This book did not, under any circumstances, suffer from second book syndrome. Despite Emily A. Duncan saying it felt like a struggle at times, it was perfectly conveyed and well executed. When reading Wicked Saints, I was a little lost at the writing style that felt like much was left unsaid and gaps occurred between new paragraphs. However, in Ruthless Gods, Duncan’s writing goes to new, strong places. Her command of language excels and the reader is left feeling every bit of horror, of darkness the characters experience and exhibit. I physically cringed at times at the sheer creepiness of how characters were described and the dark things they had to do, but it was worth it and I found I wanted more as the book progressed and craved every new bit of darkness that kept being worked in. I cried, I mourned, I felt so much for these characters that the small bits of happiness they experienced was worth it, regardless of the consequences it would mean later on. Duncan is an evil puppet master, manipulating the characters and their experiences behind the scenes, guiding them to places they need to be while being horrifically cruel the entire time, but WE WANT IT. We as the reader crave every page of it, every word. I have no problems at all with this book and am anxiously awaiting the third which, will hopefully, refuse to end in happiness. While I want it more than anything, I can tell it isn’t in the cards for these characters and I am now wanting an honorable end for them. That’s all I can hope for now. I could read hundreds of more books like this and I am thankful to Duncan for doing what few authors are willing to do: forgo the happy ending for the road best traveled in darkness. Soul shuddering darkness. Bless you.

Do not let three stars fool you: this was a more enjoyable read than Wicked Saints. The editing of what book leaves much to be desired. While not perfect, Ruthless Gods is much better in that regard.

Also, I liked that the author listened to criticism re: drinking and unclear plot. Unlike book 1, Ruthless Gods does not portray drinking as something "cool", nor as a substitute for character traits/background. Similarly, the author made an effort to explain things (such as "what actually happened at the end of book 1"). These explanations are sometimes repetitive, but they show the author is ready to listen and respond to criticism. Also, she made LGBT representation clear in this one, which is also a plus.

It all made for a better book. Some people might dislike a somewhat slower first part, but it allowed for more character analysis, which was good. There is still a problem of treating Slavic-inspired folklore as too literal; the result is that of a very Western-feeling Gothic story that does not feel Slavic at all (more research would be nice), but the story finds more footing.

Ultimately, like book 1, the enjoyment (or lack thereof) rests on one character and the romance: if you like him (and his romance with the main character), you will probably enjoy Ruthless Gods. If not... Well, you probably won't be reading this one at all.

This may sound like a critical review, but I feel the craft has improved and the trilogy is getting stronger. A strong 3 star review from me.

I don't know what happened with this book. It's hard to believe that an author wrote a book were, for 500 pages, nothing happened. Only about 40 pages of this book actually mattered. Seriously; this book could have been cut in half and the story would have been so much stronger. I'm not sure why the author is celebrating writing such a long book when literally almost nothing happened.

Obviously, I have a lot of issues with this book. Again, no easy translation guide was provided for all of the phrases that are in a foreign language. About 20 pages in, I literally thought "Fuck it. If the author doesn't want to tell us what they mean, then they can't be that important." Some I could guess based upon context clues, but others? Forget it. I just read over them like they weren't there.

Things happen so quickly in this books that there were times I literally had no idea what was going on. The settings would change with almost no warning, characters would appear/disappear without warning, and after a while, I just kind of gave up. Gave up on every understanding (or caring) about what was going on.

The romances were a little ridiculous as well; especially the one with our protagonist, Nadya. Even though he keeps lying to me, I'm going to love him anyhow? Nadya, get yourself out of that emotionally abusive relationship and a find a new man/woman/non-binary.

Honestly, I found this book to be a bit ridiculous and way too long. I'm definitely done with the series here.

I want to start off by saying how blown away I am by this series so far. The writing is beautiful and the story line and plots (and twists!) are all woven together so intricately. I haven't been this taken with a series in ages. The lore and how it is shared and introduced is almost musical to me.

