As much as I loved the first book of the Ouroboros, this one wasn't it for me. I felt that it dragged a little bit. I had an hard time connecting with Gem but maybe that was the point and a metaphor about them trying to figure out who they are.

I feel like those books need to be read back to back, no pause. The second book picks up exactly where it left off in the first one. The gods have so many names that I had an hard time following everything.

It still remains a great duology.

The world building was so confusing in this one and it felt very fan fictiony. I did love the poly rep and how it was built up. The ending was very satisfying and I might be swayed to pick up any companion novels.

A great conclusion to the Ouroboros duology featuring a group of queer former gods who have been reincarnated as teenagers on Earth only to remember their past lives. Dark at times and tackling tough topics like deadnaming, transphobia, suicidal ideation and more, this was such a great fantasy with a diverse cast, action, adventure, power imbalances and a polyamory romance. Great on audio and highly recommended for fans of the Fallen gods series by Hannah Kaner. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

A stunning conclusion to the Ouroboros duology. Merciless Saviors is the perfect ending to this series, full of surprising twists that showcase the humanity of this unique pantheon of gods.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, and I could not put it down as I could never predict where it was going next. I love how important the choices of the characters were to the plot and how it shaped the story. We still don’t have all the answers at the end of this book and yet it works so well.

I loved Gem and although they weren’t the hero, you can’t help but root for them. Their arc was never easy and more often than not they made impulsive and destructive decisions. This didn’t mean they didn’t have reasons for the decisions they made, and we got to see the way they justified those decisions to themself. Gem’s complicated childhood as well as the Magician’s history both played roles in the person they are and how they grew over the course of this book blurring the lines between both villain and hero and god and human.

The romance continued to be one of my favourite aspects of the book as Enzo, Rory, and Gem all had so much chemistry with each other. Although, it wasn’t easy they truly put each other first in a way heroes simply can’t. Nothing can beat the way they loved each other as both gods and humans and learned to love in ways they couldn’t in either one or the other. They held each other accountable, and their relationship was central to the story.

There are certain types of conflicts that only work when the individuals involved have history with one another and the familial relationship among the gods made for a complicated dynamic, to say the very least. These gods are all connected to each other in more ways than one and in ways they may not have wanted to admit even to themselves. As opposed to a true antagonist their conflicting goals caused much of the conflict throughout the series and no one character was right. The book played with the idea of a moral dichotomy of good vs evil. Certain characters felt they were not good or were shunned for representing aspects others refused to tolerate while other characters who could be otherwise viewed as good made choices that weren’t as virtuous. This blurry ethicality made these gods very human and allowed their human ties to be so important.

I must say I was excited for the sequel to this duology to be shared with us, and was ecstatic to realize that the story literally picked right up where it left off. I did struggle to catch up in the beginning, because it felt like the story was jumping around a bit, but once I got it, I was able to enjoy.

I must say that it felt like Gem was very dislikable to me in this specific read, but I know that they were struggling with figuring out who they were after all magic goes haywire. However, there were so many instances where they were just too cocky and very much seemed like they had the mind frame of 'I'm better than you' aspect, and that really turned me off from the character. I do feel that this was the intention of the character as they were laid out, but it made me struggle in many pieces to just move on past. I really loved Gem in the first book, but the struggles in this one were just struggles for me in general.

All in all, I feel that this was a fun and magical duology, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to read and review both parts. I will definitely be reading them both again in the future, with the hopes of loving them that much more!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for sharing this read in exchange for an honest review. Definitely a 3.5 star read!

Rating: 4/5
I received eARC for my honest opinion.

This book picks up right from where book 1 leaves off, you will see how the characters have to come to terms with the fact of being reincarnated gods. This book is fast paced, and you will notice that it comes quickly like the first book.

This book did have me at times confused and having to re-read parts to make sure that I didn’t miss something, but I loved the characters’ development throughout the whole book and not just Gems but all of them. For me this book really focuses on trauma, growing up, the understanding of forgiving, heartbreaks, and understanding. This book does have a lot of triggers: gore, teen death, and mental health.

For me this author did an amazing job with showing, helping to understand, and giving teens away to be understood about how they are feeling and in general for me how rude and cruel teenagers can be. I thought the author handled the hard topics well.

I thought the characters developed well, I found myself happy with the ending of the story. Even though I did think that Marian and Poppy would have more of vengeance than they did in this book, overall, the plot and characters were wrapped up nicely.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. martin's Press for the opportunity to review this book.

Merciless Saviors is the second book in H.E. Edgmon's YA contemporary fantasy duology The Ouroboros.
This book was a phenomenal ride from start to finish. This is a unique story with some very interesting characters that stuck with me. They were so authentic and raw.
The characters are simply put fascinating. H.E. Edgmon creates the best morally gray characters.
The mythology and unique magic system and the way the story was crafted is very unique and spellbinding
And you add the adorable romance Merciless Saviors ends up being one of my favorite YA contemporary fantasies of the year!
This book is such an adventure. And so enthralling you forget that you’re reading.
If you enjoyed Godly Heathens, you will freaking love MS!

