This book was a lot to swallow.

The mind trip was crazy! This book gave gore, romance, deception, and trauma, OMG what a ride! It threw me off a bit the way that H.E. Edgmon slid in and out of pronouns, using multiples for the same character because of this, when I noticed that there was an audio offer I jumped on it. I was able to read the printed book and listen to the audio while doing so, this made a huge difference for me! The way the narrator brought each character to life, perfectly capturing the individual and the emotion of the scene was the chef's kiss. The attention to detail in building the world allowed me to lose myself in the world and relate to the characters.

I had to take inventory of my circle of people after this and ask if the people in it would love me through my darkest moments. There were so many thought-provoking scenes in this book, that I believe it would be a psychologist's dream. Analyzing the mental stability of the main character.

This was a very enjoyable listen.

Merciless Saviors is a great ending to the Ouroboros duology. The writing is beautiful and I really love how the story developed from the first book. The world building isn't super clear, but I think it's supposed to be disjointed and a little confusing. I also love the narrator, Avi Roque's, voice. It's so soothing, but they differentiate the voices enough that you always know who is speaking even in a large cast like this one.

I love that H. E. Edgmon isn't afraid to put dark themes into young adult books. These are things that teens may be grappling with and I don't think that shielding them from tough subjects is good for their development. There is also a ton of gender and racial diversity. The three main characters are all Native and trans or non-binary. I also enjoyed the polyamory representation and was so glad when they got to have a happy ending.

I will say please pay attention to the content warnings. When it says body horror, it means Body. Horror. I'm usually not that squeamish with written descriptions, but I almost couldn't finish one scene it was so graphic. But that does speak to the authors way with words because I could picture every awful moment perfectly.

So I’m really conflicted. I ended up DNFing this one (and won’t be publicly rating it because I don’t like giving low ratings).
I struggled with the line between YA content and adult content. While I think there is a way to go about hard topics in YA I think this missed that mark. Had the characters been ahead up just to college it could have gone better. (ageless god aspect aside they are still human minors)

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

I forgot that I hadn't enjoyed the first book in this series, but I was surprised that I leaned toward liking this one!

My main complaint with these books is that I feel like I still have absolutely no grasp on the worldbuilding. The foundation from book 1 that I didn't get was definitely needed to build on in this book, and I feel like I'm more confused than I was at the beginning.

The romance was so much better in this one, and I love the way the poly rep was built up. It felt a lot more natural than I was afraid it would be when the book started. It was really well done without any of the issues poly rep often has, and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. I was definitely giggling and kicking my feet over the romance at one point. The other thing better with this book was the character development. I feel like it ended perfectly for the characters, and I really enjoyed that piece of the story. There was a lot of growth that happened that I think can be relatable for a lot of people. It was refreshing to watch characters that I had found so unlikable grow and learn who they are and what they want out of the world.

All in all, I was surprised by this book but still wish some of the fundamentals had been better established.

This was a really satisfying end to Gem’s story. I loved how the relationships between the characters developed and how they all dealt with the tough choices they faced. The narrator was excellent as well.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed all the queer rep in this book and the overall story.

When I heard the premise for Godly Heathens, I was so, so excited. And while I did adore the book, it wasn't exactly as grand and sweeping as I had hoped it would be. Merciless Saviors, however, absolutely makes up for this, and then some. This is 100% the queer, indigenous teens find out they are actually gods from another world novel that I didn't know that I wanted but cannot imagine going without. I think H.E. Edgmon excels when he writes snarky, self-deprecating magical queer teens, and that's the perfect niche. The characters are in turns incredibly unapproachable eldritch beings and extremely relatable teenagers who are just trying to figure themselves out, and I love that. I think the worlds that Edgmon creates are the perfect blend of frighteningly alien and ridiculously familiar.
Avi Roque is a favorite audiobook narrator, and I don't know that they have ever produced a work that I didn't love. There is absolutely an advantage to having a transmasc nonbinary voice actor for this book, and even more benefit to that voice actor being a person of color. Roque is able to capture the characters' essences and provides key differences in voices for different characters that allows them to feel appropriately distinct, and also captures the duality of incredibly capable divine being and self-conscious teenager that make the main characters so dynamic.

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 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.

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
Narration - 5
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 3.2

Beautiful cover.

This sequel to Godly Heathens was certainly action-packed. We see the continued evolution of Gem, Rory, and Enzo's relationship and their status as gods. Gem continues to make appallingly bad decisions, but acknowledges this flaw. This could've been divided into more than one book, because there were multiple plot lines crammed in and not enough of an explanation about what was happening.

Loved the audio narration!

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.

Avi Roque continues to be a stunning narrator, bringing each character to life with amazing talent. The sinister quality they bring to The Shade in particular is spectacular. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite young voices in audiobook narration.

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.

Merciless Saviors is the conclusion to the Ouroboros duology. I loved the world building in Godly Heathens and this book picks up right after the cliffhanger. I liked the progression of the characters and especially Gem. 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, I enjoyed it a lot!