This is an amazing fantasy book, which I loved, and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook, which had a wonderful narrator.

The story is about Adelais, who is a magical being who helps a prisoner escape before she runs away with her new companions, the last of the Guardians. Adelais must use her magic to fight the dark ones, and save those she loves.

The book is full of adventure, and it is fast paced and exciting, with a lot of great writing, and many details, all making up a tremendous story. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

What a brilliant start to a new series! every now and then I like to swap genres and jumped at the chance to read this. The blurb totally sold it to me. Yes you read that right….I actually read the blurb for a change haha.

Hammer of Fate is pure ecaspism and takes us on a journey full of magic and adventure, when we meet Adelais. Asking the question…is she an angel, demon, prestess or a witch?!

I listened to this audio and I absolutely loved it. The narrator has done a brilliant job and made me feel like I was watching a movie. I can feel it in my bones that this series is going to be epic. I am a fan of The Witcher and feel there is an element of this in the story.

It is a story that transports you into the world of fantasy and another universe.I love the characters and the character development. In fact I loved everything about it. I couldn’t listen to this fast enough.

Hammer of Fate is fresh, exciting and flipping fantasic. All I want to know now….is when is the next book out?!

Thank you to Bookouture for a copy and for invited to kick off the blog tour. All thoughts are my own and not biased in anyway.

Excellent audiobook loved listening to it. Great characters well plotted with plenty of action. A fantasy novel that's down to earth, not too many strange names. You could see it was based around the Templars but in original way.
Matt Addis make this audiobook with his excellent narration hope he narrates the next books in the series.
I received this audiobook from Bookoutre audio and Netgalley for a review.

2 stars

This had so much potential but between the super slow pace and the religious aspects of the story, it lost me around the 35% mark.
The narration was engaging but plot wasn't so I struggled to enjoy this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Hammer of Fate by G.N. Gudgion is the story of Adelais, a young woman from the far north who was raised on the old gods and taught about using magic. She had been hidden away in a convent far from home, having to pretend to worship a foreign god. When inquisitors arrive with plans to torture an innocent man, she sneaks out to warn him and everything goes wrong. She finds herself fleeing in the company of this young man and his master and the last of the guardians, an order of holy knights who had been accused of heresy and persecuted. Nowhere seems to be safe and there is confusion over whether she is a witch or a “blessed one.”

This was a pretty fast-paced story, once I was in a few chapters. The series is shaping up to be an epic fantasy story with multiple narrators over the course of this book. Adelais most definitely becomes the focus by the end. Adelais and her companions find pursuit at every turn and it takes all her courage, strength and knowledge of magic to keep herself and her companions safe, though she loses many along the way. I recommend this book for lovers of fantasy with strong female protagonists that will not have an issue with a strong storyline of an inquisition in a Christian-like religion. I listened to this by audiobook, and found it to be an enjoyable way to read the book with an effective narrator, who handled the many POV and characters with ease. I am voluntarily submitting this honest review after listening to an advanced complementary copy of this audiobook thanks to G.N. Gudgion, Netgalley, and Bookouture Audio.

Yes if
You like slower moving books with multiple perspectives, and corrupt kings in a medieval setting.

No if
You do not like books that are heavily focused on religion, even fake ones. And that exist in a world with heavy misogynistic structure (with a female mc written by a man).

All that being said... I had to tap out on this one.

I had a lot of struggles with it and tried to hold on until the point that other readers were saying it picked up but there were too many things I couldn't get past.
One big one being that this is a book with a MAJOR female main character that exists in a world where women are blamed for literally any failing on a man's part... they love each other but he is a priest.... SHE is sent away and shunned, harmed, and abused while he gets to keep his title and reputation.

I couldn't get past the HEAVY religious aspects of the book. And I think it is because it is too parallel to the ways that religion has managed to corruptly work with government to harm and abuse those who they do not like in today's world as well.
Perhaps if I was not currently being impacted by a religiously influenced belief system to remove and restrict my right to exist in my own world, I would be more open to reading and escaping into a world with that reality. But alas... right now.. that just isn't going to work for me. I am not up to a book with such intense aspects.

I also am confused as to *why* the author is publishing under a different name... sure, it isn't far off, but if you don't know the author from anything else, it would be easy to assume that this was written by a woman trying to hide their female name from a large male audience. It felt weird to me.. maybe I am looking too far into it because I am already upset with the fact that the book and I did not vibe.