Thank You NetGalley and Wednesday Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

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.

I LOVED Godly Heathens. It was such a unique story with fantastic characters and representation. So I went into this sequel (and conclusion to the duology) with extremely high expectations…and this book did not disappoint! I might have even enjoyed this book more than the first!
Merciless Saviors picks up immediately where Godly Heathens left off. Because of Gem’s actions at the end of book 1, magic is now out of balance for all of the godly teenagers. Now they have to figure out how to restore the balance (if it can be restored) while still dealing with the ongoing war between the gods.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll leave the description at that, but this book was the perfect conclusion! We get to see so much more of the characters and their powers, the Ether itself, and the secrets and shames each has buried deep inside. It was especially great to see Gem, Rory, and Enzo’s relationship develop, and how each of them faced the warring sides of themselves—the godly side and the human side. The character development throughout this book was fantastic. Between the fantasy elements and the larger-than-life characters, the core of this story is still about these people just trying to find themselves and understand where they belong.

If you enjoyed Godly Heathens, definitely pick up the sequel! Though please heed the content warnings. Merciless Saviors is much darker than the previous, with many raw and vulnerable discussions of deep and dark topics, as well as other graphic content.

I really liked the first book in this series, and I think I made a mistake not re-reading the first one before jumping into this one. There were a lot of parts of the story that were really confusing but I think it was from not remembering much of the first book. This book follows gods and mortals and has a lot of mentions of trauma associated with those things. I overall really enjoyed the story and the uniqueness of it. I just wish I read the two back to back. The story is an emotional and sometimes difficult one. There is violence and death, so make sure to check the triggers. Overall, a very unique story.

If you enjoyed "Godly Heathens," then you're very likely going to enjoy "Merciless Saviors" too. 👍🏻

This picks right up on the cliffhanger from the first book and chugs along with no downtime rehashing things. 🚂🚃🚃💨 And I was so happy to be back in this fucked up (said affectionately) magical world.

What I loved:
• The Shade. (if you read this i'm free on thursday night and would like to hang out. please respond to this and then hang out with me on thursday night when i'm free.)
• The writing. There's so many parts that are seriously poetry in how beautifully they're written. 🤌🏻💋
• Seeing more of the Ether and seeing more of the gods' powers. There was one battle scene where I was like "this is so great that it's setting an impossible bar for all other fantasies I read after."

What I didn't like as much:
• Some of the time-location jumps didn’t flow well and were hard to follow (but maybe that was the point, feeling confused and disconnected.)
• I personally didn't care for the overall resolution, but I understand why it went that direction, and I did like the little "hehe 😈✨️" moment at the very end.

This book might be for you if you're into:
• The first book in this duology. Lol.
• BIPOC representation.
• Parallel worlds.
• Queer poly romance. (One pepper on the spice scale.)
• Reincarnated, morally (dark) grey gods.
• Teenage angst.
• Unique magic system.

Content warnings:
• Childhood sexual assault/abuse.
• Gore and violence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books - St. Martin's Publishing Group for the e-arc! 💌

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

Merciless Saviors is the second book in a duology about gods living on Earth as teenagers and the chaos that ensues. I enjoyed Godly Heathens quite a bit--I thought the premise was interesting and the story kept me interested. I did not feel the same about Merciless Saviors. Had I not wanted to provide an accurate review, I likely would have stopped reading it. This book begins right where Book 1 ended and all the gods continued to fight amongst themselves for the duration of the book, though the location shifts back and forth from Earth to the Ether. I struggled the most with keeping the story and characters straight as the story moved back and forth from the characters as teens to gods, Earth to Ether constantly, which felt chaotic. While I absolutely appreciate what this book tries to do with trauma and finding people who will love you no matter what, it ultimately did not land as successfully with me as I'd hoped.

After the ending of the Godly Heathens, I was excited to jump back into this world, but unfortunately this book did not live up to the hype in my mind after the first book in this duology. I’m not sure what went wrong for me, but I just could not get into it. There was so much jumping around in this book that it made it hard to keep track of what was happening. I thought I had skipped a couple of pages during the first jump into Gem’s memories. This made it hard for me to follow along with the story, which also felt anticlimactic compared to the first book. Yes, events took place and it seemed this book was mainly character driven, particularly for Gem, rather than plot driven, which made it a little hard for me to get back into a world where not much action was happening when in the first book there was plenty of action. While Gem’s character development and the two pathways between Gem and the Magician was good and showed this inner battle, I just wish there was more outer battle with other characters.

Overall, this book was not as good as the first book in this duology.

This was an amazing book - and that’s why it hurts so much to not be able to shout it from the rooftops. I requested a copy of Merciless Saviors prior to becoming aware of the review boycott of St Martin’s Press. I will be posting about how I loved this book, and how St Martin’s Press needs to be held accountable for their silence and wrongdoing. Please, please reconsider your silence. You are releasing so many wonderful and diverse stories and it’s heartbreaking to see you act in direct opposition to the message of stories you share.