After reading the first one I was really hoping to learn more about some of the side characters and we got to see that this time. Especially with Parj.

Nadya and Malachiasz relationship stays as tumultuous and confusing as ever. I never knew who to believe or what was real with them.

A lot of the end I did not see coming which is always a big plus for me. This whole series is so creative and refreshing.

If I had any complaints is that I did feel like some of the details were over explained or that some of the journey drug out longer than it needed too. Could have been cut a smidge shorter in some parts of the story.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Serefin was dead, Malachiasz is the Black Vulture, and Nadya is scouring old texts, abandoned by her goddess. Her connection to the gods was already weak in enemy territory, but now, it is completely severed, and she should have killed Malachiasz when she had the chance.

Politicans are working to unseat Serefin fro mthe throne, Malachiasz is planning something terrible with the vultures, and balance of t all somehow rests on Nadya's shoulders. Abandoned, lost, and betrayed, Nadya must find a way back to her gods.

Wicked Saints was a highly hyped and excting dark YA Fantasy. Ruthless Gods, its sequel, has some mixed reviews. Ruthless Gods, much larger and more expansive than Wicked Saints, is working to set up a lot for the third book. Only problem, we didn't get answers. A lot happened at the end of Wicked Saints, leaving the readers with a sense of confusion and a list of questions, but almost all of these questions still remain at the end of Book 2 and more.

Malachiasz is a complex character, with an outwardly look of shyness, awkwardness, and lanky limbs. Nadya believe he is battlign with himself, but what we don't know is that he's got a lot of something up his sleeve, which unfortunately, we never find out in Ruthless Gods.

Serefin is having a hell of a time, his eye exploding into visions, only to find out that the god who brought him back has a request of him, otherwise, Serefin will continue to suffer the visions, and quite possibly kill himself. All the usual side characters are there, and unfortunately, we really don't learn much more about them, which is disappointing. And to be honest, Serefin's portion of the story was really lacking, and I found myself bored during his chapters.

All in all, this book was a bit more all over the place than the first, and the lack of answers and the wishy washy feelings of all involved was a tad annoying. I still enjoy it, and I'm curious to see where this series goes, but I missed the more light-hearted characters of the first book and the interactions there. NAdya was a bit too forgiving of Malachiasz, and it made the story harder to connect with.

I'm kinda sad cuz this was almost a four star, but I'll get into that in a bit.

The second book picks up right where the first left off. We follow Nadya as she struggles with the absence of her gods and Serefin as he deals with his new powers and tries to figure out what's happening to him. First things first: this book is so much bloodier than the first (how is that possible?) and I was all on board. But I thought I'd be upfront about that because I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, especially since it's borderline gory at points. I had no issues with seeing it, and thought it made the setting even grittier.

The world building and mythology is cracked open in this book, and I loved everything new we learned, especially about the "gods". I had a feeling in the first book that something was fishy about them, and this book fully delivered on that front. The plot of this book deals heavily with these "gods" and I thought the direction was so cool! I also loved Serefin and where his story went. (I keep putting quotations around "gods" because I'm still not convinced that's what they are. How Tranavian of me.) I thought his plotline was fascinating and was always itching to get back into Serefin's perspective.

My main issue with this second book is the same issue I had with the first: the romance. I like my enemies-to-lovers to be sloooow burn, like I think a lot of us do. This one isn't slow at all. And for a series with enemies-to-lovers romance, Nadya and Malachiasz sure do spend a lot of time kissing and pining. I just didn't buy it, so Nadya's chapters were hard for me to connect with or care about. Also, a lot of Nadya's decisions annoyed me. We're told multiple times that her power isn't reliant on her "gods", and that these "gods" have some shady motives of their own, but that doesn't stop her from siding with them against Malachiasz. To be fair, Malachiasz isn't exactly trustworthy either, but she doesn't have to side with him either (or keep making out with him).

And then, there was the ending. All I'll say is this: if you're not going to kill your darlings, don't kill your darlings. That's fine. Just please, please, please stop faking us out. We all know they're not really dead. I've seen this trope way too many times this year.

