This was a very complex and original fantasy, but unfortunately, it wasn’t for me as much as I wanted it to be. Where I appreciated the fact that it focused on the sisters, there is no ease into the world. You more or less get dropped into the deep end and told “good luck” and that’s not particularly my favorite thing in fantasy books. It was confusing and took a lot away from the book from me to the point where I couldn’t really focus or get into it. On the other hand, I enjoyed the dynamic between Kisare and Belili. I liked how they balanced each other. I really did appreciate how deep and complex this mythology was. I just wish it had been introduced with a completely and totally ironic sense of poise and rationality rather than catapulted onto me.

Wonderful book! 
Really liked reading this fresh and outstanding book.  It was a real pleasure to read it.  
Thanks for the publisher for the opportunity to read this in advance

Absolutely enthralled!!! I devoured this book!!! I loved the pacing, the premise and the characters! I highly recommend!men's this book to any fantasy lover!

It's a pretty unique fantasy book with a pretty complex setting. I wasn't prepared to love this book so much, on I started I couldn't stop myself until I finished the book.

This book held huge promises, with a plot just as we like them ... but is ultimately flat and bland. I was, at first, happy to discover this book. The first pages have me diving in the atmosphere pretty quickly: each chapter begins with a few lines on this universe's mythology and, most importantly, how were created nobles and fruits that give them their powers.
The first third of the book is there to establish the characters, their relationships, and their ambitions within the plot. But all this sounds hollow, flat, bland. As for the secrets that lurk around the two sisters, their revelations fall flat. The author never dwells on it: it is hardly if these big secrets are clearly stated. The reader must cling to what is given to them and make the connections themselves, or even guess the logic behind certain actions that are sorely lacking in the narrative.
Fortunately, I stood firm: the book improves at the two-thirds, when the sisters finally approach the capital Karduniash. But if everything does not improve as if by magic, the plot at least gains interest. It's almost enough to erase the bad sides of the narrative-building. The plot is accelerating and we are easily caught in ... for a disappointed end, or at least one that doesn't satisfy us entirely. I had the impression that the plot is not finished, that the book lacks chapters: it stops in full action, while we're giving the feeling that there will be no follow-up...

Without doubt the biggest black point of this book is the lack of depth of the characters. They seem flat, like in 2D, and without great motivation. The ambition that animates them is the one was given to them at the beginning of the book, and it does not evolve. The semblances of evolution, of development, came up abruptly. The decisions, the new feelings ..., it's a little as if it came out of nowhere. They appear suddenly and immediately are very strong: there is no room for evolution, development. And even less so that the reader can understand and identify with these cliché characters.

Nevertheless, the universe is very interesting and very well explained: it is the highlight of the book. There are four fruits and five hair colors, and each combination gives a different power: despite this alarming number of possible powers, Tracy does not lose us on the way. The powers are often remembered to the reader, without it being redundant, and especially (and I discovered that at the end of my reading ...) there is an appendix at the end of the book that lists all this.
Gods and magic are a huge part of the plot. Additional points also for the construction of society, its hierarchy and its rules, its different cities, its geography ... It might be missing a map, however, to better our way in space. But the country is very simply and clearly explained, and it's nice to discover more about the manners and landscapes over the pages

But despite this oh-so-promising universe, the rest of the book does not follow. I still put 3 stars out of 5 for this book, despite the negatives points, but the universe is very interesting and largely catch up the rest of the book. Fruits of the gods is nevertheless recommended to all lovers of pure fantasy and mythology - this side gets a big yes from me.

This was honestly so good!!  As soon as I read that first line, I was hooked! I'm at a loss for words. The writing style, the characters, the pacing and especially the magic system, were amazing.

The characters were fleshed out and didn't feel superficial. I liked that they were all diverse. From the description, you could know that one of the main characters is lesbian. You could say it was LGBT friendly and only one character was mentioned that he opposed to it but like in one line. One of the characters were transgender even but I won't mention who. There are only two main point of views in the book which are the sisters. I loved that they're opposite to each other especially so that they are the strength to the other's weakness.

