Book Review - AGAINST ALL GODS by Miles Cameron

 

(Title: Against All Gods / Author: Miles Cameron / Publisher: Gollancz / Publication Date: June 23, 2022 / Total Pages: 400)

Back Cover Blurb

The gods play their games, looking down on the mortal realm and moving men as pawns. Sacrificing lives, towns, even civilisations as they make moves against each other, oblivious to and uncaring of the suffering it causes.

They are above it all: worshipped, emulated and admired. 

Yet there is one among them who exists to sow chaos, to challenge the way of things, and to stir up trouble. One who sees the gods growing indolent and contented and selfish...and who is ready to meddle in the world of men. Not as part of the immortal game, but because they believe it's possible for men to challenge...and even topple...the gods themselves.

Review

Miles (Christian) Cameron never ceases to amaze me. I mean, the guy will bust out a brilliant heroic fantasy one year, release an outstanding space opera the next, and now he brings us a historical fantasy with mythology. There is no genre that is safe with Cameron as he deftly crafts each particular story with equally impressive mastery. AGAINST ALL ODDS is just his latest success story and here are my thought upon finishing the book late last night.

Right away I was sucked into this awesome story that involves gods, godborn, who are those descended from gods, mortal god-kings appointed by the gods to ensure that their interests are protected, and various other really interesting characters. There is also an underlying conflict running through this book between the "old gods" and "new gods", so that adds a special dimension to this already multi-layered fantasy epic and got me even more invested as I progressed through each chapter.

Whispers eventually make it to the gods ears that star-metal has fallen from the sky in an area of the mortal-inhabited lands and all hell breaks loose to put it bluntly. You see, star-metal is the only thing that can kill a god and should a weapon or weapons be forged from it, well the results could be disastrous and could threaten the gods' power and unlimited control. Once this occurs the book becomes utterly unputdownable and the action picks up to a fever pitch. I mean, I couldn't be away from this book for more than a couple of hours before I wanted to jump right back in.

I love stories where its kind of difficult to decipher who the good guys are. Just when you think maybe someone has emerged that can fill that role, something happens that makes you question your assessment. And that's where Miles Cameron is truly great at blurring the lines, making you doubt every assumption, he really keeps the reader on their toes with every intense scene and passage of dialogue. There is zero predictability in a Cameron book and as someone who can't stand when plots are predictable, it's why he's always been a go-to author for me.

My favorite parts of this book are the meetings between the gods where I couldn't really tell who was allied with who and vice versa. There were also some moments during those conversations and meetings that made me chuckle as Cameron defuses some of the tension with a good dose of biting humor. A few of these gods are quite gifted wisecrackers to say the least. And yet I could sense that at some point there was going to be a serious reckoning where all bets were off and it got pretty brutal.

Ultimately I really enjoyed AGAINST ALL GODS and see it as the beginning of yet another fabulous series from Miles Cameron. If you want something a bit different from the usual high or epic fantasy, this one should satisfy you on a number of different fronts. The battles are violent and dirty, the world is teetering on the edge of war, the mythology and magic are some of the best I've come across, and the writing as always is top-notch. You are going to want to preorder this one now so that you can begin reading it the second it is published roughly three weeks from now. Believe me though, it is most certainly worth the wait and you will be glad that you decided to start this wonderful journey.

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