I honestly wasn’t sure how to rate this book. I really enjoyed the ending. I think it came together well, was intense, and left readers wanting more. However, I seem to have a disconnect with these books. It’s like the time line is off or disjointed. I find myself wondering if I’ve skipped thing or missed key elements. I get confused and wonder how I ended up where I’m at in the story. I don’t know if it’s just the writing style, but it makes it hard for me to flow through the book. It took me about a week for this book when it only should’ve taken 3 days. The characters are intriguing, so this book definitely has great aspects. It’s just choppy, so I never know what to think.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Godsdamn... that was something!
A bit expected, but thrilling nonetheless.

To just get the negative criticism out the way: There was a somewhat more redundancy to the language this time around. You can only read “dark” and “blood” and “monster” so many times before growing weary of hearing it page after page after page. But I get it. My other complaint is something I let slide in the first book, but here, it was a little ridiculous. And it’s simply this: I hated every time Nadya forgave Mal. Their romantic relationship still confuses me, and I am to the point where my dislike of it is 80/20 (it’s toxic). Whenever a character in literature says something along the lines of, “You hurt me, but this pull I feel for you is too strong. I hate you, but I love you.” And then they usually end up kissing aggressively... I will never understand it. Maybe because I’ve never felt that way before, but regardless, I find it infinitely annoying, and it just so happens to occur about a dozen times in this series between Nadya and Malachiasz. Betray > Forgive > Kiss. Rinse and repeat.

A few things: I have to applaud the authoress for her slow-burn building of the romantic relationships. I prefer it when they’re not so completely obvious. One was oh so very vaguely alluded to in Wicked Saints, but I was never really sure. And the fact that the LGBT inclusivity was amped up to 100 here in book 2 is surprising, but an altogether welcome surprise.

This book ups the dark and bloody content tenfold! It seemed as though every page a character was bleeding and/or stabbing something/someone. There’s a particular section that was especially grotesque and disturbing. It was very reminiscent of a gothic Hellraiser. For those passages alone, this book should be tagged as horror (and I do love that genre!).

If I were to say what I liked most about this book, it would definitely have to be how often I was constantly left guessing: Who to trust? What to believe? Was that a lie, or the truth? — There are no easy answers. Nothing is black and white, just shades of blood-spattered gray. The story deepened significantly, making the reading experience that much richer. Each of the three main characters (Nadya, Serefin, Mal) had/have the potential to be the one(s) whose journey is the correct (or, the most close to “right”) path, but their circumstances were always shifting and changing dramatically... and that’s exciting! The narrative for sure keeps you on your toes, and I totally dig that level of creeping suspense. Even most of the side characters (old and new) had their own side-plots/backstories elaborated on, and each were pretty intriguing.

I seriously regret getting to read this a year early, because I now have to wait TWO YEARS for book 3!!!!!

**Many thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book**

To finish this monstrous book on Friday the 13th and on full moon is a sign. A sign that this terrible, erratic, weird but beautiful book means something special to me. Three days of my life were solely dedicated to it. I was so engrossed in the story I couldn't properly eat, sleep, or do anything normal like interacting with people. But who cares about interactions when you have the whole world unravelling at your fingertips. Gods, this book is like a corrupted memory that gets stuck in your brain, infesting every cell with its maddening force. But I was a willing victim for the second time since Wicked Saints came out and captured my mind.

What I love about this series the most is how hard it is to grasp the reality inside the story: you never, for 100%, sure what is going on, you never know who to trust, you never fully understand that terrifying world inside the book. It's so gothic, so dark, so repelling with its bloody horrors coming off the pages, but it's also so unique and different from so many books I've read before. For sure, Ruthless Gods as well as Wicked Saints is not immune to cliches and eye-rolling situations. But it's nothing compared to the thundering of my heart in my throat because I am so terrified for the characters - of the characters and what they might do, what they might unleash. Nadya, Serefin, and Malachiasz mess up SO MUCH in this part, I can't even express with words how terrible they are but beautiful.

It's like Emily A. Duncan knows exactly what she is doing by creating absolutely irredeemable characters and making you care about them.
Because it doesn't matter how monstrous Malachiasz is.
It doesn't matter how delusional Nadya in her pursuit of holiness.
It doesn't matter how much corruption is inside Serefin.
YOU JUST SIMPLY CARE BECAUSE THEY ARE THE BEST DAMAGED CHARACTERS YOU WANT TO SAVE.

Jeez, I don't even know where to start with the mess this book was. Threads of the plot and events were so messy and twisted. So much happened I still can't understand. Don't even get me started on that ending! I've noticed Emily is getting more wicked with her endings. No mercy! The stakes are higher, the world is in chaos, betrayal is in the air!

