There were definitely good aspects to this novel. I loved the fact that the love interest was an Aboriginal young adult with aspirations towards ending up in parliament and the self awareness of what that would mean for his people.

I liked the fact that it was a full blown mythology set in Sydney, Australia.

The problem for me is that there are too many of these magical gay boy YA novel series', and that they hit basically the same plot points.

One minute, Connor is sad that his best friend Olly isn't talking to him because he's 'too boring'. The next minute, he's cutting class and coming across Sally who is breaking into his all boys high school in order to unearth a Monument, which is basically a god in this world. Shortly thereafter, Connor completely forgets about best friend Olly--who we never actually see on the page--and is in love with Locky. I really do feel, though, that Locky was the best character of the book.

An additional issue I had with this one was that I didn't think it was all that well planned. It read like something that had new ideas and mythology (like some light time travel) dropped in the middle of it without really foreshadowing it or acknowledging something like that might exist in the world earlier in the story.

There were a lot of times when my ability to suspend belief just... couldn't. I probably won't read the next book in this series.

I am not a massive Fantasy reader, but I am a big fan of Will Kostakis, so that's why I was keen to try this one. He didn't disappoint.. The great characters and witty banter were all there, alongside a group of, once buried, now very much in our world, Gods.
As a non fantasy reader I liked that the books had fantasy elements, while being firmly placed in present day Sydney.
The inclusiveness portrayed in the characters was also nice to see. This wasn't a book 'about' a gay character or an indigenous character...the were just people (for the most part), and their sexuality or ethnicity was just part of who they were... not a big deal, as it should be...just god to see representation across the board as a matter of course.

This has definitely been one of my favourite reads of the year. It was so much fun. I loved being able to read a fantasy that was set in Australia! I really loved the diversity too. The representation of a gay indigenous Australian was so wonderful to see. I loved Connor's relationship with Locky. The dynamics between Connor and Sally were really well developed too and I loved that Sally was such a realistically flawed character. The story of the monuments is super interesting and I can't wait to learn more about them in the next book! I had so much fun reading this and really felt like I was part of the adventure. Can not wait for the rest of the series.

A truly unique and intriquing story, set in Sydney, Australia!

The statue gods idea? Amazing.

I also thought that the characters were vibrant and well-rounded, as well as being diverse with both indigenous and queer+ rep, which is a huge plus!

The book was fast-paced, and the twists kept on coming. I couldn't put this one down for even a second!

Rating: 4.5/5