Absolutely amazing as I expected it to be! I am so excited to get back into this world! When is book 2 out! LOL

Thank you for the chance to read early!

The book was enthralling! I love how the author creates the story and builds on it. It was such a great read and made me feel all the feels! I would 100% recommend reading this book!
This book was gifted to me by NetGallery, all opinions are my own.

The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman is an engaging and thrilling fantasy novel that will leave readers eager for more. The story is full of magic, adventure, and romance, and it takes place in a richly imagined world that spans the high seas, forgotten temples, and gangsters' dens. Kaufman has crafted a compelling narrative that will keep readers hooked from beginning to end.

The two main characters, Selly and Prince Leander, are complex and well-developed, with their own distinct personalities and motivations. Selly is a strong and independent young woman who is determined to make her own way in the world, even if it means defying her father's wishes. Prince Leander, on the other hand, is initially presented as an entitled and somewhat arrogant aristocrat, but as the story progresses, readers will come to see him in a different light.

Overall, The Isles of the Gods is a fantastic start to what promises to be an epic and captivating fantasy series. Kaufman has once again proven herself to be a master storyteller, and readers who enjoy richly imagined worlds, complex characters, and thrilling adventure will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for the eARC!

Amie Kaufman delivers again! I’ve been reading her books for a long time and I absolutely fell in love with this high stakes, high sea adventure. Kaufman has this amazing ability to write easily likable, relatable characters and The Isle of the Gods is no different. Her power really lies in the multiple POV, makes for a compulsive and exciting read. Looking forward to future installments!

I love and adore Amie Kaufman, but I found this book rather less compelling than others I've read by her. The characters, the setting, the plot are all... just fine. I liked the story. I have nothing to nitpick about. I can't point to any faults. I just found it somehow mediocre. I feel unsure if I will continue the series or not, even though I want to know what happens. I guess I'll have to wait to see?

This was a good book! I loved the writing and the characters were great. Overall, I felt like there were too many characters and I got confused at times, also with the world a little bit too. But it was good, and I enjoyed it for the most part.

This book is a phenomenal start to a potentially great series. Even as an adult reading it, it was intriguing and enraptured me as a reader.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley for this review copy.

Brilliant book full of magic and fast-paced adventure. It hooked me right from the start. I was a little concerned when I noticed that it is labeled a children's book but was glad that I read it anyway. The only thing I found difficult about the book was the several first person point of views

This is such a gripping fantasy novel and I was thrust in headfirst and loved it!! There was really great world building in The Isles of the Gods, and I was able to catch on to the magic systems and background pretty quickly which I really appreciated. The atmosphere of this entire book was incredible!! I just love a novel set at sea! There were tense moments and sweet moments and it all came together to create a really well rounded story. I adored our main character, Selly, who is a sailor who hasn't been able to access the magic gifted to her for her whole life. The tension between her and Leander was SO GOOD! And the one bed trope!!! It was so perfect. There was also really lovely casual queer rep sprinkled throughout the world!
One of the things that was a little bit more difficult for me while reading was the amount of character perspectives. It was confusing for me to figure out who was who at the beginning of the book, especially since it's written in first person. I personally prefer my multi POV fantasy novels to be set in third person just because it make sit easier for me to separate the characters and gain a more objective view of the world (though the characters are all pretty distinct so it wasn't too hard after a bit). Also I do recognize that the first person was helpful because of the magic system and how each person's interaction with magic is different (which is also a detail I loved).

I've been in the mood for a good fantasy and this book absolutely satisfied that need. I've read Amie Kaufman's sci-fi, so I was so excited to see her fantasy. This was such a good read. I can't wait to read the other books in the series as they come out as this was a strong start!

When I think of AK, I think of sci-fi collaborations. So I was really interested in reading a fantasy story written by just her. And I think this is a success!

The concept of old sleeping gods waking up to start a war is always a winner when it comes to fantasy. I had fun with the majority of the story taking place at sea and thought it was a very fitting atmosphere for both the characters and plot. The characters themselves have a lot of depth to them, the plot is engaging, and the writing is just so lovely and fluid.

The only thing that lessened my reading experience was the slow pacing. This is a pretty decent length novel with multiple POVs and an entire storyline taking place over only 2-3 days, so all that made it feel super slow. So much page time is spent setting the scene, building the world, and developing the characters. And it's done really well! But as a plot person, I just prefer more than exposition, especially for a first book in the series.

But if you enjoy character-driven fantasies about warring gods and appreciate AK's storytelling, then look no further! I have a feeling this series is going to be one of her best.