Malachiasz and Nadya are still my OTP, and I will go down with this ship, I swear! I can't express in words how every scene, every dialogue between them hurts to the core. They care about each other so much, they don't want to hurt each other, but they constantly do: they betray, they stab, they regret. But they can't stop the vicious cycle because they are enemies on the opposite sides of the war. Gods, enemies to lovers is by far my favorite trope, but when you add star-crossed lovers to it, my heart is ripped out still beating and bleeding.

Serefin is my baby! I wanted to hug and take care of him. He's gone through hell and back, literally! The horrors that were done to him, the atrocities he was made to do - Serefin will never be the same, but I want him to be happy all the same. It's a conundrum, really, when you want a happy ending for the characters you love but deep down you understand they can't have it. Can they? I ask you, Emily A. Duncan, how much will they suffer before they can rest?!

And the plot, which was a nightmare full of unseen terrors! I wouldn't be able to explain the intricate web of terrible myths the author created, so terrifying but so real when you read and feel them. I love this book because it's so confusing and dark and refreshing and because its weirdness makes it stand out from other books. I needed something so utterly dark in my life. Though I must confess that I wanted some stuff to be a little bit 18+, but I am perfectly happy to prolong the depraved dream inside my mind *turns on the hot stuff*.

This review is a far cry from coherent, structured thoughts. But I didn't want to postpone writing it, because I wanted to catch the essence of my feelings, to re-read it later and to feel those fresh emotions rolling off of me after just finishing a book that made a lasting impression on me. It's the magic of feeling alive when for a long time you couldn't catch that fire with any other book.

Gods, I've missed that fire! And I hope book 3 will turn it into an inferno.

*For more visualizing, while reading this book, please check out author's Pinterest board. I swear, it's worth checking out! *shudder**

This book is incredible! It plays with your emotions and it's like being on a rollercoaster ride of pain and sorrow. Emily puts these characters through their paces, and they are constantly suffering all for her pleasure of making the reader cry the entire time. Everyone in this book deserves happiness and with each chapter I read, I could feel that hope getting squashed and my dreams of their happiness being shattered. Definitely buy this book.

Ruthless Gods
By: Emily A. Duncan
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis:

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.

My Thoughts:
First and foremost thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the early eARC in exchange for my honest opinion...
In her dramatic follow-up to Wicked Saints, the first book in her Something Dark and Holy trilogy, Emily A. Duncan paints a Gothic, icy world where shadows whisper, and no one is who they seem, with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.
Absolutely direvative, dark, and all consuming!! The power and energy of the writing never stops right up until the end... Even then it continue to grab you and pull you in. I loved every second back with the characters, their very unique and the building and world building is incredible. I loved the use of russian mythology mixed in there as well!! Truly cant wait this release and seems there may be a third book?! Come on Emily pleeeease tell me there is more of these characters and their incredible powers and world?!?!?!? Dont miss this release April 2020!!

Omg! This book was so good! I loved Wicked Saints and loved this one just as much.

I'm shook at that ending! WHAT IS THAT ENDING!? I really hope it ends well, in the next book.

I'm in love with Malachiasz and that's all there is to it. I love Nadya and so many in the book. Everyone is just broken. Can anything be fixed? I'm soooo freaking sad for so many! Please, please let this be fixed in the next book!

I'm leaving it at this as I don't want to give anything away, I will revisit my review closer to release date!

*I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for hte opportunity to read this book.*

Happy Reading!

Mel

I really was looking forward to reading this after Wicked Saints and was super excited to receive an e-ARC from Netgalley, but now that I'm finished with it, I'm just left with an overall feeling of confusion.

I'll start with what I liked, though:
I did like the theme of power. That there are all different types of power and different types of corrupting power. I thought that was interesting. I also really enjoyed Katya's character, although her reason for being involved was never explained, so I definitely have questions on that. She was intriguing to say the least, though! I also continued to enjoy Serafin's character. I thought his relationship with Kacper seemed more of a side note than an actual romance that impacted the story (like Malachiasz and Nadya), so I felt like that relationship detracted from the story. Other than that, I enjoyed Serafin's internal battles. Poor guy really struggled to understand who was good and who was bad and who he should believe and who he shouldn't believe. I related to him because I felt the same way!

