An intriguing read, full of twists and thought-provoking moments. The story follows a man searching for spiritual purpose meaning in his life. The premise is certainly fascinating, and I was invested in the questions it raised about belief, truth, and the search for purpose.

However, by the end, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the story wasn’t quite as believable as it could have been. The plot veers into some unexpected territory, and while that keeps things interesting, I found myself questioning certain elements and struggling to connect the dots. It’s a story that leaves you with more questions than answers and depending on what you're hoping to get from it, that can either be a strength or a flaw.

If you enjoy books that challenge your perceptions and keep you thinking long after you’ve finished reading, this might be worth a try. But if you're looking for something that offers a clearer resolution or more grounded characters, it might not be the right fit.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found an accessible digital copy of THE NEXT GOD by B. T. Gottfred on Kindle Unlimited. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy. All views are mine.

"Shepherd hesitated. His words slowed, 'When Cyur messaged me yesterday, I leapt at the easiest path to get you here. I thought he would have left by now. I assumed you would send him home. Or something would draw him away. Because he has never been in any of my visions of today. He is never in any of my visions of the future. I cannot risk all the universe has asked us to do for one person.' I said nothing. Madison pressed, 'So if someone is not in your vision, they’re not important?'" p114

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. I sort of like the premise, about a guy on a spiritual quest, investigating an apparently magic religious leader. The MC is not interested in the religious leader's doctrine, only his abilities, or supposed abilities. *edit But queue the perhaps predictable turn where the main character becomes a follower!

2. "He theorized that much of our political and culture divides were actually a societal cry for a new spiritual leader that could bring both sides to a healthy center. If a new leader didn’t emerge, he wrote, then false prophets would rise on both sides and the cultural war could become a spiritual then bloody one." p52 ...Yikes. I'm putting it here because it's terrifying on like four levels. But it's also just a reiteration of the antichrist figure from the Book of Revelation, which otherwise would land it in the "Things I Don't Like" section, for using tired tropes.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. 16% read - I'm having a hard time buying into this story. I think it's that I can't connect to the characters. They're more like collections of tropes and common traits than actual people.

2. Bringing a flower back from the "other side?" C'mon, how ludicrous. If you're going to bring dead tissue back to life, why not choose something sentient? Or even conscious? Makes for a good maybe-villain though!

3. "But he begged to be my friend. And how could I leave him now? He was like a real life Harry Potter! And he loved me! I know he did." p98 That doesn't seem like a good reason to change one's entire life for someone else. I don't think I'm the audience for this book, but also the author infantalizes the audience and characters often. Like here, comparing a charlatan/supernatural being to Harry Potter seems like an attempt to contain a complex issue (like this) in a very small container.

4. Dude...do not do that lol. (Sorry, no spoilers) I've seen so many stories about this plot point, it's practically a horror trope. This book doesn't have to be a horror story for this to be a really bad idea.

5. I do not like the name "Cyur." Call me petty. It's hard to read, and the owner character pronounces it like "Sire" which isn't at all indicated by the spelling. I don't object to creative names unless they're a stumbling block for the reader. And since my screen reader butchered this name for the entire book, a stumbling block is just what it is.

6. The book isnt what I expected, but I dunno about this one. After the turn at the 60% mark, it keeps on turning. And then some more. And then the narrative started flashing into the past. And then turns again. It's just messy and convoluted. The shape of the narrative doesn't make sense.

Rating: 🚙🚙.5 /5 spiritual journeys
Recommend? Maybe? To the right reader
Finished: Nov 8 '24
Format: KU
Read this book if you like:
👻 spiritual quests
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family stories, family drama
👫🏾 coming of age
🙏 cults

This was definitely a bit different!

Cyur is a college sophomore, who writes for the college paper. The editor, Madison, is the bored daughter of a very wealthy man, and Cyur has has a crush on her for a while.

Cyur is on a spiritual quest - trying to find something to believe in. When his ex-girlfriend sends him a video of man called Shepherd who professes to do magic, Cyur is interested to see if this is real. He persuades Madison to join him to Shepherd's farm in Indiana, where Shepherd has promised to perform miracles.

What happens when they get here was certainly not what I expected. Lots of deep conversations with intellectuals and celebrities all who are clearly searching for 'truth' whatever that means to them. The arrogance of someone who considers himself a messiah. Madison seeing Cyur in a new light and questioning how she views people around her. A big twist came out of left field for me.

Overall this was a very interesting premise, but I didn't feel like the execution quite hit the mark. Cyur was such a buttoned up character, while Madison was wild child grown up. I couldn't quite feel the attraction between them.

The ending was also not what I expected at all.

