The first line of the book is beautiful and definitely the reason I continued reading. Sometimes authors don't pull you in by the first words, but I found this one did. The dialogue is real and natural as opposed to some other writers that the dialogue would feel only written and never actually lived. It is well-written and definitely worth the read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Goddess of the North by Georgina Kamsika is an innovative, genre-bending mix of fantasy and police procedural. Sara Nayar is both a Detective Inspector and a Hindu Goddess. As a minor goddess, she possesses the ability to stop time for split seconds. Here are two quotes from Chapter One where Sara explains her powers in relation to other gods:

"Humans think we're special. We're not... In my family, the top three gods - Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva - get all the god-juice, while the tiny amount that trickles down to me, one of the million aspects of them, is barely enough for me to play with time the way I have right now."

""I'm not the Saraswathi - guardian of the earth, sister to Lakshmi and Ganesha. It's just a name I've picked for this particular human lifetime, because I'm a tiny aspect of her, a million times removed... I certainly don't have Auntie Lakshmi's powers of luck. If I had, I would've lucked myself far away from this."

The story starts with a murder that Sara is sent to investigate. She soon suspects that other gods are involved. In the author's fantastic fantasy world, the real-world city of Sheffield is filled with gods, fae, and other magical creatures that disguise themselves as humans so that they won't be found out. The story includes characters from Hindu, Old Norse, and Greek myths, among others. I found this aspect of the world-building to be very interesting. The blend of murder investigation and fantasy reminded me of another wonderful book I read recently: A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark. Although that book was "deeper," I found this one a bit easier to read.

One highlight of this book was the protagonist Sara. As an Indian, she has to deal with racism from white people in England, and I thought that the way the author weaves those PoC experiences into the plot of this fantasy novel was flawless. I enjoy fantasy books that reflect real-world problems. Her relationships with other characters like her mother and her love interest Higgins were also interesting. If you're looking for romance though, there was probably only one chapter devoted to their relationship with Higgins. The majority of the book was focused on the police procedural aspect of the plot. Overall, I highly recommend Goddess of the North for anyone look for a fresh mix of fantasy and police procedural. I found this book to be very original and a fun read as well. If anything from the description intrigues you, you won't regret giving this book a try!

Sara aka Saraswati is a minor goddess in the Hindu pantheon while also being a copper in the Sheffield police dept. She gets drawn into a murder investigation that is rather supernatural. She along with fellow investgator Micheal(who she is not attracted to) get further entrenced into the mystery while Sara is also dealing with Norse gods, Greek gods and her mother who is also a goddess. Ugh!! Mothers.

This was such a fun, delightful, smartly written, well paced book that keeps you wholly engrossed. Sara's spat with her amma(mom) is very enjoyable as well. She keeps trying to feed Sara into forgiving her. There is a lot of geeking out on British history and Indian food. The resolution of the murder was well done as well.

Give it a look in, guv if you haven't. (I hope I did that right)

short review due to disabilities
i love the premise of this: goddess is a detective walking the streets (almost Dresden and RIvers of London in feel)
felt unique and great dialogue and writing. Drew me in.

A fun urban fantasy detective story filled with rich mythological details, this novel asks the question what if a goddess walked among mortals to solve crimes but also had to deal with paperwork, sexism in the workplace, and a slight godly identity crisis.
Sara, secretly an aspect of a Hindu deity, works in the Sheffield police force while dealing with a meddling trickster mother and an overly attractive police partner to solve a mysterious set of murders likely caused by a deity from another pantheon. She’s forced to confront other deities and her own past in order to serve justice. and find her own truth.
I liked the world building and the relationships between characters here. For having such a fantastical set up, the story was very comprehensive and everything felt fairly logical and down to earth. The magic set up and action scenes were vivid and cinematic. Issues of race and LGBT+ acceptance were lightly but respectfully touched upon. There were also some great scenes with food that really aided character development.
Initially, I was expecting more something like Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series (which I love) but was pleasantly surprised it was more like Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series meets Kierstan White’s The Chaos of Stars.
A very pleasant read and the ending felt complete and without the need for a sequel, though if other books follow, I’ll definitely check them out.