I have such mixed feelings on this book. For the most part, I enjoyed HE Edgmon’s debut duology, so I had decent hopes for this new one, especially with such an amazing concept. But the characters felt hard to like and get into, the pacing was off and overall, it was just not anything I hoped it to be. Now, it had its moment where I would start to feel it picking up and almost becoming engaging but it never stayed consistent so I’m kind of disappointed by this start. Part of me wants to stay hopeful for the sequel and part of me never wants to try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Review has been posted on Amazon.

Have you ever wanted morally grey, complex, feral characters? Then please read this book!! I have heard great things about H.E. Edgmon's other books but haven't been able to get around to reading them so when I got a change at this ARC, I knew I had to read it and I was NOT disappointed! The world building, characters, and plot were all amazing so please give this a read!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Until the following items are met by the SMP team, I will be withholding any promotion or review of any St. Martin's Press titles (including SMP Romance and Wednesday Book titles):

1. Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from your employee.
2. Offer tangible steps for how you're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused.
3. Address how moving forward, you will support and protect your Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to your BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.

I think the premise for this story is absolutely incredible. My issue with the story is that I felt like I couldn't really connect to any of the characters. None of the characters had much depth to them. My other big issue was that some parts of the story seemed extremely slow and the parts where I wanted more seemed to be really quick. Overall, I don't think I will continue with the series.

I almost DNF'd this book, but kept going and it did get better. I was dieappointed because there is so much potential, but i found Gem to be really winy and I just couldnt get past that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Gem has always had dreams in which they are a god. They are often disturbing, but Gem comforts themself in the knowledge that they are dreams. That is until the dreams follow them into the waking world, and Gem is thrown into an age-old battle they didn't know they helped to create.

Ancient gods are waking up on Earth? And they are all badass and queer? I liked the magic and mythology built into this story, though it was confusing at times. It also deals with heavy real-world themes like mental illness and trauma. I’m not usually fond of the “Am I mentally ill or am I magical?” trope, but it seemed to have been done with care in this story. The author provides a list of content warnings at the beginning of the book which I highly recommend checking. Despite the darkness of the themes and the action, I think the book was also hopeful and beautiful in the progression of the characters. I think the pacing of the action was a little off for, but I liked the conflict arc overall. This was my first read from the author, and I look forward to continuing the series!

I am indefinitely withholding reviewing GODLY HEATHENS by H. E. Edgmon, as it is a title that is included under the St. Martin's Press Boycott, which has yet to take accountability for their racism.

Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen. In Gracie, Georgia, Gem is the queer awakening of many of their peers, but Gem is hiding intense anxiety and has dreams about another world, one with a tempting demon. When Gem discovers they are a deity from another world, reincarnated over and over in our world, they’ll have to team up with the other reincarnated deities to fight an ancient evil.

I really appreciated the representation in this book. That’s a major reason I incorporate YA into my reading. Sometimes, the teen drama is a bit for me, but it’s so much easier to find authentic representation in YA than a lot of adult fiction. The kids are out here doing the things, and despite the world we’re leaving them, they are doing aight.

i could not put this down ( i have so many lectures piled up but i just had to finish this).
beautiful beautiful book, writing, aesthetics,everything.
4.5 stars. the premise caught my eye last year so i requested the arc (the beautiful cover too) and netgalley along with the publication agency thankfully granted me a chance to learn about gen and their powers and how powers corrupt. this is my favorite kind of story. will be on the lookout for the rest of these. kudos to the author i am not going to lie.

Really enjoyed this one! Morally gray characters, trans representation, reincarnated gods - what's not to love? The plot could get very dark at times, but the author had a real knack for inserting levity in a way that felt natural and not forced. Highly recommend to fans of fantasy or anyone looking for a diverse read!

I don't have any strong feelings about this book. I am not the biggest fan of the main character and I think I would have enjoyed the story more if there were multiple perspectives. The romance between the main character and their love interests did not interest me at all. The plot felt very insta love and I'm just not a huge fan of insta love romances. I did enjoy the plot for the most part. The beginning felt very slow and I kept putting the book down. The ending left me wanting to find out what happens next.

This book ebbed and flowed for me. I love a good morally gray character, but when there's a whole cast of them, and you're given snippets of their history, but nothing tangible to root for, it's hard to really be invested in the story.

What I did love in this book was the matter of fact queer rep. There was no excusing/introducing/explaining, it was all just normal everyday stuff.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a camp as hell, queer, urban fantasy that quickly loses the plot, but has something interesting to say about morally gray characters?

Pre-reading:
I fell in LOVE with Rainbow Crate’s special edition of this book and I still regret not buying it.

