An intense adventure story that brought me back to the times of older fantasy. Less focus on romance and more at the task of saving the world. I really fell for one character that i wanted to see get her child back and eagerly read through the other chapters so i could get back to hers. I eager to see how all the characters line up together and how the tainted and whole group of them being together plays out.

I really got pulled into this Norse-inspired fantasy world. The setting is super detailed, with gods who have fallen and left behind all kinds of crazy powers and problems. The magic stuff tied to their bloodlines made things more interesting. The story follows three main characters: Orka, a tough mom out for revenge; Elvar, a warrior trying to prove himself; and Varg, a former slave who wants payback. I liked watching their stories unfold and seeing how they change. The pace is kind of slow sometimes, but that gave me time to get to know the characters and the world better. When the action did kick in, it was pretty intense and kept me hooked. Overall, it’s a strong start to a series. If you like epic fantasy with cool characters and a world that feels alive, this one’s worth checking out.

Shadow of the Gods is my first book by the beloved author, John Gwynne and wow did this book take me for a ride! This book centers around three main characters all from different backgrounds in this world and all with their own personal vendettas. Varg sets out on a mission to avenge his dead sister. Orka sets out on a mission to find her stolen son and avenge her dead husband, Elvar has taken a stand against becoming a wife and mother as her father has destined for her.

This book felt extremely Viking-ish in both world and characters. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy fast paced stories and action packed the whole way through. I can't wait to see what happens next in book two!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for allowing me to read a copy!

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne is a totally gripping, action-packed fantasy that’s perfect if you're into epic battles, magic, and revenge. The story takes place in a world where gods are dead, and their bloodlines are still causing chaos. It follows three main characters: Orka, a badass warrior out for revenge; Varg, a guy with a dark past trying to survive; and Elvar, a young warrior who’s ready to prove herself. All of them get pulled into this big mess involving ancient powers and dangerous enemies.

What I loved about this book is how intense and brutal everything is. The world is harsh, and the stakes are really high. The characters are complex and all have their own goals, but they’re also dealing with some heavy stuff, like guilt, survival, and figuring out who to trust. Orka was probably my favorite, she’s tough as nails but also shows a lot of heart. Plus, the battles and the action scenes are insane.

The world-building is seriously on point. Gwynne creates a world that feels super rich with history, mythology, and all sorts of dangerous creatures. The pacing is solid too, keeping you hooked without getting too slow.

Truly an epic fantasy in ever my sense. The battles, the setting, the characters. The cover art also is extremely gorgeous.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for an eARC of The Shadow of the Gods.

I love John Gwynne. His books are always bloody but heartfelt. And there is always a major battle at the end of every single book that will have you turning the pages as fast as you can. I feel like this is akin to the infamous “Sanderlanche”. The “Gwynne-alanche”? I’ll keep workshopping that one.

It was interesting to see how these stories came together in the end and I look forward to seeing more of these relationships. I think I’ll jump on board with most of the other readers and say Orka is the best, most badass character. I’ll be picking up The Hunger of the Gods next and anxiously awaiting The Fury of the Gods. I hope John Gwynne never quits writing because his books are always something I can get into with ease and enjoy every step of the way.

John Gwynne does it again.

This time he brings us a fresh new world inspired by Norse Mythology. He gives us an amazing cast of characters that we follow throughout the journey. Some I liked more than others.

I can't wait to see what comes next in this world.

This was AMAZING!!!!! What an action-packed fantasy!
Orka has become one of my favorite characters-period. This was the first Gwynne book I've read, even though I own a few sitting on my shelves and it certainly won't be my last. I haven't picked up a fantasy book in a while and this just rekindled my love for this genre.
World beautiful was engrossing and beautiful-the character development and how so many characters were interweaved into the story effortlessly- has been some of the best I've read. The battle scenes were EPIC. Horror elements with the gods and creatures made this superb.

I recommend it to those who like a more fast-paced fantasy read-where battle and warriors are at the front.



I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review—my thanks to Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this incredible story.

After hearing about this book online for months, it was finally my turn for the audiobook at the library, and I was excited to dive in! The length was a bit daunting, but I’ve read my fair share of dense books, so I knew it was doable.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book, and I’m quite excited to continue on with the series. While this book isn’t a new standout favorite, I did like my time spent listening to it. It was extremely dense at points, something I usually really enjoy, but it made some scenes feel unnecessarily slow. The POV switches also worsened this at points, because it felt like they were kept fairly split, even when some POVs were much more exciting than others during certain points of the book. While the excitement was actually balanced well between the narrators, there were also plenty of moments where a specific narrator didn’t have too much going on, and their chapters started to feel repetitive and stagnant until it was their turn to get exciting again.

When it comes to the writing style and description, I’d say I generally liked it! While it’s not something I particularly noticed, and there weren’t specific lines that stuck out to me, it was descriptive in a perfect way for audiobooks. It evoked scenery well, and I could visualize things quite clearly, consistently. I also thought the fight scenes (and there were many) were quite well written. It’s easy to lose a reader in these scenes if not done well, but I felt like I was able to follow them quite closely, and it made them much tenser for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I’m extremely intrigued to see where this all ends up going. It did feel like a lot of this book was setting up pieces that will be connected later, so I feel like I could love the sequels if they do a good job of putting all these pieces together. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing everything click into place, especially after such a long build-up!


Review will go live on my blog on March 13.

This author is my wife's favorite fantasy author right now, she's been bingeing all his books and been super invested so I'm happy that I got to read this. It was a lot! The world building was extensive and this story is adding so many layers, I have no idea where it's going and am very interested to find out. Honestly I have nothing bad to say, it was excellent. I struggled reading in places but only because I'm not used to high epic fantasy and there was a lot going on.