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed below are my own!

Rating: 1/5 stars

I had high hopes for this book, especially as I really enjoyed the first. Sadly, I felt let down and was forced to stop reading at around 42%. All characters in this novel were so supremely morose and hopeless-feeling that I personally started feeling morose and hopeless-feeling about the book itself. By 40%, everyone was still in such a state of deep depression that by the time our MC Nadya was reunited with the love interest and ever so effortlessly forgave him for his cosmic-sized betrayal, I just couldn't go on.

Plot: Nadya is a displaced cleric from the country of Kalyazi which has been at war with its neighbor Tranavia since time immemorial. Serefin is the young, new (pretty) King of Tranavia, who was tricked by Nadya into accepting her into his court. After the murder of his mad father, he is having a hard time keeping control of the nobility and does not know what to do with Nadya as nobles begin to question her presence at court and her role in the late king's death. They find that (along with their own friends, personal guards, etc.) they must work together to face the other powerful faction in Tranavia so that Serefin may reign in peace, possibly end the war, and all the while figure out what god may have been unleashed that is literally sucking the life out of Nadya. To do this, they must plead their case to the leader of the Vultures (a cult of monstrously powerful blood mages), the Black Vulture, recently gone mad from trying to destroy Nadya's gods. Ah, and the Black Vulture, Malachiasz, is brother to Serefin and Nadya's betraying lover. All three must trust each other to work together to meet their ends, but, everyone has their own agenda, and the likelihood of being back-stabbed is ever-so-high. Will Nadya succeed in righting a cosmic wrong, will Serefin regain control of the throne, is the Black Vulture lying to them both and STILL trying to destroy the cosmos?

Pros:
+If you are a fan of blood and horror, this book has it!
+LGBTQ rep

Cons:
-Previously likable characters have a case of stunted development
-Main SFC is denigrated to pining, love-struck MC (but hey, maybe she has a case of Stockholm Syndrome?)
-Too much, too lengthy focus on the hopelessness of the situation - instead of focusing on how wrong things have gone, why not talk about how to fix things, and make the plot more adventurous and lively?
-Repetitive writing (an immense amount of repetitive descriptions of pretty boys, blood and gore, and being confused about loving the wrong person)
-Pelageya: I understood she was a mad, but following along with her dialogue was very difficult and unpleasant.

**Thank you so much Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The dramatic and amazingly brilliant sequel to Wicked Saints has arrived! Ruthless Gods picks right up where book one leaves off. If you’re into dark, heart-breaking, fantastic gothic fantasy this is the series for you! Duncan doesn’t disappoint in creating a magically dark world to be totally captivated by. Only downfall the finale doesn’t come out until 2021! I need more!!!

I'm going to admit that I was really looking forward to this book because I enjoyed Wicked Saints but Emily Duncan is not lying when she says this one is darker and more horror like than the first. And unfortunately, I had to DNF this one for now because it did get too dark for me and I cannot handle horror. It's not overly graphic but it's definitely dark and highly gothic. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not my thing. I know plenty of people will love it though because she doesn't pull punches and goes all out with the dark aesthetic.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

I wasn't a huge fan of "Wicked Saints" in the first place but I thought I might "Ruthless Gods" a shot to do better than the first installment. I didn't particularly like this sequel either. Maybe it was because I read book one a year ago, but I was confused 80% of the time, mixing up names, incidents and relationships. I also thought the balance between world-building, story and character development was off. But it might have been me, but I didn't really enjoy it and skim-read most of it after a while.

However, if you liked "Wicked Saints" (and that's really a taste thing!), you can continue the story shortly after the first one ended. I like the mythology and the idea with the Gods, but all the YA tropes were driving me crazy (super hot kissing, but damn he's also evil, I might want to fuck him but can I? Oh, well, interrupted, no problem) and this wasn't for me, I'm sad to say. (I like the dark edges of it though, but again the escalation of things could've been timed better.)

