This book was interesting, but I can’t say I liked it a lot. I definitely blew through the audiobook just to get through it. The way the storylines were wrapped up were cool, but I just never actually connected with any of the characters, and almost fully disliked the main character. And the language was waaayy too flowery and descriptive at times. Great queer and mental health rep though! 3.5 rounded down.

🌈Queer rep: nonbinary main character (AFAB) who is demi romantic, pansexual, and poly. Main relationships - NB/NB/M poly. Secondary - all the gods are not cis!

The second book of H.E. Edgmon's Ouroboros duology, Merciless Saviors completes the story of Gem Echols, god of magic and teenager just trying their best. As the pantheon's abilities shift and corrupt, Gem tries over and over to hold the pieces together and find a way through. But balance is harder to achieve when your a teenager much less when you're a teenager and god in one.

There were so many beats in this book that sunk teeth in to my heart with a force I could not have expected. I cannot say the plot holds together as elegantly as the first book. But I also don't think that was the point. Gem's story is not linear. The sense of unbalance that Gem feels throughout is better for that unevenness through out. Each moment that feels perfectly paired is countered throwing the reader off their own sense of expectation, creating the same emotional see saw that Gem is attempting to navigate and prevent. The see saw of Gem's stability and desperate desire to find balance can only be achieved through community, through the connections to their fellow gods and to their own human identity. The book as in many ways a love letter to support networks and an acknowledgement of how hard it can be to accept them.

Edgmon captures character and more so emotion spectacularly. As with every other book they've written, Edgmon's characters feel like people I've known and know. They are messy and frustrating and love so deeply. It is the reason I keep coming back to them as an author.

Godly Heathens was one of my favorite reads of 2023, so I was very excited to pick up Merciless Saviors! H.E. Edgmon has such an engaging and creative writing style; I’ll happily read anything they write. Merciless Saviors picks up right where Godly Heathens left off. Gem, Rory, and Enzo have unlocked their memories of godhood and have their powers again. Yet with the balance broken, their powers are not behaving as they used to. As the god charged with balancing the scales, Gem must fight to save the world for their family and friends.

Merciless Saviors is an enthralling and heartfelt sequel. Gem has built such strong bonds with Enzo and Rory both in this lifetime and others. H.E. Edgmon writes about queer love so beautifully and realistically. The dialogue in Merciless Saviors is hilarious and witty. I am in awe of the way Edgmon plays with time and the way that we perceive it. I love how they write found family; it feels like a warm hug. Gem is a morally gray character who makes some selfish choices, yet finds themselves pulled back from the brink by their partners. There are important themes of grief, PTSD, and trauma that are carefully explored.

Merciless Saviors is a sequel that you’ll be thinking about long after the last page. Readers who enjoy morally gray characters, fantastic LGBTQ+ rep, found family, and heartfelt writing will love this book. I can’t wait to read what H.E. Edgmon writes next!

Thank you to H.E. Edgmon, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Instagram, Storygraph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

MERCILESS SAVIORS picks up right after that whoa moment of a cliffhanger in GODLY HEATHENS, which I was thankful for. Even though I was excited to read this conclusion, it didn’t hit the same notes as the first one did for me. But overall, as a series, I loved the representation - queer and indigenous - and how the horror elements creeped up out of nowhere on you.

Like the GODLY HEATHENS, MERCILESS SAVIORS has an excellent page of trigger warnings at the beginning. If this weren’t the conclusion of a duology, I would have been thankful for the list and skipped the book. But I continued, albeit cautiously.

I don’t see myself rereading this series or buying it for my shelves, which is a bummer because the covers are stunning! But I recommend the read for people who like books with excellent representation, mythology, and horror.

Thanks, Wednesday Books and Netgalley, for my arc!

Content Warnings: (per author in the book) While this book is about magical powers and fantasy worlds, it’s also an honest story about pain. It features a candid portrayal of mental illness stemming from childhood trauma, and a main character whose own mind sometimes seem to be working again them. Recovering repressed memories and the question of reality that follows, is a significant part of this story. There are also graphic depictions of suicidality, depersonalization, and other symptoms that are difficult to stomach, which may make some readers uncomfortable. Other potentially upsetting contents include incest/childhood sex abuse/other sexual violence involving minors; general violence, including murders and torture; horror, including anthropomorphic and body horror; brief mentions of nonconsensual pregnancy and pregnancy loss; and animal death.