Lastly... I want to talk about the writing style. Honestly... it wasn't horrid, I think most of my issues were with content and not skill. What I can say about it is that there were beats of exposition where we were just told a bunch of info through a conversation that didn't make sense to me... like... why would the 18-year-old NOT know the system that heavily impacts their life and is at fault for why his father is in prison? Especially if he has been living under the nose of that organization, the one that HEAVILY decides what people can do with their lives... and the person he is living with knows everything?
How would he not have ANY information about how that group and part of the government runs? It felt out of place and weird that the conversation happened and we were not being given information in an organic way.

Overall... I think the book had potential, and could be good to someone who is looking for a complex world with corrupt governments and religious organizations.

<b>***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***</b>

Delirious prayer and belief!
Thunderclaps

Adelais and Guy are the main protagonists
The Norse Gods we’re worshipped
Mjölnir Thor’s Hammer

Now the old gods were proscribed and their symbols had to be hidden.

No repentance there is no unburdening, and no pardon.

Faith and the Blinded of Faith

The protagonist is Malory a priest!

A claim of inheritance.
And church ands state
The world building, the society, the riches of culture of Norse and Viking a religion and its zealots. It all comes to play in this novel.

There’s no-elves or dragons etc. etc. in this book don’t need them!

But with religion, there are artifacts!
With abilities.
I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review!!i give this⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars!

Add times it’s gave me some Matthew Harffy appeal but yet different.
But it’s not grim dark. It’s one level below.

This was a book, that completely took over my life when I started reading it. It's got the fantasy element that I love while also having a strong female lead who is strong, holds her ground, and overall feels like the perfect balance between strength and grace.

The book itself starts slow in the beginning, and it very much is a slow burn, but once I got going with it, it was such a fun read and I didn't want to put it down. The story, setting, and characters really enthralled me the entire time. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put it down until I got to the end of the book,

Definitely excited to read more in the series, in hopes that the story continues to pick up and we get more growth from our characters,

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, so it took me >50% into the audiobook to realize that the cover depicted Adelais, the FMC, instead of the other young POV character, Guy.

Aside from feeling dumb af over that, I quite liked this novel! There's A LOT of info dumping and the first 20% was a chore to get through. But once I was acclimated to the characters, the gist of the story, and the world building, it ended up being a great beginning to a new high fantasy series. I'll forgive the info dumping because the world is rich and in-depth.

Most of the main plotline involves the main characters running away from an overly religious sect out to prosecute and persecute them, and you can feel the sense of urgency as the plot moves along. There's a good balance of action and more dialogue heavy moments to even things out. New characters join two of our MC POVS and it feels like a classic action and adventure fantasy RPG with the Witcher vibes added in.

The villain's viewpoint, Malory, adds in another layer to the world building. But at times, Malory and co. come off as tropey and one-dimensional since their objective is so dogmatic.

The novel is very Eurocentric (think Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Christianity, but make it fantasy), so even if you're only vaguely familiar with that historical period (like I am), it's easy to get the hang of the world building and character motives.

I really liked Adelais. She's a strong and compelling FMC. Add in the fact that she's mostly unfamiliar with the customs of the land that she finds herself in, and you have a great audience surrogate. Imo it's rare that a male author can write a well-rounded and believable female protagonist, but Gudgion nails it down pretty well.

The audiobook narrator, Matt Addis, was very expressive and emotive. But I won't lie, it added to my confusion about the character depicted on the cover. I think I would've preferred a woman narrator since this is more Adelais's story than the other POV characters, Guy and Malory.

I'll definitely stick around for the next installment!

Thank you to Second Sky, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for this arc.

Such a fun find! I can’t wait for my daughter to read it. The characters were inspiring and relatable.

Thank you Bookouture Audio, Second Sky Books, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this book. This was a long, at places drawn out read with lots of setting up of the characters, action, and things to happen in the following volumes. Matt Addis narrated beautifully, and it was his narration that helped me get through the drawn out, somewhat boring bits. Otherwise, it was a great fantasy read.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Other review on this book stated it will send shivers down your spine and leave you breathless, i would be more concerned I was having respiratory distress were that true, this is a good book, good characterisation, good world building, good storyline, it’s a good book but please save the over the top reviews and be honest