Absolutely loved this sequel. Hannah Kaner is an incredible storyteller! Will buy the hardcover when it comes out.

A great sequel to the first in the series. I always feel like fantasy book sequels, or the especially the middle book in a trilogy, doesn't hold up as well to the rest of the series, but I still really enjoyed this book! The only thing (SPOLIERS) is that I didn't like how the reunion was left until the very very end of the book, and also felt very underwhelming. Not enough to take away a star though, but definitely enough for me to mention it in my review. Otherwise, I loved it.

Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

4.25⭐️

A world full of small forgotten gods, tucked away in rose bushes, under canals and in the satchels of children, of power-starved gods who dwell in men’s hearts, and old, wild gods who help and harm in equal measure. The nature of these beings in the Fallen Gods world, who live and die by the love and fear of those who’ve created them, is wildly fascinating and enjoyable to explore. The reverse of that, the lengths humanity will go for faith, whether for or against the gods, is also very well displayed. As in Godkiller, Hannah Kaner’s strengths remain best displayed in her world-building and her character’s depth and narrative. I think other stories in this world would be very easy to continue once this story concludes.

Similarly, to touch on the second strength, our main characters, Kissen, Elo, Inara, and Skedi, remain on very clear narrative journeys, remain likable yet complex, and further develop the intricacies of their relationships to each other. Inara truly shines in this book, delving into what it means to be in control of her own future, her own power, but not losing her humanity along the way, and not to be dramatic, but I would both kill and die for Skedi. I think Kissen is a little relegated to the sidelines, the only POV where the story dragged a bit, but I still had *faith* that her arc would land and believe ultimately that it did. The character development of these four has been excellently shown. Side characters like Kissen’s sisters, Yatho and Telle, as well as Arren and Canovan are more involved this time around to great effect, and new characters like Naia (a transwoman assisted by a god to transition was a cool addition) and the archivists really served to add powerful new perspectives on the world.

I think where Kaner struggles a bit, as I noted in Godkiller as well, is with I guess what I’d call “action description.” Occasionally, during a fight scene or during the depiction of a character /doing/ something, I found the writing confusing and hard to follow. It may be sentence structure, or simply the writing style, but I’d be hung up on a sentence, wondering, wait, what are they doing? It didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story, but I did find it a distraction to my reading experience, and I’d be curious if anyone else felt this way. I also thought this book had a slower start than Godkiller, the story dragging in a few places, especially in Kissen’s POV, as mentioned, and in Elo’s narrative as a whole. That being said, I do think Kaner is developing her craft and I’m SUPER excited to see how it further grows in the next book.

Overall, would *highly* recommend this book, and series so far. This book hasn’t even release and I can’t wait for the sequel.

I loved book one but this one just couldn’t hold my attention. I was so painfully bored I DNF’d at 40%

Thank you for the opportunity to read.

Ugh just as fantastic as book 1! I loved every minute of this and can not wait to own a physical copy!

I was so excited to get approved for this arc! I absolutely loved Godkiller and was very eager to start Sunbringer. This book was a little bit of a slower pace than the first but I feel like it was packed with lots of character development. I wish we got more of the main characters together during this book. Can’t wait for the next book!

I'm a bit conflicted about how I feel about this book. The characters were endearing, the representation was great, and I still enjoyed reading the story, but the plot was really slow. I think it suffers from middle-book syndrome. I think it sets up the rest of the series really well, and it has great reveals at the end. But for most of the book, the main characters were separated and slowly gathering information on their own, without very many action points along the way. But even though it was a slower book, I am very excited to see what happens next in this series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Godkiller and could not wait to start the second book, Sunbringer. This one got off to a slow start for me but once the pieces were in place, it really picked up and I could not put it down.

There were some surprises that I anticipated, and some that I really did not see coming that make me really excited to see how the characters handle them in the next book. I really love this world, and being able to spend more time in it. The characters are so well done and continue to grow and change and face the consequences of their actions from the first book.

This is the highly anticipated sequel to Go0dkiller. While I feel that Godkiller put me into the action immediately Sunbringer wasn't as in your face from the beginning. I really did end up enjoying it. While the pacing was significantly slower, in my opinion, I trusted Hannah Kaner to deliver so while it was hard for me at times, due to my adhd to pay attention I still ended up thoroughly enjoying the second installment. I really can't wait for the third book to release...I really can't wait to see what happens with Kisen and the gang.

“She didn’t like seeing those colours. They were messy. They were too much.”

“Sunbringer,” by Hannah Kaner

I liked this book. Some parts were a little drawn out but overall, it was really good. I liked the disability aspect especially because I have not seen that in a Greek myth retelling type of book. There is a main character that has a wheelchair and sign language isn’t allowed, I liked the moral dilemma with the hate of disabilities. Most of the characters I thought were interesting and I was rooting for them. 4 out of 5 stars, cannot wait to read more.

-Magic
-Multi POV
-Sign Language
-Disabilities
-Greek Gods/Myths

Thank you for the ARC.

This book wasn’t as amazing as the first, no book truly is, but I still loved the crazy plot twist with Inara. Plus the change in character for Kissen and how his priorities changed when the truth came out. All super interesting with how the plot was heading towards the end of the book.

Sunbringer is a fantastic follow up to Godkiller, which took me by surprise when I read it last year (in a very good way!). Though this sequel doesn't quite have the same charm as the first book, that's mostly because the story is expanding and the stakes are getting higher. We're not on a "simple" journey anymore, we're trying to avoid a war! It's always tough when beloved characters are separated from each other because readers lose that fun dynamic of seeing them interact. Even so, the characters are still very gripping on their own (I especially love Inara and Skedi). I have to applaud Kaner again for streamlining so much story into relatively few pages. Another author could have easily made this into a 600 page tome. But Kaner is expert with her words and her pacing. I'm very much looking forward to the next installment!