The magical system was very interesting. I loved that it was limiting rather than continuous as the usual fantasy setting. The characters could use magic by eating godfruits and depending on the hair color, they could use different abilities. Due to this system, there's racism when it comes to the hair colors.

The story was great and despite the romance being instalove somewhat (I'm not a fan of instalove), they aren't the main focus of the book. Heck, the romance doesn't even progress until close to the end of the book. But because of that, I wished that Kisa and Hbelu had more time to develop their relationship rather than happen off screen when the book finished.

The ending left me wanting more since it ended without an exact resolution. It's easy to know how it'll end up but I wasn't satisfied with the open ending mostly because I wanted to see more of the romance of the main characters.

Overall, it was a great read and I love this book so much. The pacing is great and it was nice to read a standalone that didn't feel rushed with great world building and magic system. The mini stories before each chapter were a delight since they told the history of how things developed the way it did.

TW: mentions of rape, slavery and the abuse because of it, and a bit of incest though not mentioned a lot.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

With a unique magic system, and stellar writing, this book is definitely not one to miss. 

My absolute favourite part of this book is the magic system. The idea of eating fruit to be able to cast magic is one I haven’t encountered before, and it imposes a whole new system of rules for accessing magic. Add in the complication of different hair colours getting different abilities from eating the fruit, and it’s fantastic. I am very glad that the book came with a handy little guide for keeping the abilities base on fruit and hair colour straight, cause I definitely needed it. The other thing I loved about the book was the writing. I find William Tracy’s writing so easy to get lost in, and he definitely delivered with this book. 

Where I found myself falling a little out of love was with the characters. I generally found myself cheering for Kisare and Belili, but I’ll admit there was places where they didn’t feel fully formed, and there was a twist that I felt kind of came out of the blue, though it’s certainly possible that if I were to read the book again, I would notice the breadcrumbs. 

All in all, a fantastic read with excellent magic and beautiful writing. 

I’d recommend this to fantasy lovers, and especially those who are looking for more diversity and like to encounter new magic systems!

Warning: Mentions of rape

This had a really interesting and complex magic system, I really liked how it was based on fruits and how they had different affects on different people. I did however find it a bit annoying how limited their power was, you need to have a lot of fruit to do much and if you have no fruit then you have no power.

While I found the magic and history of the world interesting I found the story was very slow moving and unfortunately I just couldn't connect with the characters. There was a lot of running away from enemies and talking and because I didn't really care about any of the characters I found it hard to get invested.

I found it disappointing that there wasn't much character growth and the relationships didn't seem particularly deep or compelling.

I think this would be great for someone who is looking for a complex and unique magic system and world building but doesn't need to connect with characters to enjoy a story.

Fruit of the Gods is a unique fantasy novel with a surprisingly complex system of magic. It navigates the tropes of the genre with relative ease, delivering a story that bypasses overly predictable beats. 

For the most part, I was immersed in Kisare and Bel’s world, enriched by the imaginative culture the author created and surprisingly delighted by the fact one of the main characters was gay. But still, I felt some parts of the book were too dense and it slowed the pacing down to a slog at times.

The characters too, were not always as fleshed out as they needed to be. The alternating perspectives between the sisters also made the book far more confusing than it should have been. I wish the chapters were marked with the name of whichever sister would be narrating each passage instead of it randomly switching back and forth.

Still, I appreciate the novel’s ingenuity and I enjoyed myself reading it.

This book sadly wasn't for me, i could'nt get invested in the characters or the story that happened. But i liked the cover page and maybe this book is for someone else.

<I>Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review</I>

A fantasy devoid of romance or without a band of heroic misfits? I never knew it was possible, but here we are folks! Fruits of the Gods gives us an adventures based solely around two sisters and their journey defying what fate has chosen for them! Such a unique story filled with it's own magic system and world building. (side note, the magical fruits really reminded me of the anime/manga One Piece if any of you know what I'm talking about).