2,5 Stars

I received an ARC from Net Galley and I am so grateful.

“I would have a god on his knees before me,” she whispered, her dispassionate tone strange in her ears. “I told you I would have you like this.”

This book was amazing. The story had me from the start and there is never a dull moment. Wicked Saints was good, Ruthless Gods is better. Definitely two of my favourite reads this year. Publication is soon, so add it to the list of must reads. I am a Malachiasz fan, even when he is at his worst. The monster, the lonely boy, someone seeking change. Serefin wasn't a favorite of mine until Ruthless Gods.

“You’ll play,” Nadya said... “You would have stayed in your hellish mines if you were not going to play. Did you expect to return and find everything exactly like it was before you burned it to the ground? There are only ever ashes after a fire, Malachiasz, and I’ll have you at my feet yet.” His eyes narrowed, the faint smile never quite dropping from his lips even as the air around him turned dangerous. His tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “We’ll see, pet.”

There is so much about this book that I loved. It’s darker and creepier than Wicked Saints. I loved the gods being introduced and seeing more of the magic and magical creatures in this world that Emily has created. There is nothing about this book that is black and white it’s all grey. The characters what to do what they can to save their country. Serafin, Nadya, and Malachiasz will do whatever it takes to stop the war and save their people, and some of those choices are not the easy choices to make. Some of those choices will hurt the people they love the most, or themselves.
Serefin- This poor poor human. He is stuck with an ancient god battle for control over his body, and yet still pushes forward to try and stop a coup of his people from taking him off the throne and controlling the country and continuing the war. He finds love (though we do not get enough of them together at all) and meets new a character along the what that could be an ally or could be an enemy.
Nadya- once again she is intertwined with Malachiasz on their trek to appease her saints that have now gone silent. I love her character because while she is still loyal to her saints and still mostly good, she teeters the whole time on the edge of being good or falling over the edge and doing bad things to save her people.
Malachiasz- how can you love someone so much who is absolutely terrible for the right reasons? Malachiasz is completely transformed from the ritual at the end of Wicked Saints in a grotesque eye-opening way. But he hasn’t exactly become what he was trying to achieve. How can someone be so terrible and so adorable at the same time? I loved all the scenes with him and Nadya. They are just so great for each other in a terribly unhealthy “I’m going to betray you” way.
Parijahan- There is so much more to her story that we don’t know, and I can’t want to find out more in the third book. Her friendship with Malachiasz is one of the most pure and real things in this book. For once there is a relationship that is good and is not based off lying or betrayal. Well at least for now.

What I like so much about these books, is that there isn’t a good character or bad character. They are each both of those. They are each determined to do whatever is they have to do stop the war and save their people. Even if that means becoming a monster, giving your body up to an ancient vengeful god, or betraying the person that you love. Everything is backwards in this book; you end up rooting for the characters you shouldn’t and hating the ones you should want to win. The cliffhanger at the end of this is a killer and I am dying to get my hands on the next book.

There's a lot to process here. A LOT. I want to say I binged this in a night and it left me broken and in desperate need of book three. Only half of that is true, but it's the good part at least. This is a binge-worthy book, and I wish I"d had the capability to devour it whole, but there's something to be said for savoring it over a few weeks. I can barely handle that ending, and I only just finished it a little bit ago. I need book three, like, right now. This book pushes the reader to edge over and over again, unapologetically and with such fluid grace at times you'll never even realize how close you are until you fall. It's gorgeous, in terms of writing. It's everything I could've hoped for in a sequel. It's lovely and horrific and nervous-making, when we're talking about the characters and their journeys. I cannot praise this highly enough, and I cannot believe I have to wait over a year for book three. There are so many pieces in play that will leave readers needing more at every turn. Fabulous book. I'd recommend this series in a heartbeat.

Duncan has a way of making you desperately want for things that are bad. Bad for the characters, bad for the world, and just simply bad. If you're like me, you'll find yourself reading this solely for the monster.