This Norse Mythology inspired novel is a must read for any fantasy lover. John Gwynne's ability to balance world building with character development proves him to be a master storyteller.

Even though you follow three very different POVs, you will definitely find yourself loving all the characters, and not just the main ones! There is so much emotion involved and each of the main stories, I simply cannot choose a favorite. And those last 50 pages? wow!

With its nonstop action and incredible characters, you won't want to miss this one. I need the second book immediately!

I wish I had enjoyed this more. I did suggest it to my husband after reading though. While I love fantasy, I think this just wasn't the right one for me to read so it didn't make the experience better for me. I think my husband would be a more appropriate audience.

Gwynne's first book in the Bloodsworn Saga is filled with colorful characters, a fantastic sense of world-building, and just enough action to keep the plot progressing. The story (stories) is told via randomly alternating chapters led by one of the three main characters: Orka, Varg, and Elvar. I was very interested when I found out this was a take along the lines of Beowulf and Ragnarok, but I just couldn't care about the characters. It has taken me over a year to get through this book, which is rare for me, particularly since I am a huge fan of the genre.
I even bought the book to see if I was simply struggling initially because of having the dARC, but that didn't help either.

I am sure that fans of Gwynne's works will at least enjoy this if not love it for years to come, but for me, something seemed missing.

Shadow of the gods is action pack. the story never gets boring the characters, you feel their pain and heart ship. travel through the vast lands of Vigrith, with three POV characters. which each story is practically a book itself. if you are looking for a good norse inspired novel. this is the one you must pick up.

Overall a strong story that kept me engaged for the majority of the book. There were times the pacing was a touch slow for me and the jargon at times hard to keep up but still a good book. Will continue to book two

What a ride! What artwork!

I read these two books back to back and rather than just write a review for book two, which comes out today, I wanted to give some space to both. Please don’t skip to the second book, the first is essential to the series.

Note: I’m going to be very careful not to put in spoilers since this review is really for the first two books in the series.

This series is very hardcore. I’m generally not a big fan of Norse/Viking tv shows or books as a general rule. That’s probably because I have so little knowledge of their mythology (I mean besides Thor as represented in Marvel movies … I know that means I have next to none right!) This type of book also tends to be more heavy handed with violence and brutality, which I’m not a huge fan of, but when a story is as well written as this then none of that seems to matter to me.

The series follows three characters closely, and what I like about the way the structure of the novel is that these characters are very distinctly from different social spheres and their life experiences helped me as a readier to easily acclimate into a VERY unfamiliar setting. I admit, I did have some trouble following along at times, trying to remember which group was involved in which location. I don’t think that’s a problem with the book as much as a problem with me being able to follow along. My concentration is not at it’s best.

With that it mind, one thing I absolutely loved about book two is that it came with an introductory recap for the first book. That is a LIFESAVER for a reader like me. I was fortunate enough to read these two back to back, but if there had been a gap between book 1 and 2 I’d have been hard pressed to remember what was going on. I wish more writers would include those. That being said, I’m sure they are not the easiest thing to make and so I understand why they don’t.

Apart from the technical aspects of these books, the story itself is brutal, visceral, adventurous and compelling. I liked reading about all three of the main characters, and I have to admit my little feminist heart enjoyed that two of them are such badass women. They are not the only two either! There are tons of shield-maidens (shout out Eowyn!) in this book, as well as women who are in very high political positions and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed the heck out of these two books, and am eagerly awaiting book three.

I really enjoyed this book and am excited for the rest of the series to come out! I appreciated the strong female characters.

(Review excerpt. The full review can be found at the accompanying link.)

Gwynne’s story is set on the continent of Vigrið, in a secondary world inspired by Norse legends and Scandinavian folklore. Three hundred years in the past, the gods of this land wiped each other out in their own Ragnarök, with such devastating results that it opened a crack in the world, releasing monsters called vaesen across the landscape. The story presents us with a harsh and violent world, where cold winds blow across desolate hills and valleys and along winding fjords. Yet, people manage to scrabble together a society in Vigrið that functions under the governance of local jarls, who keep slaves called the Tainted — magic users in whose veins the blood of one or another of the vanquished gods flows — to enforce their authority. Vigrið also has a queen, Helka, who is attempting to unite the country by getting all the jarls to swear fealty to her.

Gwynne’s world building here is not only Ridley Scott levels of immersive, he has crafted it with great care to appeal to the widest range of potential readers. Gwynne himself is a Viking re-enactor, so he knows a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to shield walls and warbands, and his richly realized setting will draw in fans not only from TV shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom, but from games like God of War and Skyrim. Not to mention history buffs themselves.

Oka Orka orca she was hands down my favourite character not that the others were not excellent as well but she took my heart. I cannot wait for the next instalment . John Gwynne knows how to weave a gripping story.

Elvar, Orka, and Varg are the main characters in this epic novel, living in a world in which only the bones of the gods remain. With the promise of great power to those who seek out the buried, are the motivations of the searchers pure? Will evil prevail?

There are two main issues regarding this novel that are detrimental to its success. One, the three perspectives are presented in short chapters without any threads tying them together for much of the book. Two, in the author's zeal to present a complete and perfect world view, the story gets bogged down in the details. The novel could lose around a hundred pages and would be better for it.

Readers who like fantasy will consider The Shadow of the Gods to be a good start to a new series. Although the book is slow to start, the ending hints at a promising sequel.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Shadow of the Gods by NetGalley and the publisher, Orbit Books. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.