Let's dive in to the best place to start, the beginning. Imagine living your life in a blue world, seeing only blue and then waking up and seeing every single color but blue and being told to continue life just like it was. That is what the beginning feels like. It was very intriguing, but so sudden and "in your face" that it was hard to understand the significance of the storyline that was playing out or really get what was going on at all. After tripping through a few chapters and feeling my way through Tracy's writing I enjoyed this book much more!

This book is very dark and twisty and is mentioned on the Netgalley page as such to warn readers, this is slavery we are reading about after all.. I did not find it to be overwhelming to the point in which I could not carry on, but every scene with a new beating or torture made me grind my teeth with distaste. I though Tracy did a beautiful job at making really feel the truth of what the sisters went through in that way. 

Each sister is unique in her own and while I felt that Kisare shown more through out the story (ex. more dialogue, chapters, development), Belili too had her own demons and secrets she worked through. Their adventure entails traveling with gypsy like people, hunting down and deciphering ancient mythology by the old gods so they may find out how to create peace and freedom for all using the fifth god fruit. 

If you love ancient Greek/Egyptian mythology, adventure, sister power, epic world building, and unique magic scale this is for you!

I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
I didn’t dislike it to the point where I didn’t finish it, but it didn’t hold me.
It started off bleak, with violence, and while I liked the idea of the world they lived in, it just have it for me.

I chose to read this because it looked fairly interesting but I didn’t expect to find myself so absorbed by the story. Sisters Bel and Kisa are slaves for an orchard owning nobel whose temper and lack of patience with his slave it to be feared. The punishment for running away is brutal so not many slaves attempt it because they are always caught. One evening, while digging a hole beneath a god fruit tree to bury the master and mistress’s miscarried child, Bel and Kisa make a discovery that they hope could change their lives.

The world they live in has a hierarchical system based on hair colour and the magical ability they get from eating any one of the four god fruits. However, all blondes have no powers and have been enslaved by those with streaks of colour in their hair, the nobles. The bigger the streak, the more power they can harness from the fruit. The nobles and slaves are all subject to the Dyad, incestuous twin brother and sister who each have four colours in their hair.

The story is told from both Bel and Kisa’s points of view. Their experience as slaves and the mindset of being subservient is well expressed through their actions and characteristics. Something about them had me completely engaged in the hope of their success. Their bid for freedom and the dangerous quest they need to undertake in the hopes of securing is largely the focus of the plot. There is an intimation of love but it’s barely there.

It’s not a nice world they live in and the telling of the story is suitable dark. There are a number of warnings on the Netgalley page and while this is definitely a darker fantasy read, it is not as explicit as it could be. There is some violence on page but most of the dreadful things that happen to the slaves is expressed as happenings of the past and much more subtly than expected. Although, sometimes, understatement can be so much more powerful.

Book received from Netgalley and NineStar Press for an honest review.

I can see some people liking this book; however, it just wasn't for me. The writing was okay, nothing to complain about. The story... I did not finish this book. The world-building was well developed and the characters were okay but the story was just too dark for the mindset that I'm in today. The book contains things like: abuse, rape, torture...and a bit of incest. So...it might appeal to those that like Game of Thrones? The story--at least the bit that I read, which was about 1/3 of the way through, wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. If dark fantasy is was you're looking for...buy it because you'll probably love it. 

Would I recommend? Depending upon the person asking, sure.

The plot was not as involved as I was expecting it to be, and some of the time jumps confused me for a moment before i got back on track. But overall an interesting and complex story. The world building was well done, especially with the addition of the brief explanations before each chapter.

This book has very interesting worldbuilding. I liked the concept of power going from the fruits. I also really liked prechatpters passages when we could find out a lot more about the world our protagonists live.

The plot is interesting but it lacks complexity. Also I wish the proste was a little more expanded. There were times when the story skipped from one event to the next with no time and I was a little confused what was going on.

Also I think that characters were a little bleak. They had potential to be a lot more explored so we could realyy start to care about them.