There are several characters in this series. Each character has their own motivations, which muddies the waters a little bit in an interesting way. We get the story from a few points of view, but we don't get a chapter from the point of view of the most interesting characters. It does leave the reader to decide on motives of the most complex characters, but I would like to know what they think of themselves. (Maybe this is where AO3 or fanfiction.net can fill the void, but I'd like some canon here.)

As the story progresses, the world is growing and changing. It feels like Duncan is setting up an entire world for readers to explore in the future. At times this extensive world-building can be a bit confusing - I am still trying to figure out how the magic system works and what are the gods, even? The confusion keeps the story interesting though and doesn't really take much from the story.

I always struggle reviewing an incomplete series because sometimes seeing the full story makes you reevaluate every book. As the second book of three, <em>Ruthless Gods </em>has the difficult task of carrying the story without resolving it, while also being a complete story without the other two. It does achieve this Herculean task fairly well. I am looking forward to the last of this series. </p>

I did receive an advanced copy of this novel from NetGalley in expectation of a review upon finishing the book. The views are my own. Thank you, Emily Duncan, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I tried to write a spoiler-free review as best as I could, but some things I felt needed to be discussed made the cut, so read at your own risk.

<b>what I liked:</b>
⁃ Unapologetic, self-serving characters! They’re rampant throughout this book, and that was great. I’d really like to see more of that kind of character in YA.
⁃ I appreciate the gory aesthetic Duncan is going for, and I like the twisted romance at its core.
⁃ The action scenes, though often cut short or left unexplained, were entertaining.

<b>what didn’t work for me:</b>
⁃ Convoluted plot for the majority of the book, with threads that were very difficult to follow.
⁃ *Nadya is the most naïve, contradictory, and indecisive character in the history of storytelling!
⁃ Malachiasz is constantly described as anxious, lonely, sad, or Tranavia’s #1 Super Soft Boy by everyone who comes in contact with him, while he doesn’t exhibit any of these traits! We’re supposed to feel sorry for his murdering and manipulating, because he picks at his cuticles to the point of bleeding due to a bad childhood? This “character development” is not good enough, sorry.
⁃ **Main characters don’t know anything and act like catatonic chess pieces to be moved at the will of others, while the side characters drive the plot forward by introducing questions or straight up telling the main characters where they need to go/what to do next.
⁃ SIX different POVs, which would be fine if done well, but their voices are so interchangeable that I often had to double check whose chapter I was reading. Katya’s was at least interesting, but Parj and Kacper’s did not add much to the story.
⁃ Setting is ambiguous, though it attempts to be atmospheric. I had no sense of space for most of the story, and the timeline is equally vague. Are we really meant to believe they spent 8 months travelling to a cosmic forest?
⁃ Cutting off the action as situations intensified by jumping to another character’s perspective, and not letting the action come to fruition once we returned to the previous character’s POV.
⁃ I’m still totally glossing over the unpronounceable words. They make it difficult to connect with certain situations or understand implications, but I say this as a westerner who doesn’t have a ton of exposure to Eastern European inspired languages.
⁃ Like WS, this book has problems with overused words, phrases, and syntax. Lots of boys, blood, and many em dashes. I made a list of the words that stood out:

Blood: 295
Vulture/vultures/Black Vulture: 273
Dark/darkness: 243
Boy: 189
Didn’t know: 104
I don’t know: 53

* Nadya berates herself for trusting Malachiasz so easily and claims she’s “furious” at his numerous betrayals, but in the next sentence immediately contradicts what she’s just said by trusting him! What the actual hell? I would completely understand their twisted infatuation with one another if it was explained well — or at all — but Nadya has <i>no idea</i> as to why she’s so drawn to him or why trusts him. She’s stunned when he deceives her again and again and again, after he’s said to her face that he would! It’s maddening! How can she be so blind and dim-witted when the evidence of Malachiasz’s villainy is constantly on display??? To quote a tweet I saw recently: Stop making excuses for people who’ve already shown you exactly who they truly are!

