything starts to unfold.

This book is everything. The humor was fantastic and I fully laughed out loud several times. The magic was super interesting, the plot twists (even the ones I guessed) had me losing my mind, and most if not all of the characters were queer in some way, which was great to see. I loved the characters, even though many of them are villains who have done terrible things in past lives. But that made it more interesting in my opinion, seeing these characters try to understand their pasts with their presents.

If you like books about gods, magic, and villain characters, definitely check this one out. Though be sure to read the content warnings beforehand. There is a whole list, including things like graphic gore and body horror, violence including murder and torture, and various kinds of abuse.

This was great and I can't say enough how much I wish I had H.E. Edgmon's books as a teen.

A teenage Indigenous trans God who doesn't know they're a God living in a small town, slowly has to remember their past life to unravel the mess they're in and through uncovering lost memories reckon with if they're the hero or the villain in this story. This book is messy and heavy at times, everyone has a past and everyone has secrets and no one really knows what the "right" thing to do is. I really enjoyed Gem and Willa Mae as a morally grey characters, I loved how queer and trans this book is, and I loved how messy and terrible everyone is.

I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the many characters with multiple names and flashbacks, but I do think the author did a great job of continuing to remind you who people were, I think I should have done some annotating to help me as this is generally a thing I have a hard time keeping up with. The plot got a bit winding with some leaps in logic, but I don't think I would have thought twice about that as a teen and for the most part just had to shut my adult brain off a few times.

Overall, I loved this and look forward to book two! Especially after that major cliffhanger of an ending! Can't wait to reread when the next book comes out.

CW: death, mental illness, gore, violence, torture, self harm, animal cruelty (mild) it's hinted at that something may happen to the dog, but the dog doesn't die, child abuse, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexual content (mild)

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the advanced reader copy.

I really enjoyed a lot of things about this book! The queer representation is out of this world! I loved that all the characters, whether they were good or bad, were well fleshed out, had their purpose, and complemented each other really well. There is tons of action in this story and it ends in a way that makes you wish the next book was out right now - which is saying something considering this book isn’t even out yet!
The qualms I have with this book come from the structure of the story and the world building. Though it was action packed, I did find the story to be a bit all over the place. It did build to one large climax, but there were a couple times throughout where it seemed like something big was about to happen and then it didn’t. The world building was good for the most part, I just found it a bit lack lustre in the explanation of Gem’s powers. It seemed like they could just kind of do whatever they, but then other times it seemed like they had no control or couldn’t do whatever they wanted. This also verges on new adult sometimes rather than young adult/teen - just my thoughts!
I’m hoping that is fleshed out with the next book - but I’m also at a point where I’m unsure if I will read it. The ending was a tad predictable as well.
Overall it was a decent read and makes me want to read more of Edgmon’s books.

Thank you to St.Martin’s Publishing Group for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review! All views and opinions are my own!

<i>Received for free as an EARC from the publishers.</i>

Do you like books about queer teens becoming gods and becoming villains? Because I do, and if you do as well, Godly Heathens is definitely the book for you. So Godly Heathens is my first book from HE Edgmon and it is a fucking romp. Like a villain origin story? With <i>gods?</i> And morally grey queers? <i>Yes please</i>. Godly Heathens is a fantastic book that I have no doubt that this is going to be some queer teens favourite book, and it really deserves to be. It's action packed with fantastic worldbuilding, morally grey characters, a queer, trans, and Seminole protagonist, and writing that'll make you laugh, cry, and curse that your heart hurts this goddamn much. But let's get onto the review, shall we?

Edgmon is a fantastic writer and time and time again I was highlighting an endless number of quotes. Edgmon writes like they're trying to describe the juiciest peach they've ever ate, and honestly? He's doing it flawlessly. The scenes hit like a jackhammer to the heart, and betrayals and friends and struggles truly feel like they mean something. They are not scared to embrace the messy and dark and they do it with such pizzaz that it makes you laugh and cry in the same turn.

The characters in this book are also all so incredibly fun, and Edgmon does a fantastic job of really making you care for them. Gem is a great and messy protagonist, and while their faults drive a lot of the book, they never feel so absurd to make it distracting. They're messy and they're trying and you <i>get</i> it.