The Next God by BT Gottfred,Cyur is the sophomore at crust College in Wisconsin he also writes for the paper whose editor is a daughter of a billionaire named Madison Pike. The school is for those searching for answers weather spiritual magical or religious. Poor Cyur has been searching for someone who can do real magic for years he even has his ex-girlfriend Casey who he doesn’t talk to but we’ll look at the video she sends so when she sends this video with a guy named Shepherd he thinks maybe he’s found what he’s been looking for. When Shepard says the next day on Thanksgiving he will open up a portal to the next world and invites people to come and view it at his farm in Indiana he immediately DMD influencer. Unfortunately the first four spots have been cleaned but shepherd tells Cyur, if he can get Madison Pike to attend then he will make room for them. He’s had a crush on his editor a senior at the college since forever and by the skin of his teeth he gets her to take a road trip to Indiana. While she is skeptical he really wants to believe that one point during their journey when she changes her mind the influencer puts out a video invitation that Madison cannot refuse. This is a quick read and one I really enjoyed and although I thought some points could’ve been plotted out a little better or better thought out and wasn’t a big fan of how it ended all in all I really enjoyed this book. To anyone who loves a sweet romance in the future with alternate universes and a little bit of magic will definitely enjoy the story. #NetGalley, #BTGodfred, #TheNextGod,#BoldSoulBooks,

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It was interesting to read but I'm not sure it was believable enough for me. It was basically a story about a man who is searching for something to believe in. He takes a road trip with the editor of the newspaper he works for to meet up with a self-proclaimed "diety" with special powers. Only to discover that he....well you just have to read it for yourself.

*The Next God* was a very thought provoking book. A road trip, kinda whodunnit, what's-it-all-mean rolled into one, with some killer quotes that I will be highlighting when I purchase my own copy. The reader is highly invested in the narrator's journey, as well as his reluctant sidekick Madison's journey, as well.

Is Shepherd a god? Is he some kind of savior? How does social media amplify what he represents? What does any of it even mean, anyway? No spoilers here except to say that some questions are resolved, some are not, and which is which is not clear until well into the book.

I highly recommend this book, particularly if questions of why are we here are of interest to you. There are some truths here, but not the ones you might anticipate...

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Next God, by b.t. gottfred, from bold soul books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Hmmm….

My first thought, upon finishing this book, was, “Dude. Ketamine, much?”

Then I reminded myself that there are people throughout time immemorial who have had spiritual experiences/epiphanies without the use of mind-altering substances. And that at least b.t. gottfred—whatever his preference regarding proper capitalization—was trying to communicate something important.

To him.

I’m not a Christian. Don’t even play one on TV. I am a firm believer in the philosophy that we all come from the earth and will return to the earth and then come back in whatever form—person, tree, river, cat, dog, you name it. And that until we realize we are all meant to be one entity and join together as such, we will remain not only fragmented from our potential powerful wholeness, we will continue to be an all-too hateful and harmful people. (That is, of course, when I believe we exist at all outside of some ginormous simulation game—and I say that having only watched The Matrix part of the way through, and just earlier this year, at that!)

I also am a former college journalist. So please know that I was quite justified in rolling my eyes at the depictions of Cyur and Madison as such. Although, who knows? Maybe the author hung out with a lot more self-actualized folks than I did back in the day. We did, after all, drink Everclear out of paint buckets and/or garbage cans on a regular basis.

I told my husband that while some of the messaging in this book resonated with me, I found it to be an odd mix of approaches/writing style. Like, Harry Potter, but we’re in a cult? In which people speak in a weirdly stilted manner?

The Next God was a little thought-provoking, but mainly just OK. And I’m sure it will probably resonate with some very sincere young people, and not a cynical recovering hack. But even those young people, I’m sure, will wish there had been more about the dog.

DESCRIPTION
A NOVEL ABOUT THE VERY REAL SEARCH FOR SPIRITUAL PURPOSE

My parents took me to get a puppy the day they told us they were getting divorced. At the shelter, I picked out a half-shepherd, half-chow. Black coat with a brown mane. She looked like she had lion blood. I named her Flame.

She died when I was twelve. Tumors no one knew were there until it was too late. The day Flame died was the day I stopped believing in God.

It was also the day I became obsessed with finding something new to believe in.

For the author: this book needs a heavy proofread and edit.
***************************************
I'm not entirely sure what to feel about this book. I'm speechless and that so rarely happens with books.
I loved the plot and it's written in a very different and interesting way that adds to the surrealism of the story. The characters seemed very realistic, even with the magic. And I love the idea of magic in all of us.
This story touches on belief and our perception of life and reality and how those impact our existence. It really makes one think about the hard things and how we deal with them.
I read through this sitting at a steady 3 Star rating until the last quarter of the book. An ending can truly make or break a book. This ending made the whole book AMAZING. I think it'll stick with me for awhile.

I liked a lot about this one. I thought the concept was great. It was set up well, and the conversations were interesting and pretty believable. I really didn't like the last 15% or so of the story -- no spoilers but it just didn't work for me. My unhappiness with the last part of the tale didn't negate the positives. Many parts felt like college days, when you'd pass around a bottle and wonder why we were here. It felt comfortable that way, and I think many folks will relate to that.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars. Would I read more from the author? Yes.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.