The follow up to Godly Heathens- which I loved! Gods trapped in trans teens bodies waking up and figuring out their power. This next book picks up right where we left off…everyone has their memories back HOWEVER because of the way the first ended the powers are all running haywire.

For how much I loved the first book this one has me so jumbled.
So I’ll start with what worked: the way this book dealt with SA and the resulting trauma that can last in a body was very powerful and had heart in my throat.
The horror elements were GREAT. Scary, eerie and the body horror elements were gross.
The epilogue was IT. I loved the epilogue.

What I struggled with: I didn’t like and didn’t understand why when they got their Godly memories back why they still acted young and made teen choices?? Gem, the mc, tells us many times that they are the most powerful god of all time but like idk show us that and maybe stop all the whinging?

Overall conflicted because it had such powerful moments but long periods of not understanding why some choices were made. But I’m glad I read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I’m not sure how I felt about this one as a whole. The beginning was insane and I wished it had stuck with that. I know I should have reread the first book because so much happens that it got too confusing. Thankfully as it went on I remembered more and more. But I was also bored? Like the story seemed to be going in circles for a while. The random switches and when they go to the other world were weird. Also there were some cheesy dialogue and plot points. I usually don’t vibe with poly relationships but this one barely felt like a relationship. At least in the first book I felt like they were all together and liked it. Also Gem was just annoying all the time. I know they aren’t supposed to be a good guy but at least don’t be unlikable. The first book deff had potential to be a great duology but the second book fell a little flat for me. I wish there was less characters to worry about and more of a fleshed out story. I’m going to have to reread this eventually because I only retained maybe 60% of it.

Merciless Saviors is largely about identity and belonging, much like its predecessor, Godly Heathens. While I had a difficult time with the overall writing and plot structure of Godly Heathens, I wanted to continue the series to see if I would be able to connect with the second half of the duology. The characters stood out to me and I wanted to see where their journeys would lead.
Unfortunately, I continued to have difficulty maintaining my interest. But it is very similar in style and structure to the first. So if you liked Godly Heathens, Merciless Saviors will probably be a win as well.

Thank you H. E. Edgmon, NetGalley, and Macmillan for my advanced review copy!

Plot - 2
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 4
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 2.75

I didn't love this one. I don't even think I really liked it. The pacing was off for me. I felt like even with the trigger warnings, it was just too much for me.

I actually liked Merciless Saviors better than Godless Heathens! I thought the first was a bit too camp, the dialogue was very edgy and didn't quite feel like teens? Merciless Saviors is more toned down with the forced quips and one-liners, they are still there, just not totally saturating the dialogue.

How the story all comes together was really heartbreaking and cathartic. A truly beautiful rendition of a child's experience with deep deep trauma. There were some parts that felt a bit repetitive, but then I thought about my own experiences and thoughts during CPTSD spirals and realized it was spot on. The evolution of the characters is really sweet. I was honestly fine with the story focusing more on the main three instead of the entire cast.

I do agree with other reviewers that the existential time crises were sometimes hard to follow, or maybe out of place? I can't put my finger on it, but something about the portrayal didn't quite mesh with the story? It wasn't enough to derail or ruin anything, just kind of distracting. There were a few confusing or convenient things towards the end of the book that I went back and read twice to make sure I didn't miss anything... but somehow I'm still not understanding certain characters survival... This is a hard part to dive into without spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that. The plot holes got me pacing.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, appreciated as always.

This is how you end a duology...DAMN, I am still thinking about this book a week later. It's everything I love about the first book, but dialed up to an eleven, and I simply couldn't put it down.

Picking up directly after that cliffhanger in Godly Heathens, Merciless Saviors follows Gem, Enzo, and Rory deeper into the mess they've made. Edgmon's writing is exquisite as always, full of jaw-dropping metaphors and biting sarcasm; I love the subtle shifts in tone as Gem's humanity gives way to the god they were always meant to be, and then shifts right back when Gem becomes more human. This bit is not a spoiler, by the way: like the first book, Merciless Gods thrives in the gray area between good and evil, godly and mortal, past and present. This book is raw and visceral and will rip your heart out. It's also (fair warning) quite a bit bloody!

I loved the complexity of Gem and getting to know more of their past (spoiler, it is painful and my heart broke for them), but for me, the star here is Rory. Getting to see Rory growing closer to Enzo and exploring their complicated polycule was one of the highlights of my book, and getting to see the love she holds for all of them was amazing. While this is a book about surviving trauma, this is also a book of love and healing -- even (especially) if said healing comes after a good bit of righteous anger. Anyway, I don't think there are enough words in me to say how much Merciless Saviors made me ugly cry, and how much I want to shove it at everyone I've ever met and demand that they read it.

