Prepare yourself. There’s a rant coming.

I hate Gem Echols. I literally hate this main character so much that I DNF’d this book at 65% because I was about to throw my Kindle out the goddamn window. This character is the most selfish, rude, and disrespectful little brat I think I have ever had the bad luck of ever coming across. They are disrespectful to their mother, rude to their new friend and supposed soulmate, and they think of no one else but themselves. I know this book is YA, and the character is a transgender teen with a lot going on psychologically. But, there are many trans teens with a lot going on psychologically that are not selfish little twats. This character is insufferable, and reading from their point of view through their self-involved tunnel vision made me want to reach through my Kindle and give them the smackdown. The number of times they cursed their mother out and said whatever they wanted to her without suffering any consequences was infuriating. I don’t think it’s so much of what was said as much as it is this idea that a teenager knows more than a grown ass adult who has been through things. The freaking know-it-all stupidity rakes my fucking nerves.

The only character I actually liked in this book so far is Willa Mae, but they get turned into some kind of simp who’s lusting over Gem for whatever qualities Willa Mae sees in them. Whatever it is, it is either infinitesimal or it used to exist in a past life and Willa Mae can’t distinguish between the two. Willa Mae is a gentle giant. They are strong, understanding, and loyal, which are all great qualities they choose to waste on Gem for a reason I cannot fathom. It is almost like an unrequited love except for the fact the Gem seems to have feelings for Willa Mae but doesn’t want to.

I thought this book was going to be a fantasy about reincarnated gods on a mission to save the world, themselves, or something. But, it turns out this book is only about Gem and the games they play with the two characters they like. I hate romance, but I hate stories of chosen ones who are absolutely trash human beings more. For some reason, there is both a love triangle and a why-choose romance in this book that centers around this trash person who is undeserving of anyone’s love, including their own, because they can’t seem to see anyone else but themselves. I can’t even talk about what the actual book is about because there is just so much self-centered internal blubbering that I can't find one single F to give about anything else that’s going on in this book. This character is preposterous, and we should just throw the whole character in the trash and light the trashcan on fire.

I don’t know what it is about how teenagers are written in novels lately, but they get to talk to their parents any kind of way they want and suffer no consequences. If I spoke that way to my mother, I would never speak that way to my mother no matter how angry she made me. You can’t live in a house that you don’t pay for, eat food you don’t pay for, wear clothes you don’t pay for, and then get to disrespect the people who are taking care of your physiological and safety needs whenever you want and not pay for it. There are teenagers in the world today living on the streets because their parents care more about drugs or themselves to make their kids a priority. But, these characters think they have it so bad because their parents don’t understand them when they could be a child prostitute living on the goddamn street. That 💩 is ridiculous. And, what makes it worse is that the teens in these novels don’t even have to apologize after being dicks. I know that the kids are fragile, but quite honestly fuck their feelings if they act like ingrates. How is not teaching them consequences supposed to be good for them?!?!

I feel like I could go on and on about how much I hate the main character of this book, but I'm gonna end it here. I love Willa Mae. I loved Hank. F*ck Gem. May the Ouroboros stab them in the f*ckin chest.

I am definitely NOT continuing this series.

Rant over.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC! I am very grateful and happy to explore everything this author will write in the future as well!

I never had high hopes for this but it's pretty forgettable.
I found the main character whiney and insufferable and overall just a jerk to everyone around them. I think it’s for a redemption arc and growth for the end but I just didn’t think it was necessary to make them so unpleasant. I didn’t care for the love triangle either. I never do but I would’ve preferred if the POV was anyone else just because of how annoying and cringe I found Gem.

Why would reincarnated gods be going to school? I never understood that lol. That aside - the pacing was too slow and uneven and just the young adult drama was not for me. I wish this was more written for adults because it probably would've been better. I do appreciate the representation because I think that’s the strongest part of the book. That being said, I will not be continuing the series.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

This book was so well paced and creative. I loved the pantheon of gods and how trans it was! H.E. Edgmon is a master at weaving together intricate plotlines with complex characters. I cannot wait for the next one!