What I didn't enjoy:
Why was Nadya trusting Malachiasz??? I just did not understand that at all. He betrayed her so many, many times yet she continually went back to him. That really annoyed me because it made zero sense to me why she kept putting her trust in him again.
The plot at many points became fuzzy and confusing. Even at the end, I was not clear on the story goal or the purpose. There just seemed to be too much going on and too many unanswered questions. Each character had their own goal but then each character was also uncertain of what they wanted and what their goal even was. The book ended up leaving me with a general sense of confusion.
Ostyia, Rashid, and Parj just fell in the background. They were lurking there, sometimes appearing, but didn't seem to have any bearing on the story. I enjoyed them in Wicked Saints so I wished they had more of a role.
So overall, I was just a little disappointed in this book. I had high expectations after Wicked Saints, and sadly, those expectations were not met.

WHIP OUT THE BLACK EYELINER AND CRANK UP THE HEAVY METAL
We're going on an adventure!

I must begin with saying that I am a big fan of second books in series. We already know the most important characters, we know the world, basic rules have been established. It's less introducing us to everything and more plot, more character development. Luckily, it was no different here. It felt a bit like coming home (well, if your idea of home are bleak, wet, snow-covered forests that house a bunch of monsters who may or may not want to kiss and/or kill you).
Emily A. Duncan has begun to craft a deliciously dark tale with Wicked Saints, and has only spun it further in Ruthless Gods - so much further. There is more of everything, more hurt, more angst, more betrayal (everybody is each other's personal hell basically :')) - more than once you are left to wonder who to even root for and it's the best thing), more lore, more body horror (so much body horror; it was wonderful), more romance too - just more, more, more. And that was exactly what I had craved after finishing the first book.

The writing hooked me from page one and has guided me through this fever dream of a monster book effortlessly and beautifully.
As I followed Nadya, Serefin (my snarkiest of moth children - I'd forgotten how funny he is) and of course the one and only Malachiasz - new #1 evil book boyfriend, it felt like I was sucked right into an eldritch nightmare and I trembled, laughed, cried and doubted right alongside all of them. We finally get to learn more about the gods the title mentions, and also get to explore the magic system (or magic systems rather) in greater depth.
Many questions are answered, but new ones rise in their place, and how I will survive until the next book - no idea. None whatsoever. All I know is that I can't wait to hold a finished copy of Ruthless Gods in my hands in 2020, and until then I will continue to blabber about it to anyone who will listen :)

Sidenote: I have seen the Something Dark & Holy series compared to the Grishaverse on multiple occasions, and have drawn my own comparisons from time to time, but it is very much it's own, distinctive thing; Emily's own tone and world. Much, much darker overall, and with a diverse cast of characters that is a hell of a lot lighter on the morals.
And for once I honestly find myself guessing about how all of this will wrap up - I have hopes that this series will continue to surprise me.

I was one of the people that really didn't care for book one. This one though hit it out of the park!! I loved it!! The writing was so much better and the story flowed so much more!! I still had issues connecting with the characters as a whole however, it is getting better. I feel like the author is really getting into the groove of how to tell/show a story and its showing in the writing. The ending to this one will devastate you to no end. And man I can't believe that I got this done so soon. Since this one isn't out until April 2010!! (this was reviewed on Sept. 2019 so feel my pain when I need the next title and have to wait almost 2 years for it).

Ruthless Gods....or as I prefer "Give me more Mal"......or an indescribably fascinating assemblage of words that left me IN MY FEELINGS .

This book is dark and bloody, both good things for the continuation of this story from Wicked Saints. The book is a road trip that splits the characters up into two groups, bringing them back together for the last of the story. This series gets compared to the Grisha series (which I also loved), but this is a darker book with an entirely different plot. I enjoy that the "Gods" are real in the story but not all powerful. The characters are all interesting, with romances that feel natural to the story. The ending left me anxious for the last book in the trilogy. I would recommend this book for teens and young adults looking for a thrilling, twisty, and fast-paced book.

I read the first book a little while ago and adored it and was fortunate enough to get a chance to read Ruthless Gods early through Netgalley. Let me just say, that this book blew me away. I stayed up very late reading it and I truly did not want to stop reading. The story takes place very shortly after the events of Wicked Saints and the action keeps coming. The characters are wonderfully done and literally everyone has an ulterior motive, which keeps you guessing about what will happen until the very end. Slight warning though, for anyone made uncomfortable by blood or eye horror, this book does get a bit gruesome, but its brilliantly done. The dark, gritty atmosphere was wonderfully written and I adored reading about this world. I can’t wait until the third book! I will definitely be buying a copy of this book on release and recommending it to all my reader friends. If you love dark fantasy, you will love this. Also there is a kick-ass heroine and the right amount of romance. Loved this book and it guaranteed that I will be reading everything this author writes.

So very weird and so wonderful. So vastly dark and deep. Everyone is whispering and everyone has so much to say. It's all so beautifully said and it's all lies. The forest is alive and wants to eat you.

