"Infamy (The Godling Saga)" by Mohamed Omar is a gripping and immersive fantasy novel that transports readers to a world of magic, intrigue, and epic battles. Omar's storytelling prowess shines as he crafts a tale of power struggles, destiny, and the complexities of a fantastical realm. The book's vivid world-building and well-defined characters create an immersive reading experience that resonates with new adult and young adult readers. Omar skillfully weaves together elements of fantasy, adventure, and political intrigue, leading readers through a captivating narrative filled with twists and turns. "Infamy (The Godling Saga)" is an enthralling read that invites readers to explore a world where alliances are forged and destinies are fulfilled, leaving them eager to uncover the secrets and challenges that lie ahead in this epic fantasy series.

OMG! This book was a TRIP! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Malik! this book has it all, action, werewolves, demons, highschool hell and character growth. I found myself cheering when Malik triumphed and worried when he fell!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced copy of this book.

Unfortunately this young adult book was just a little young for me. I would highly recommend this to someone who liked Percy Jackson or even the TV show moon night. It was fun and fast paced but yet again I was not the intended audience.

Sadly I did not/could not finish the book, I read almost half of the nearly 400 page YA book hoping that the idea of the story would overpower the weak writing, but alas, it seemed more of the same. I really like the concept, and I really wanted to love the book, but alas I never cared about the characters, I didn't connect to the stresses or the fear or the intensity as the book plodded along. The buildup to answers that should be plaguing Malik are not present, so when backstory is given it means nothing. The book is all "telling" and no "showing" and it really has a lot of potential. Written in 3rd person, probably wasn't the way to go- it often dismisses chances to get more information or question hints. Had it been seen through the protagonists eyes, we would have seen why he couldn't ask more or felt why this hurt him or weighed heavy on him, it sadly reads like an unpolished draft. I obtained the book seeing that the author's name is a Muslim one, and with the main character being named Malik, I thought there might be some religion present. I have not been able to find anything about the author's religious views, and neither the character nor book as far as I saw involved any Islam or Muslims. The character eats bacon, the premise revolves around gods, the fantasy is rooted in a separate reality and belief system. The author is a college kid and it is his first book, so I'm not going to share this review widely on Goodreads or Amazon, I don't want to be harsh, the author has talent and skill, he just needs someone to help him make his story shine.

OMG! This book was a TRIP! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Malik! this book has it all, action, werewolves, demons, highschool hell and character growth. I found myself cheering when Malik triumphed and worried when he fell!

I've been having a hard time forming this review since I did not enjoy this book one bit.
I had to DNF at 4 chapters because I just couldn't handle it. I'm really sorry.

I'll start with the writing style. It definitely shows it's a debute novel. The style of writing was of someone trying his best but not quite delivering. 😅 A lot of editing was needed.
There was a massive amount of unnecessary details just dumped and thrown everywhere.
I also don't think writing this book in 3rd person was a suitable call. It just wasn't going well. I know so because the author wrote the prologue in 1st person and it was fine.
The prologue was the first and probably one of the only few things I enjoyed in this book.

To be honest, what caught my attention in this book was the author's name, which so clearly indicates he's a muslim. But well, now I realize not every muslim will probably be a practicing one 😅. There were so many elements in this book that sounded so wrong from the Islamic sense.
That didn't have me feeling comfortable at all. I realize this is a fantasy but religion is the most precious thing to me and furthermore this fantasy is set in our real world.

The plot was mostly just highschool kid teen drama and gosh do I not enjoy reading about those. The important parts were left out being too vague, not I wan't to know what happens next vague, but this is ridiculous type of vague. 4 chapters in and so many things happend yet I had no clear objective of what I was supposed to glean off this story.

Now, the characters felt off in the way where I was seeing them as kids not teens. Thats how they felt to me from how they were written, but at the same time there were elements of upper-teens involved. They just weren't built properly.
An example is: The whole wanting nothing but to date girls just didn't sit well with me, the interactions and flirtations felt like a joke and I couldn't take anything about the characters nor this story seriously.
The MC's feelings about the matter weren't even like a normal human being.
Who in the world thinks to himself "Malik noticed that Bianca was more than just cute; she was stunning. He was surprised he wasn't drooling on the floor right now." after a simple flirtation where in he acted like an embarrassed elementary school girl! Yes girl not boy, it was that bad watching his reactions 😩.

This book definitely needs more work on so many aspects. Thank you to the publisher and netgally for providing an E-ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I could not finish this book. The characters seemed nice, but their are too many introduced too fast for the reader to keep straight. The writing doesn’t flow well, and the plot is taking too long to get started. I could not finish.

Ratings 2 stars

*I received a review copy from NetGalley for my voluntary and honest review.

Infamy follows 16 year old Malik Blackwood, who is adjusting to moving to a new town. One night while out for a run he is attacked by three demons only to be saved by a werewolf. He finds out that the town he has moved to is a sanctuary for all kinds of supernatural creatures, which is why his parents chose this town. Turns out Malik may be the incarnation of the Demon King and in order to stop it from taking over him, Malik and his new friends from school must find the Demon King's tomb and destroy it.

First I do wanna say that I did like the premise of this book. There is a lot of potential for the series going forward. However I did have a problem with the writing style and characters. The characters felt very erratic and jumbled up. It felt like the writer didn't really know who he wanted them to be. That along with the writing made it hard to get through the book. Now I do realize the author is young and this was his first book and I do think that his next book might be better. I hope so anyways because like I said before I do believe this series has a lot of potential. I will try the next book when it comes out though.

While the writing could be improved in many ways, I enjoyed this story, and it was almost everything I’ve been wanting recently. I’ve talked about how I miss the kinds of YA paranormal books and stories we got as I was growing up, and how happy I would be if we got more diverse stories like them, and that’s what this was. It filled a hole that’s been needing filled for a long while, and I’m so grateful to have been given a chance to read this.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.