I really felt for Gem. In a small southern town, Gem struggles to be out as queer and trans. He doesn't really have friends - yet peers have no issue contacting him to hookup.
With the arrival of two teenage girls to the town, Gem is told the truth -he is the god of magic. Memories begin. Connections to people in his life - those he has always felt drawn to their space.
But the quest for Ouroboros pushes this plot. A knife rumored able to kill a god - or the demon killing their previous world.
I liked these characters - the setup was slow, confusing as times and just so long.

beautiful and moving, but I wanted more from the character development and interactions. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

An fascinating book with wonderfully done representation and creative storytelling. This one hit a little young for me, so I think an older teen might get more out of it (as it's intended for anyway!) but older audiences can still expect a very interesting read.

I'm kind of caught in between on this one because the reading experience was good, but I was noting a lot of pacing and writing elements that I didn't love. It had its funny moments, but also ones where I was really put off by some of the more high school aspects as it tried to be simultaneously beyond YA and less emotionally complex because of it. Every new revelation was interesting, but they also happened so frequently that it was hard to actually get into a rhythm. I liked Enzo and Rory, but less of Gem even though I didn't hate any of them. I could definitely see reading the sequel, especially as this world doesn't seem overly hard to understand.

My rating does reflect my enjoyment of the book, however, I will be withholding my review for this title in solidarity with the St. Martin’s Press boycott.

I will be withholding all reviews for St. Martin’s Press titles until the publisher meets these conditions:

• Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from their employee.

• Offer tangible steps for how they're going to mitigate the harm their employee caused.

• Address how, moving forward, they will support and protect their Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to their BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.

A nonbinary teen from a small rural town in Georgia discovers that they are a reincarnated god. Other gods also reincarnate. Love and conflict follow them through lifetimes. I liked how diverse the characters were. The normalization of different types of relationships was great. There was also some interesting discussion of good and evil and what it means to be each. However, I thought it was a bit weirdly paced. The beginning was slow to me and the ending felt rushed.

The individual personalities in combination with the intricate relationship dynamics were marvelous. They pulled me into the story immediately. Unfortunately, at the half-way point I realized I had lost my drive for the story. I continued to the end, but never truly reconnected. The magic system and world building could have used more umph. The motivations of the characters also stopped making sense.

Plot - 3
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 3
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score - 3

I love H.E. Edgmon's books. The settings are always well written, the characters relatively well developed and diverse, and the plot interesting and fast pace.

This book was no exception. I am so thankful to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book and I am excited to continue reading this author. If you haven't read more of their stuff, I highly recommend that you do.

Mostly Dead Things meets Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone? I'm not sure it fully works and it should have played up the Florida bits or the fantasy bits a bit more. I don't think this was bad, but I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the story.

I really really wanted to love this, and I loved the concept. The writing was well done, and the characters were fleshed out well. I loved the gender acceptance, the queerness of this book. So maybe this was a case of me, not the book, but I just didn't love it. It didn't quite work for me.

I didn't like any of the characters. I totally got that there was a lot of darkness in this book; it dealt with some pretty heavy things. But all of it felt way too dark for me. There weren't really comedic moments, there wasn't anything that helped me relate to the characters. I desperately wanted to love them, and just really didn't. The dream/real life switching also just felt confusing to me. I kept reading because I wanted to know how it ended and because the one character I enjoyed for the first bit was Enzo and I enjoyed Enzo and Gem's relationship at the beginning. The book was well-written, but just didn't really work for me. I also am not quite sure who I'd recommend it to.

Took me forever to finally get around to reading this arc and I should kick myself because I absolutely loved this!

I requested this book after I saw a friend on Instagram raving about it and I am so glad that I did. I enjoyed this story immensely. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

SO entertaining I was in love with every page. I cannot believe the feeling that it gave me, undescribable. Will be raving about this author all the time.

This was a good time. Overall, this book is an entertaining journey that introduces us to a lot of morally gray characters. It’s not every day you get a cast of characters where you’re not sure who to side with or root for, so I kind of liked this approach. This is an entertaining read that works well if you like fantasy and are willing to just go with the flow of a narrative.

This story had a fascinating premise and the story definitely delivered. There were a ton of interesting themes woven throughout the story, including agency, relationships, and personal identity versus external perception. If you're into morally grey protagonists, Gem is perfect for you! They are an anxious mess (which was very relatable) and are just trying to make their way in world as their circumstances change and their knowledge of who they are is constantly being impacted by those changing circumstances. I loved the infusions of folklore and fantasy, with some magical realism, and I will definitely be snagging the second book in this Duology when it's released!