I loved Wicked Saints with my entire weird-book-loving heart. I'm so happy to say Ruthless Gods is even better. Questions are answered. More questions are posed. They are all so anemic. EYE HORROR GALORE. It kills me that they're just children in over their heads. They're all so sad and have been through so much. THE SCENE IN THE FOREST CLEARING. Emily manages to make you understand just how small you are. And the freaking ending, yall, omg. 

I love this book so much and am in awe of it. I read Wicked Saints a second time immediately after finishing it. And I have every intention of reading Ruthless Gods again very soon.

Thank you so much, Netgalley, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even start with Ruthless Gods..

Well let me start with this, I knew Ruthless Gods was going to be good. In fact I knew it was going to be incredible..but this book is just so far beyond those two words. This book is EVERYTHING I have ever wanted in a dark fantasy. If you've read Wicked Saints then you know these characters are each so different but they all come together and their stories intertwine so perfectly. Nadya, Nadya, Nadya. I love her so much as a MC her character development is just incredible. Emily Duncan has done an amazing job with her character and has brought her so far from Nadya The Cleric. Malachiasz. M a l a c h i a s z. I have never encountered a character like this before!! He is everything!! His jumps between the boy and the vulture are probably one of my favorite things about Ruthless Gods. and of course, my love, Serefin. I just can't believe everything he's been through, the lengths that boy goes to just to be free (before you finish the book make sure you DIDN'T just eat -fyi) and who he has become.

I love all the characters of course - Kacper, Ostyia, Parj, Rashid, Pelageya and even Kostya - they all fit the story so perfectly and I'm very excited to see where the third book takes them.

Now what REALLY has me messed up about this book and why I haven't stopped thinking about it for two days now is , the mythology of it all. Emily Duncan has done such an incredible job putting together the myths, the legends and fusing them into the reality of this book. All the folklore come to life, the little passages at the beginning of each chapter (Vasiliev's Book of Saints, The Letters of Wlodzimierz, Codex of the Divine, the Books of Innokentiy) It all ties in so perfectly with the story and I always read them to see if I can connect them into the story, which of course you can. the world building just gets to me because it just all feels so perfectly thought you.


I'm not posting this to my goodreads or my blog yet because I want to go through the story one more time and be a little bit more in depth about it but seriously this did not disappoint and I'll probably be thinking about it forever. are there unanswered questions? of course but theres also a third book so i'm just going to tell myself everything will be fine until then!


Ruthless Gods gets a 5 out of 5 from me

The second book in the Something Dark and Holy series follows the bad decisions made by everyone at the end of Wicked Saints as all the characters continue to make worse and worse decisions.

Serefin, Nadya, and Malachiasz are each at the whim of the gods and their own power. Serefin is now the King and drinking heavily to cope, Nadya is looking for answers about what Malachiasz has become, and Malachiasz is...something. Each character is working towards their ultimate goal of ending the war, knowing that it'll mean betrayal and heartbreak. Eventually everyone ends up on a journey together to visit a forest where they'll learn the truth of what the gods really are, and whew, mistakes are made. There's lots of blood, incoherent and prophetic ramblings, and kissing, and this book's ending will make you desperate for Book 3. Ruthless Gods is heartbreaking, kinda confusing at times, and really really smart. I enjoyed it in a way that kind of hurt.

As with the first book, I devoured Ruthless Gods in a day. The books are infinitely readable while also being so dark and unlike anything else out there right now, and Ruthless Gods pushed that boundary even further. Did you think this was a nice if bloody fantasy about a girl who was going to win a holy war for her country? THINK AGAIN. The book picks up after that chill-inducing, if vague and insensible, cliffhanger of an ending and then somehow gets WORSE from there until it's impossible to figure out how the main characters will turn this all around for Book 3.

Heck, it's impossible to figure out if they even WILL turn this all around in Book 3. Whatever the conventions of the genre tell the author to do, she seems to like gleefully doing the absolutely bonkers things instead, and it all works. Plus, the descriptions of the world and the vivid politics that drive it get deepened in this book, making it feel even more real -- as terrifying as that is to conceive of now that I've finished this book.

This is cosmic horror at its finest. Nadya, Serafin, and Malachiasz pull no punches in this nail-biting tale of false divinity and intricate politics. Nadya struggles with new revelations; Serafin grapples with his new role as king; Malachiasz straddles the line between man and monster. Forces of darkness stir, orchestrating a macabre show. With heart-pounding pacing, intimate characterization, and a world hanging in the balance, Ruthless Gods shocks and tugs at your heartstrings. Plot twists are plausible yet wildly unpredictable. The ending utterly destroyed me. I eagerly await the last installment.