I really enjoyed the return to our favorite characters. Elo, Inara, and especially Kissen - she's so stubborn, I adore her perspective. I couldn't wait for them to be reunited after the end of Godkiller, Inara and Elo assuming her dead as they go through the trials of their stories.

I definitely think this book suffered a bit from being the middle book in a series. (Or a trilogy?) Objectively it wasn't as good as Godkiller and it felt like a lot of set-up for only some pay off at the end, but I really enjoyed the journey there. We also got some new characters that I really loved (*coughNaiacough*) and hope to see in the third book!

After hugely enjoying Godkiller, I’ll confess to being somewhat disappointed in its sequel, Sunbringer. I think what worked so well for me in the first book was the four central characters, how they all worked together and interacted. Splitting them up in the sequel may have served the plot, but it definitely led to a feeling of something deeper and more crucial being left out. With that being my primary reaction to the book, it was harder to care about the events taking place because all I really felt there was to look forward to was their reunion. That’s not to say there’s nothing to recommend this book - the writing is absolutely stunning, it’s well paced, and there’s some great character development, but I definitely felt that this installment was less strong than its predecessor.

There are spoilers for Godkiller in this review, but no spoilers for Sunbringer.



Sunbringer is the second of the Fallen Gods books by Hannah Kaner, picking up a couple of weeks after the ending of Godkiller. Kissen, Elogast, and Inara (and Skediceth!) each have their own journeys in this book, and we get the additional POV of King Arren.
Thinking Kissen has died after her fight with with Hseth, Elogast, Inara, and Skediceth make their way back Kissen's family in Lesscia. Elogast leaves Inara with Yatho and Telle to keep her safe while he tries to find a way to defeat King Arren. Inara, not happy to be left behind after losing Kissen, looks for her own ways to get revenge on the king. Meanwhile, Kissen is trying to make her way home after falling into Osidisen's sea with Hseth.
While I liked Godkiller, I did find it a little hard to get through, but I enjoyed it enough to want to read Sunbringer, and I am so glad that I did. I loved Sunbringer, I found it to be a faster pace than Godkiller (I know there was a lot of world building in Godkiller, but it was significantly shorter than Sunbringer and took me almost twice as long to read). I really loved that there was more interactions with the other gods in this book, and we got more background on Inara and her family history.
This was an exceptionally well written, fast paced, and exciting follow up to Godkiller, and I cannot wait to read what Hannah Kaner writes next!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Sunbringer in exchange for my honest review.

This book felt really rushed and sloppy. I know I read an ARC, but the amount of typos I found surpassed any other book I've ever read. More time needed to be spent with this book and these characters. The charm and depth of emotion just isn't at the same level as the first book. I really liked the first book, it would be such a shame to have this series be another victim of this fast-fashion equivalent of the publishing world. Hoping the next installment does better.

This book was phenomenal. The world, the characters, the complexity of both story and character development were just beautiful. If I had a complaint at all its that the mysteries mount a lot more rapidly than they get solved but everything that's happening is so entertaining that it's not such a burden. I love that Kissen gets to be powerful, surly, strong, capable, smart, crafty, scarred, and still desirable BECAUSE of who she is and not despite of who she is. I found myself having to remind myself that the people in the book were not real so I could make it through some of the tense situations because they feel like real people and you love them all.

In a good book, every one in an argument should have a good point and this author excels at layering on the shades of gray in a way that never makes anyones motivations feel cheap or contrived, even the "bad guys."

The disability, sexual orientation, and race representation is *chef's kiss*. It NEVER feels like the author is just checking off a box.

I am so looking forward to the next one in this series.

I've read enough sequels that let me down after such a promising first novel and I am so glad to say this was not one of them. The world descriptions are still top notch, and she constantly adds layers to the characters and story. A worthy sequel!

I absolutely loved and devoured Godkiller when I got my hands on it and when I got accepted for this e-ARC, I was so excited. I had to wait to read it until I finished my ARCs for February, but I finally got to it.

This is the second installment to a series about an interesting fantasy world surrounding a kingdom that was once built on the love for Gods and once the people turned against them the entire kingdom has changed with a hatred to those once adored and loved. This series follows Elo, a knight, Kissen, a god killer, Inara, a young noble with an affinity for her God, and Skedi, Inara's God of white lies.

This is a 4.0-4.5 star rating and while I was not nearly as attached to this book as the first it was an important installment to lay out the world and motives for the final novel of this trilogy. I personally struggled to make it through some aspects of the book because I wanted other aspects answered faster and that led to me becoming bored with certain moments of the story. Although, getting to the ending I realized how important all the aspects were and Hannah Kaner was smart for taking a slower time with this installment. I expect the third and final book to be intense and full of Gods, blood, destruction, and more of these characters that I have quickly become obsessed with.

The characters of this series are what holds me attached and Kaner over the two books has been able to show a lot of character development behind strong-minded and stubborn in their ways type of personalities.

As a warning for this second installment be prepared that it does not move as fast as Godkiller, but I felt like the ending of the book made up for the slow beginning and am so excited for the final book.

I personally will be waiting every day to hear about the final installment so I can request the ARC and pre-order the final copy. I look forward to see what Kaner does with this brilliant world she has created.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an honest review of this e-ARC.

I thought this book was great. I loved the characters, I loved the plot. I was a huge fan of the first book. Hannah Kaner has a way to draw me in with the way she writes. I was hanging on to every word and every action and every character.