Now that I've read the whole duology, if you are a fan of:
-Percy Jackson, but yearning for a grown-up version
-The Owl House, specifically season 3
-Andrew Joseph White's body of work
...you are going to fall in love with these books just as much as I have.

Although I was devastated to turn the last page, I cannot wait to see what H. E. Edgmon will write next.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books, and H. E. Edgmon for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Every now and again I read a book that I wish I could have read when I was younger. This is one of those books. Merciless Saviors is the second in a duology and both books are so beautiful and heartbreaking. In the second novel, Gem is dealing with the ramifications of their decisions and their identity. The balance of power no longer exists and everyone's powers are feeling the change.

Gem is running out of time and everyone is out for their head. When Gem makes a decision to end the fight, they find themselves pulled back into the Ether. But even there, they aren't really the Magician anymore; Gem is still sort of Gem. The Shade is still sort of Enzo and the Mountain is still sort of Rory. Gem starts to unravel who they are and just how deep trauma is rooted in themselves. This book's narrative is like puzzle pieces that come together, weaving the far past of the Magician and the more recent past of Gem.

This book is dark, but there is also so much hope. I wish I could have read a book like this when I was going through depressive episodes in high school. I know that feeling of fear that your trauma makes you unlovable. Gem is a complex character who is coming to terms with their trauma and how that trauma has informed their own choices in life. This book felt like a love letter to survival. The love between Enzo, Rory, and Gem was *chef's kiss*. I like that all three were complex characters with flaws that weren't resolved. Flaws make characters relatable and I hate when a book has a magical solution that just makes everyone perfect.

The one thing I didn't love about this book was the pacing of the narrative. It felt like we could have spent more time in the Ether and less on Earth. Also, the intertwining of past and present was just a little jarring in places. I wish there could have been more multiple POVs in this book, especially from Lionheart or Death. I kind of hope there are more stories set in this world even if Gem isn't the main character.

This is a wonderful story about coping and healing, though the pacing could have been stronger. Honestly, I think this duology might become a staple for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

I will, straight up, read anything that H.E. Edgmon writes. He has been one of the nicest, friendliest authors I have ever interacted with - and the kindness he has shown my students has won him a special place in all of our hearts. Just, putting that out there to start.

Godly Heathens was one of my favorite reads of 2023. Nonbinary representation among a whole host of other queer rep, indigenous rep, and a story of teenagers being allowed to be terrible people. It was artful. Merciless Saviors, meanwhile, is a whole different kind of beast. It ramps the fantastical elements of the first book up to eleven as we leave Georgia - and humanity - behind. If the last book was a story of teenagers sometimes doing terrible things, then this is a story of what happens when that humanity is stripped away. It's violent and horrifying and none of these characters are particularly likable - certainly not Gem, the lead - but it's made all the better for that, and the ending all the more rewarding.

Genuinely the only real downside is the rapid epilogue and a bit too much discussion about timelines (is time linear or does everything happen all at once?) for my taste.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm just going to dive into this fresh off of my read. I enjoyed the first book in this duology, Godly Heathens, and it ended in a way that made me desperate for the sequel. I was very happy I was able to get my hands on an early copy and find out what happens next. Ultimately, this just didn't work for me. The formatting and jumps between scenes and times and worlds just became too much for me. None of it was smooth enough and overall I just really struggled to comprehend everything. (Though here I will admit it was a quick read, the language and style made it very easy to fly through in a few hours.) While I do still love our main three, the side characters fell apart for me here. They really became just set decoration which was sad because they had some of my favorite scenes in the first book. I also feel like we lost a lot of the humor that was in the first book in this one.

The lyrical writing in this remains impeccable though. H.E. Edgmon is capable of penning some really truly beautiful lines and that plus my fondness for Gem, Enzo, and Rory really saved the book for me. I'm a little conflicted now because I was planning on purchasing the beautiful Illumicrate set that was announced but now I'll have to think on this. I will continue to look forward to any work H.E. Edgmon writes because I do really love their writing, this one just wasn't quite for me.