One part where I felt the book did suffer however, was in it's plot and pacing. Despite having a handle on what he wanted to happen, and being really good at making the plot work, it felt like Edgmon was to increase the length of the book. While the beginning and end move at a breakneck speed, the middle of the book, while incredibly engaging, sagged, and while I didn't mind it at the end, I would've preferred Gem's call to action to have been delayed even a chapter. Something that would've helped the pacing issues.

In conclusion HE Edgmon shows why queer folks write morally grey characters best, and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series. I hope everyone else reads this and loves it as much as I did, because honestly, it's a book to love, and I will not be accepting any criticism.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Godly Heathens is dark, mysterious, intriguing, and delivers everything it promises.

Getting right into it, if you are not squeamish and like villainous main characters, this book is probably for you. In my opinion it toes the line between Young Adult and Adult. Sections, particularly in the beginning, are quite graphic and do not hold back on gore and violence. There is a content warning for this in the beginning which I appreciated because it does allow readers to know what to expect without spoiling anything in the story. H. E. Edgmon does not hold back on how dark it can be and delivers on these characters that are quite questionable in their actions.

This was outside of my preferred genre but I found myself, for the first time in a very long time, not wanting to put this book down. I wanted to know where it was going, and I was so invested in how the dynamics between Gem and Willa Mae, and Gem and Enzo, would play out. In the midst of so much world building and dynamic plot lines there is still room for these characters to shine. So many books are heavy on one aspect or another, and I think this one found a great balance. I was never bored and I'm now incredibly anxious for book 2.

I've never bounced between "I really don't like this character" to "I'm starting to like this character" so much in a novel. My emotions and feelings were being tugged back and forth so rapidly I never knew if I was going to like Gem in the next chapter or not. That really added to the excitement because I was also trying to figure out who Gem was alongside Gem figuring it out too. There is always something happening in terms of action or development or representation or character building that is entertaining and not overwhelming.

There is also a plethora of queer, BIPOC, and mental health representation in this book. There are nonbinary characters, trans characters, pan/sapphic/demiromantic characters, poly dynamics, Black and Indigenous (Alaskan Native and Seminole) characters, and so much more. Given how this story takes place in rural Georgia it never does feel inauthentic and actually brings light to how there are often just as many queer people in these places are there are in more "accepting" places. Gem being openly out knows this more than anyone because people come to them often. The book also delves into Gem's complicated relationship with their parents which is an added layer in Gem's life, world perspective, and identity.

My one issue that I noticed with this book is how women and transfemme characters are talked about. I sometimes felt uncertain and uncomfortable, considering what we're led to believe about the relationship with Gem and Willa Mae. (!Very light sort-of? spoiler here!) At one point Gem calls Willa Mae "bitchy" for not answering a text when she was justifiably upset with Gem. These characters are dark in their depictions, but I noticed more grace and patience offered to Enzo than her. We see how Gem can be considerate of romantic partners/friends and I didn't feel that at all with Willa Mae. It often felt like Gem just wanted Willa Mae to get on the same page without any genuine consideration of their feelings.
It does make me curious to see how this will evolve and develop in the following novel. I can see how this could be something that will be further developed and intentional on the author's part. As of this moment though, I cannot say if that truly was a dynamic of the story because we have yet to see where it will go. (This could also just be me being a bit biased because Willa Mae is by far my favorite character and I want to protect them at all costs.)

Overall, Godly Heathens was everything I had been hoping for and more and I'm curious to see where H. E. Edgmon will take this story. As mentioned before, if you love dark villainous main characters with tons of representation, this is definitely one to pick up!

My review of Godly Heathens can be summarized thus: I support trans rights AND trans wrongs, particularly when said trans wrongs involve dark magic, soulmates, bad decisions, reincarnation, and a polyamorous T4T4T romance. This is a book that is exactly my brand and I am 100% confident it will resonate with other readers too.

H.E. Edgmon has cemented himself as one of my favourite authors with Godly Heathens. My only regret is that I read an ARC and so I played myself into waiting twice as long for the series conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.