Thick of it:
I get putting trigger warnings for the people who need them, but can we stop putting them at the front of the book? I don’t want to see them. I think they’re spoilers. Let me traumatize myself in peace, please. (Wow, are trigger warnings my trigger? The irony.) but like also give me a blank warnings page and then the list so I can skip it. I auto-read. I’m horrible.

A map I can get behind. (And it’s still useless.)

Buckle up you motherfuckers, I’m about to learn you a thing. That energy.

Did this audiobook guy do the Amina book? (I literally would’ve put money on it, and I would’ve been so wrong. This is why I don’t bet.)

A demon? The Kindle Unlimited girlies are wet.

I-
OK, I know I talk like this, but I’m doing it as satire. They’re just doing it.

Cacoethes

Please don’t go the cringe route into This Delicious Death territory.

Kinky.

Oh, it’s very bad. I’m already like fuck the demon.

Ronan lynch. Buzz cut and cows.

I’ve decided I love the camp narrative voice, and I’m dying because it’s similar to mine. 10/10 chapter titles.

It IS camp.

Enzo is a good friend.

This book is like cheesy YA and aggressively queer and all, but like it’s charming. I feel like a younger audience could fuck with this. It’s very Tumblr.

Lmao I love Zeke.

This book is YA funny, like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder funny. It just embraces the cheese.

I feel Iike Indigo could be the Shade too since he has a color name.

I don’t love reading about underage children’s sex lives.

I don’t like any of the romances in this other than the demon.

I’m getting bored.

I think they’re making the mom out to be much worse than she actually is.

Welp, the dog does die dot com.

I’m bored. I’ve hit DNF territory.

Daddy better actually be crazy otherwise that’s a horrible message to send to a young audience. Your mentally ill parent is ill. They are not a god.

Oh good, I was about to get pissy haha.

Lol, he’s the thinker statue.

Oh please, no rapey uncle. (I am worried for book two.)

You know, good on this book. Good messaging.

What happened to there are no cis gods?

This book has so jumped the shark. Nothing has consequences anymore. Everything feels very deus ex machina

Wait, I’m so confused because Joseph is the grandpa. How are they young enough to still get a period? Also, I thought he was a dude.

Be nice to the dog, what the hell.

You’re the god of knowledge how do you not know something? That’s stupid. That’s plot holey.

You’re telling me she can’t use the holy water? That’s still water. What do you mean?

I don’t love all the needless and empty animal deaths. That’s not really fair to them.

At this point I’m tired. Kill them all.

This has unraveled to the point of being unreadable.

Post-reading:
Yeah, I don’t know about this one. It needs such a severe edit. It is so confusing to read.

It is camp as hell, and I love that aspect of it.

Let’s not misunderstand me here. Use peoples’ preferred names and pronouns and acknowledge their gender identities full stop. Giving me characters with multiple names and changing them throughout the story, changing their pronouns throughout the story, and having a large cast to begin with is very difficult to read. I’m not saying we needed to halt the story and have everyone give me a this is my name I use they/them pronouns moment, but like, can we keep it a little more consistent or maybe limit the switch-ups and make them more obvious. I’m still confused about Joseph. I thought they were part of an elderly couple. And then I’m further confused because you gave us the rule that no gods are cis, but then gave us cis gods. Which is it?

This is a personal hangup. I don’t like when authors try to make underage characters have sexy moments. It makes me feel icky. I appreciate that this novel stayed YA and no one ever actually had sex, but it was still a little too far for me. Especially when there’s no reason these characters couldn’t be 18. You could tell the same story with these people in community college, and I think it would arguably work better because then it could be sexy without getting weird.

And I’ll be the first to say that I’m probably not the target audience for this book. I’m too old lmao. But I had a hard time understanding this book because of its weaknesses, so I’m not sure how a younger audience would fare.

The pacing is all over the place. The beginning worked so much more for me. The middle completely stalled out, and then the ending was too fast to keep up with. And so much of it basically amounts to action that means nothing. It never advanced the story, so the scenes could’ve just been scrapped. The world-building is hard to follow at the best of times and makes no sense during the majority of the book. It’s an urban fantasy. Where are all the civilians to witness and react to these gods’ destruction?

And here is what frustrates me about this book. I think it’s doing something very interesting with morally gray characters. I think it has something to say about that. I think the message gets lost in this book’s plot. Likewise, I think it has something to say about the experiences of different gender identities and how people crumble to mental illness. I was ready to sing this book’s praises for not retconning a character’s mental illness into them being the only one actually aware of what’s happening. That’s such a toxic trope, and it’s present in so many YA urban fantasies. But then the book’s ending kind of reneged on that. For why? Don’t cloud your message. I was loving the separation of church and state of it if you will. I thought the book had a really strong moment when Gem realized that they may be a god, but they’re still mentally ill. I think Gem’s mother needed to be a vastly different character. She needed to be absent, not active. Her redemption arc doesn’t work, and I don’t think she was properly positioned to be a character that needed redeeming.

