Early Review: The Woken Gods

The Woken Gods

Gwenda Bond

Publisher: Strange Chemistry – published 3^rd September

E-Arc courtesy of Netgalley and Strange Chemistry

The more things change…
Ten years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke all around the world.The more things stay the same…
This morning, seventeen-year-old Kyra Locke was late for school.
But that’s not out of the ordinary in a transformed Washington, D.C., dominated by the embassies of divine pantheons and watched over by the mysterious Society of the Sun that governs mankind’s relations with the gods. What is unusual is Kyra’s encounter with two trickster gods on her way home, one offering a threat, and the other a warning.Kyra escapes with the aid of young operatives from the Society, who inform her that her scholarly father has disappeared from its headquarters at the Library of Congress and taken a dangerous Egyptian relic with him. The Society needs the item back, and they aren’t interested in Kyra’s protests that she knows nothing about it. Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the help of everyone from a paranoid ex-boyfriend to scary Sumerian gods to operatives whose allegiance is first and always to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to clear her father’s name and recover the missing relic before 
the impending summer solstice.

What’s at stake? Just the end of the world as Kyra knows it.

All the Gods people have ever worshipped throughout time are real and a few years ago they woke up. The world changed. Washington DC has become the centre for communication between the Gods as represented by the Trickster Gods and the Society, group who use relics to protect humans from the Gods power. Krya grew up in the midst of the awakening, but when the Tricksters start to take an interest in her, she realises that there are more secrets in her family that she ever knew...

The idea that all the Gods are real and that they have only been sleeping is such a strong premise for a world similar to ours but different in that one vital area and provides a wide range of possibilities for story-telling. Adding to the mix Krya is one damaged girl but strong and determined. She has problems over and above the usual teen romance and authority issues so when her Dad goes missing and the gods are involved, she ignores his request that she leave town and decides to find him. Her friends refuse to let her deal with it alone. I loved the relationships Krya has with her friends – both old and new. They ground her and prevent her becoming too isolated. Each have their own family issues but still stick by her side.

As well as a variety of Gods from global pantheons, there is a mysterious Society who are able to keep the Gods in line with threats. However, we all know secret societies are not always to be trusted... The mix of mythology, teen issues and action is well balanced with plenty of action and some intriguing twists – I have to admit the end really ups the stakes taking it from a personal tragedy to all out war. The books suffers a little from teens knowing better than adults every time (a lot of YA have that fault though!), but the teens are such stronger characters that it doesn’t matter too much. There is plenty to enjoy and I can’t wait to see what the next book in this series will throw up. Especially as the end is a real game changer! A fresh take on ancient mythology and a fun read!

Recommended for fans of Tom Pollock and Kim Curran. 8 out of 10

The Revisionists Review

The Revisionists

-       Thomas Mullen

Publisher: Mulholland Books

E-Arc with thanks to netgalley and Mulholland Books

Zed is an agent from the future. A place where all of the world's problems have been solved. No hunger. No war. No despair. His mission is to keep that way. Even if it means ensuring every cataclysm throughout history runs its course, especially one just on the horizon. Zed's mission will ensnare the lives of a disgraced former spy named Leo; a young lawyer, Tasha, grieving over the loss of her brother; Sari, the oppressed employee of a foreign diplomat; and countless others. But will he finish his final mission before the present takes precedence over a perfect future? One that may have more cracks than he realizes?

Zed is from the future, from a perfect society and has come back to our time in order to prevent time travelling terrorists from disrupting the past and stopping his society from coming into being. In the past he runs across a disillusioned lawyer struggling with her brother’s death in Iraq, a former spy now working for private business and a down trodden servant in a Korean diplomat’s household. These four characters lives swirl around each other, creating eddies and ripples which impact each other, even if they don’t always know it.

The setting for this political time-travelling espionage thriller is Washington DC – a town which deals in ideologies like currencies – and this is reflected throughout. Each character questions their beliefs at some point and no-one view point is ever decided as right – in fact each character’s sanity is questioned and there is no right or wrong - just a myriad of grey.

This wasn’t always an easy read, but it was fascinating. At first I struggled with the writing, expecting a more adventure driven story, but soon I was drawn into these people’s lives and their dilemmas. I can’t say I ever fully relaxed though and I was always aware I was reading rather than pulled along by the story. However, the story made me think and I was never tempted to give up. The ending was ambiguous and makes you question what has actually been happening. This is an interesting if never entirely comfortable view of the world today and if we are making it a better place for tomorrow,

Recommended for fans of Ken MacLeod and Robert Harris. 7 out of 10