** And this is where we come to the most frustrating issue in the book: being in the minds of characters who don’t know what’s going on around them, what they’re going to do, and just generally don’t know their own feelings about any question or situation that arises.</b> The lack of introspection from was so surprising, it almost felt as if they were being willfully ignorant, and that does not make for pleasant reading. If characters don’t know the reasoning behind their own thoughts and actions, then the readers don’t either!

Unfortunately, I felt that many aspects of this story were messy. I was hoping it would be a great improvement over Wicked Saints, but it reads much the same, if not more confusing.

I am so thoroughly in love with this series! Nadya is as strong and loyal to her country as she was in the first book, and I love the growth of her character. Serefin is probably my all time favorite character because of his personality, and I feel like the author has written such real, three dimensional characters it feels as if I know them. I can’t wait for the next and final book in the series!

Why? Just why? Omg, why would you do that to Malachiasz and Nadya? I need the third book in my hands right now. You can't end it like that.

I loved the second book in this series way more than the first. The characters developed so much and loved the direction their stories were going. The ending was amazing and I can’t wait to find out what happens in the next book.

**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.**

Title Ruthless Gods (Something Dark and Holy #2)

Author Emily A. Duncan

Description from Amazon

Darkness never works alone…

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become.

As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone… or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

Release Date April 7, 2020

Initial Thoughts

The ending of Wicked Saints left me absolutely destroyed. That. ending. Wicked Saints was one of my most anticipated reads of the Spring and it did not disappoint. I was so excited to receive the email that I snagged an ARC of the sequel.

Some Things I Liked

Interlude chapters. I loved the structure of this book and I loved that the interlude chapters allowed the reader to see small insights into the minor characters’ POVs.
SO MUCH BETRAYAL. In a semi-twisted way, I loved that everybody was planning on stabbing everyone else in the back. Everyone in this book was totally ruthless and I loved every page.
THAT. ENDING. AGAIN. Fool me once… so Emily A. Duncan totally fooled me again. I totally thought I knew where the story was going but no, she had to throw in an amazing twist right at the end. I loved how the story kept me on my toes. And, furthermore, I am absolutely and utterly ruined now because I don’t have an ARC of the third book (which, from what I understand, isn’t even fully written yet).

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About

Gore. The story was a little gory for my taste. I can embrace it, because the rest of the story is stellar, but fair warning, it’s pretty dark and full of blood. This is not a book for the faint of heart.

Series Value

I thought the end of Kingsbane by Claire Legrand left me destroyed. Boy, was I wrong. Nothing could have prepared me for this ending and the inevitable waiting period I must now endure while I wait for Wicked Saints #3. I am totally hooked on this series.

Final Thoughts

Ok, confession time. I have had this book in my NetGalley queue since August. I just finished it yesterday. It was a slow start but I’m so glad I pushed through. This book was a fantastic sequel and I loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

The Crown’s Game and The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye – if you like Russian inspired, magic infused, romances, definitely check this duology out. It also uses alternating POV structure.
The Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo – this is another series set in a Russia inspired world. Also, as an added bonus, there is a very charismatic and magnetic villain (remind you of anyone ).
Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie – what a surprise, I am recommending another Russian inspired series. I can’t help the fact that all of these books have that in common. But, there’s more than setting that makes me want to recommend this one. Romance, setting, magic, and the politics all made me think of this book while I was reading Wicked Saints. Definitely give it a try.

I tore through the first two books in this series at a breakneck pace. I was so overjoyed to get approved for this one as an early review.

It's truly embarrassing to get caught crying on an airplane while reading - and this happened to me with this one. I'm glad to say that I was super engaged in this from beginning to end and I can't wait to see how the series concludes.

I'm in love with the characters and their complex motivations. They are truly multidimensional - I keep waiting for people to change their minds, but they are steadfast in their beliefs. It pushes the narrative forward and keeps people questioning motives throughout the novel.