I wasn’t really a fan of this book’s romances. I actively disliked Willa/Rory. I think the Shade character is wildly interesting, but his human counterpart is less so. Gem was hard to connect with, but they’re our only point of view, so it’s hard to get emotionally invested in the story.

I think the book was really just trying to do too much, too fast, and it would’ve benefited from slowing down, having a smaller cast, and developing those characters more.

I think it’s absolutely skippable and bordering on do not read simply because it’s so messy.

Who should read this:
Queer YA fans

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker-YA virtue signaling diversity, ensemble cast, urban fantasy
* The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo-YA fantasy romance, Greek gods inspired
* Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer-over the top, cliche, and camp YA fantasy romance
* Masters of Death by Olivie Blake-ensemble cast, gods and creatures vs each other, urban fantasy romance
* Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones-ensemble cast, YA fantasy romance, fairytale retelling, reborn gods
* The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty-fantasy adventure, virtue signaling
* Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs-diverse, queer, ensemble cast, magical realism
* Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah-YA Midwest gothic, magical realism, ensemble cast
* This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham-cringe YA dystopian horror, virtue signaling

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. It started great and I was really into the slow-burn world-building with reincarnated gods. But I just didn't like the main character(s), and the world-building became confusing and didn't have a solid hook for me to care about what happened to the characters and their world.

Really disappointed because I had high hopes and was looking forward to enjoying this book.

I must say that I found myself confused a couple of times, and had to go back and read to a piece again once or twice, however, this book ended up on an excellent note. I allowed myself to get caught up in the moment, and then missed something minimal, but enough to cause the confusion. I am highly excited that I finished this book and am more than ready to return to the world for the second installment!

H.E. Edgmon has done an amazing job with world building in Godly Heathens, and also built the characters excellently as well. You can't help but get drawn into the world and the chaos with Gem, Willa Mae, and Enzo. All of the characters added so much goodness, but the three MC's were put together exceptionally well, and brought all of the feelings into reading their stories.

Edgmon has also done a fantastic job with representation and inclusion in this novel, also mentioning that "there are no cis gods" throughout the story! Amazing inclusivity, also including diversity in race and various sexualities as well. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves some wild fantasy with a beautiful world-building experience, and inclusion of all throughout the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to St Martin's Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this beauty in exchange for an honest review. Easily a 4.5 star read!

When nonbinary teen Gem Echols discovers that they're a reincarnated god with a whole lot of enemies they can't even remember having wronged and a soulmate they've loved through multiple lifetimes, their current life is thrown for a complete loop.

In the past, Gem was a god known as the Magician, and the Magician wasn't necessarily a good god, and no matter how fast they run from it, a past they don't even remember is catching up with them.

Godly Heathens is a young adult contemporary fantasy about queer teen gods that is actually about mental illness, found family, and belonging. Chock-full of morally grey characters (and some plain horrible ones), this is also a book that explores morality, which seems to be a theme for Edgmon. I very much look forward to more.

Gem Echols is a nonbinary queer Seminole teen. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn..that can’t help Gem. Gem has dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence. The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions. She seems to know things about them that has not been told to anyone. When Gem is attacked by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves their life. She offers some answers to Gem. She and Gem are reincarnated gods who’ve known and loved each other across lifetimes. In the past what Gem used to be has not always been the most benevolent deity. Both Gem and Willa Mae made a lot of enemies in the pantheon—enemies who will keep coming back. Why? What did Gem do?

The author has written a YA contemporary fantasy duology This is the first book of a duology. I can’t wait for the second book. Fast-paced and engaging, the novel addresses queer identity and mental health. The book is fast-paced and creative. I loved the characters. This book is horror and dark fantasy. I believe it’s a book you won’t forget.

This book is certainly a ride from start to finish, I’m just not sure what kind of ride it is.

Gem Echols is a nonbinary teen who has strange dreams… only to learn that they’re actually a reincarnated god. Not only that, but the god who’s been haunting their dreams is, well, a little bit more complicated than they thought. And so is their relationship.

This book ebbed and flowed for me. At some points, I was fully invested, but then there would be a long stretch where I felt the come to a complete standstill. I found myself more interested in Enzo (Gem’s friend who they have feelings for) than Gem themself.

I think that’s where my frustration and disappointment with this book comes down the most. The parts and people I was interested in weren’t the same ones that Edgmon wanted to tell. It’s not that this book isn’t great; it just definitely wasn’t for me.