I enjoyed this book even though this is not my normal genre. The characters were well developed and the plot was well written. If you like fantasy you then I highly suggest this book and series. I plan to read more fantasy books after reading this one.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

🖤 Merciless Saviors ARC Review 🖤

Thank you so much to HE Edgmon and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!!

Merciless Saviors is a queer fantasy novel and book two in The Ouroboros duology. As always, this will be as spoiler free as possible, so if this seems vague, that’s why. Merciless Saviors pick up where book one, Godly Heathens left off. Gem, Enzo and Rory find themselves trying to restore balance after the events at the end of Godly Heathens. But how far are they willing to go in order to end the chaos??

This was such a fun read and a great conclusion to this duology. Get is a wonderful character and I love their growth throughout this story after the events in Godly Heathens. Rory and Enzo were fantastic as well and I adored the three of them. The world building established in the first book continued to expand and I really enjoyed where this story went. There were a few points where I was a little confused with the amount characters introduced, but I feel like this was absolutely a “me” issue and not a book issue

Overall this was a solid four star read for me! I loved the characters, world building and mythology! This book has some darker elements so please check triggers if you’re sensitive. This book did have some elements of romance, but minimal on-page spice so one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of fantasy reads with strong queer characters, great banter and beautiful mythology, then absolutely pick this one up!

Please Note: review will be posted on Amazon upon publication

Merciless Saviors picks up right where Godly Heathens ended- Gem has upset the balance of power by carving away the power of the Cyclone for themselves. Poppy is on the verge of death and Marion is hungry to strike back. Gem has Enzo and Rory for comfort but how can it be enough when present danger and buried memories both seek to tear Gem apart.
Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. In my review for Godly Heathens, I think I said it read like fanfiction (complementary), but some parts of Merciless Saviors read like fanfiction (not complementary). There’s a little too much “I’m the most dangerous thing in this world” for me to not roll my eyes and I felt like the Ether was poorly fleshed out in a way that works in fanfiction (set in a world you’re already familiar with) but just didn’t in this story. More description! How can it be so much smaller than earth yet also parallel enough that they also have Taylor Swift (but screamo)? I think a few more Clover chapters could have helped ground this side of reality.
The amount of power the characters had in the Ether- especially with the lack of definition of the boundaries of their magic- just made the stakes feel squishy. (For example, Enzo seems to no longer have power because of the imbalance Gem caused and this was interesting! But jk he actually does have power so he and Rory can have a cool fight.)
On a more personal note, this more a heads-up than a criticism, but I struggled with this book because of how it depicts depersonalization and sexual abuse. Edgmon does give a warning, but I’m giving my own:
I think Edgmon depicts depersonalization, especially leading up to a suicide attempt, really well. It felt very real and actually made me upset, but this made the book not enjoyable for me to read. I think it’s good to explicitly note that Gem tries to kill themselves twice in this story. Basically- it’s mostly well done, and because of this, a huge flag to anyone who’s ever struggled with similar.
The depersonalization felt like it followed the groundwork lain by Godly Heathens well- it made sense as part of Gem’s continued story- but the childhood sexual abuse didn’t feel as integrated into the first book. It sort of becomes everything, the linchpin of this story, and it felt odd that it wasn’t brough up at all in the first book (per my memory at least). You also cannot pull the “maybe this magical world was all created by you as a result of your sexual trauma” thing in the second book of a duology where that’s not at all what the first book is about.
It's clear that this issue is very personal to Edgmon and I don’t want to get into why its also personal to me or why aspects of how they deal with ‘recovered’ memory angered me (it’s a fantasy book, there really is some memory recovery going on via fantasy means), but all this to say- I could see it really working for someone else, but it just didn’t for me.
I could really tell Edgmon was working through something with this book and I think it could be really resonant for someone else, but for me, it was mostly just frustrating, then upsetting, then frustrating again.

Hello,

this book ended up not being my cup of tea, and I would prefer not to review it, as I had to DNF it. I don't think I have anything to say that would have a positive impact on this.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book

The book descriptions was spot on. This was an incredibly stunning conclusion to H.E. Edgmon's Ouroboros series. This contemporary fantasy focuses on Gem, who happens to be a reincarnated god from another world. Dramatic right? Oh, soooo sooo much. But in the best possible way. I won't spoil anything. Go out and get your own copy. Just be prepared for a wild ride that will end in a thought provoking manner which will leave you pondering community.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest

*Thank you to Wednesday and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!*

You guys, this duology knows how to mess with you and your emotions. The writing continues to keep you hooked on the story, the characters manage to grow and maintain the charm that they had in the first novel and the world building/setting continues to fascinate you.

Gem is such an interesting character, and I don't just say this with a bias to the fact that they're nonbinary and therefore good rep. Their morally grey aspects shift throughout the story, it impacts how things go. They're not flat by any means, and maybe the different POVs we read about help, but their relationships with the others characters - i.e. Rory and Enzo - is one of the highlights of the novel. Their decision-making is interesting to see, as is their reactions to the events that take place.

The concept of the gods continues to keep your attention throughout the novel. Hell, even the setting itself has your interest throughout. H.E. Edgmon knows what they're doing in this duology. To that, I give them props and salute them to a job well done with this duology!

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