Picking up directly from the previous novel, Gem's enraged decision to murder another member of their pantheon and assume his powers has had dire consequences. Now everyone's abilities are corrupted by this perversion of the balance. The only thing holding Gem together is the fierce love of Rory, god of the land, and Enzo, god of the forbidden. The rest of the gods are either vengeful or deranged. Whatever they do to fix the chaos they've wrought on two worlds, it's going to hurt like hell. More recapping and less POV switching would have made the plot a lot easier to follow. Those trigger warnings aren't kidding around.

Merciless Saviors is the conclusion to the Ouroboros duology. I really liked Godly Heathens and this book picks up right after the cliffhanger. It took me a few chapters to reorient myself in the story but I really enjoy the writing and characters created by H. E. Edgmon. I like this theme of surrealism and experimentation we see in this novel. It’s a little weird but it kept me coming back to the book.

Gem, Enzo, and Rory are the focus this time around as their powers go haywire, the magic is out of balance and their friendship and alliance are tested.

One of the main plot points that stands out to me is Gem’s identity struggle. There were many internal battles in their head and that’s prevalent throughout the whole book.

Much of the story and focus is very confusing here unfortunately. One issue I had was the jumping of timelines and places. There is very little to no world building or descriptions of surroundings and how characters are moving about. Looking back at this as a whole, it’s a coming of age story but also learning to accept their gender identity.

The narration by Avi Roque was engaging, I felt like they showcased each of the characters’ unique personalities. The delivery was clear and able to evoke emotions for the protagonist.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. A great follow up to Godly Heathens! This book really extends the intensity of the first one! I love the in depth look at trauma and how that can factor into someone’s life. Especially when looking at concepts like good and evil. Some tough topics so definitely something to think about before reading but H.E. explores them in a respectful and careful manner. With that there is a lot of character depth and it will definitely have you feeling the feels! Absolutely recommend checking this one out!

This was a good second book for the Ouroboros duology. While I don't think it was as captivating as the original, I think that this book tied up some nice ends. I think this may have benefitted from a third book, to add more drama and battles, as this felt sometimes both as filler but also a bit rushed in some aspects (or at least I wanted more information about some things). I think this is a fascinating premise, and these books do the concept a decent amount of justice. I definitely will pick up other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really enjoyed Godly Heathens, so I couldn't wait for the sequel; however, I didn't have the same excitement for this book.
Merciless Saviors by HE Edgmon picks up immediately where Godly heathens leaves off and it doesn't pull any punches. I respect the commitment to the body horror and the trauma, I usually don't love body horror, but there is something about Edgmon's prose that does it for me. It's the perfect balance of the grotesque and biting wit.
I also found that I had a hard time following the narrative, and found myself a bit lost jumping between the humans and the Gods perspectives. I think that might be what made me less excited about this one. Gem and the gang all knew they were Gods and had access to their memories. They mystery wasn't there. I really enjoyed the discovery and the stumbling around in the realization of the first book- it was very grown up, queer Percy Jackson. The characters knowing they were Gods and knowing eons of shared history took some of the fun out of it for me.
I know I said that I needed more poly relationships in YA since reading Iron Widow, but this was not what I wanted. I could not get on board for Enzo. Enzo as a villain? Sign me up! But Enzo as Gem and Rory's boyfriend? Ugh. I don't know why. I cannot explain it.
Overall, I am not mad I read the book, and I am very content with the epilogue, but I can't help but feel a little let down after how incredible book 1 was. I give this 3 out of 5 stars.

HE Edgmon is a fantastic author. Great follow up to the first book. No spoilers from me! I am absolutely satisfied with this as a sequel and think people will love it!

"The stunning conclusion to the Ouroboros series, a contemporary fantasy duology in which a teen, Gem, finds out they're a reincarnated god from another world.

That day at the First Church of Gracie changed everything for Gem Echols, and not just because Marian and Poppy betrayed them. Forced to use the Ouroboros knife on Zephyr, who had kidnapped their parents, Gem now has the power of the God of Air.

While for any other god things might work out okay, the Magician - whose role within the pantheon is to keep the balance - having the power of another god has thrown everything into chaos. The Goddess of Death can now reanimate corpses; the God of Art's powers are now corrupted and twisted, giving life to his macabre creations; and, while the God of Land has always been able to communicate with creatures of the Earth, now everyone can hear their cries.

As Gem, Rory, and Enzo search for a way to restore the balance without sacrificing themselves, new horrors make them question how far they're willing to go. In the end, Gem may be forced to fully embrace their merciless nature and kill off their own humanity - if it ever really existed in the first place."

I like that the God of Art is giving off some serious Dorian Gray vibes.