So so good. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. I was thoroughly immersed into the story by chapter 5. I held in and rode out what is quite possibly the only YA book I’ve read this year that I even liked. Highly recommend

WOW. Thank you a million times over to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-ARC. The Isle of the Gods was absolutely AMAZING. The pacing was steady and the characters well rounded, though it did take a little adjustment for me to get used to the many POV's. I'm already dying for the sequel! Formal review will be available on GoodReads, socials & Amazon.

I never read Amie Kaufman's books (as a teenager, the format of The Illuminae Files drove me off, and as an adult, I avoid Jay Kristoff), but I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover art and the interesting summary (waking up old gods? yes please!). It is with a heavy heart that I must admit, this book is mid.

It's OKAY. For a teenager who consumes uncritically, this could be a good book. It hits all the major points of a hero's journey and includes some chapters from the villain's point of view, which adds some spice to the narrative. The prose, itself, is very good and some lines even stuck with me. I almost decided to rate and review the book based on just this, since I'm probably not the target audience, but my rating is based on more than just personal preference.

A few things I couldn't reconcile were that 1) I didn't find any of the characters very memorable or interesting. The most compelling character was maybe Jude, but he had the least amount of screen time, or Leander, because he was a cutie pie. Maybe the rest of the trilogy will fix this.

2) I didn't find the villain's motivation believable. Not just Laskia, but all of Mellacea. They have no agriculture production because of their environment, fine, but their first solution is to do imperialism? This might be a shortfall of the world-building and Kaufman's own lack of political knowledge, but it felt lazy, at least. Doesn't create a compelling secondary villain. Laskia's perspective made for a more interesting story, but I couldn't buy the whole organized crime subplot. The reader is expected to believe that Ruby's gang, which we are told has a few nightclubs, is powerful and dangerous, because we are told so. I'm not sure what they do other than own some nightclubs and also Jude.

And 3) the world-building is shallow The gods are cool, but the story only goes somewhat in-depth for two of them. I would have liked to know more about the one god that died. The two countries of Alinor and Mellacea felt pretty much the same, even if Mellacea is described as physically different (being on a big slab or rock i think?) and the people apparently have different accents. It left something to be desired. Also, they have steamboats and cars (called autos) but no way to have long range communications. Radio communication was invented only a few years after cars were. Maybe it would have been too easy to be able to radio someone hundreds of miles away for this plot's purposes, but I was constantly asking myself "why is face-to-face the only way that these people can communicate?" But that might be nitpick-y.

The ending was cool, though. Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for the ARC!

This book kept me entertained and I flew through it. I recommend and would read other books by this author.

After that ending, I'm so desperate for the sequel I would commit a crime just to have it. WOW!

From the very start, this book takes hold of you. The writing style was perfect, effortlessly painting a picture of this world & its characters. AND THE CHARACTERS! Honestly, it's always going to be the characters of a book that make or break the book for me, and I absolutely adored every single one of these characters (even you Laskia but my god...). There are 5 POV characters throughout the book and I was invested in every single one (a rare feat to be honest!).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a special edition (Illumicrate? FairyLoot? PLEASE! I'm begging!). HIGHLY recommend this one if you're interested in: pirates, battling gods, wonderful characters, and endings that will leave you dying for the next book immediately!

Such a good book! Full of magic and fast paced adventure, the characters were so well written and that ending was phenomenal! Run to your nearest bookstore!

Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.

Amie Kaufman is just so brilliant, she could do a retelling of the phone book and it would be 5 stars. Her writing style is impeccable. The set up/prologue of this book really set the tone and had me hooked immediately. I actually love multiple POVs and this was done in such a way that every character was well fleshed out and I felt that I was gaining so much more of the story with each perspective. The banter was just delightful, the contrast in personalities made this just so well rounded. The magic system was well thought out and executed. This was near perfection.

I think my biggest issue with The Isles of the Gods lies in the fact that the synopsis itself was misleading. You read that synopsis and you think ok we’ll have 2, maybe 3 POVS in this book, but there’s a total of 5! Which is POV overload imo and if I would have known there was that many POVS I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.

Another big issue, that sort of stems from the first issue, was the pacing. It was very slow and for a novel that promises about large adventures, you need to make good on those promises fast before the reader loses attention, which is what happened to me. I just stopped caring.

I was really looking forward to this book, but unfortunately, it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a good read! I absolutely loved the characters and the journey they went through. The author did an amazing job of keeping the story interesting with twists and turns. I will be recommending this book to everyone and looking out for future books from this author.