The Galactic Pantheon Novellas

This collection of stories has a little bit of something for everyone no matter your sexually, I do feel like the stories were rushed. They were ok I will probably read the next ones just to see how it all turns out in the end but I don’t know if I would actively look for more by this author. I didn’t love them but I did enjoy them.

I think that for novellas that this one was a pretty good set. I don't generally read novellas unless they are integral to the story. And although these gave us a little more about things I don't think that you really need to read them. However, I did enjoy the stories. Each one was fully formed and done well. They did feel like they were slightly rushed though. But I think after reading these that I would totally be checking out the other books to the Galatic Pantheon series.

This is book for the current generation and the future. It covers all types of romances, heterosexual, LGBTA, and includes different body types and abilities. It is a refreshing read. Sexy, intriguing, and challenges your preconceived notions of family, religion, and relationships. You will not be disappointed with this.

What fun! I didn't put a whole lot of stock into this collection and I think that's part of why I enjoyed it so much. None of the stories is very deep or involved, but they're a fun jaunt into a diverse science fiction world. Recommended for fans of the genre who don't necessarily want a dense epic story.

This collection of novellas was pretty good. If you haven’t read the main novels, you definitely need to in order to get the full experience. The world created by Caswell is intricate and rich in detail, but there is a variety of character types included in each of these novellas. There is no cookie cutter characters and I loved that. We need more diversity and Caswell gave us this in her universe.

The Galactic Pantheon Novellas
by Alyce Caswell
LGBTQIA | Romance
Very enduring story of love, gods and goddesses. The book is explicit so for adult audiences. I found the characters remarkably drawn out, part of their appeal is the human nature of the gods. The writing harkens back to the ideals of Greek and Roman gods having powers with lesser level gods covering special areas. They have particular powers related to their area. The change is that this is on a galactic level, the gods and goddesses are in charge of the biomes of each of the worlds. They are able to teleport between their realms. some of the gods are very inclined to help the people of their biome and some are not.

i liked that all four novellas were collected in one place, each story was really well done and I enjoyed reading them.

This is a collection of novellas set in Caswell's Galactic Pantheon Series. This is a world where Earth was destroyed eons ago but humanity managed to escape to colonize several disparate worlds. Overwhelmed by the boom in population and wanting to take a break the Creator God fathered fifty or so "lesser gods" to have domain over the various regions/biomes/worlds. There's the God of Ice, the Goddess of Fire, the God of Deserts, the Goddess of Tundra, etc. It's an interesting concept and definitely one Caswell has put a lot of work into developing. While I didn't feel like I needed to read the previous two novels, it probably would add to the experience... especially since the novels and novellas do build off of each other.

As I do with all anthologies, I will rate each story separately and the average the ratings together for the overall total.

The Flickering Flame
Finara the Goddess of Fire is just looking for a good time and good publicity, but when she encounters the former mediaist (that's a reporter) Grace Pendergast on one of her worlds, her goals shift. Wracked by guilt over a story she broke, Grace is looking for a way to self-immolate... literally. Can Finara convince Grace to tell her story? And will Grace forgive herself to find love?

This is a very well done lesbian romance. It features an amputee character of color who is kind of awesome and amazeballs. The story gets so many point for not lessening Grace's disability nor for magically curing it. Frankly this is my favorite story of the bunch - Five stars.

The Shifting Ice
Stock photo photographer and adventurer Dom Zhang is in a bit of trouble... and by bit of trouble he's mostly dead. He probably shouldn't have climbed that ice mountain, but the views were too spectacular to pass up. When the God of Ice, Rasson, saves him, Rasson makes Dom a surprising offer -- Marry him and be Rasson's consort and Dom will live forever and be able to explore the galaxy to his heart's content. There's just one little problem... namely that Dom's not the marrying type. Or the faithful type. Or interested in hooking up with a being he considers his kidnapper. But there's more to both Dom and Rasson and thing shift the more is revealed.

This is a good gay romance, however it was probably my least favorite in the collection. There's some pretty major gaslighting going on by one of the common side characters and there's a bit of dubious consent/bad BDSM behavior (in that things that happened were not negotiated first.) Ultimately I did enjoy this story but compared to the first story in this collection, it didn't measure up. -- Four stars.

The Whispering Grass
When assassin, Sanyul Bello, returns to his home planet, he has one goal -- kill the Goddess of the Savannah, Isabis. He fails. As punishment, Isabis shows him just what it's like to be her. Strongly telepathic and able to hear everyone's thoughts, even though she'd rather not. To both of their surprise, the punishment turns into a gift for both of them as they discover that they are more alike than previously thought and that love sometimes means being hands off.

So this was probably my second favorite story in the collection. It features a heteroromantic/asexual hero and a demiromantic/asexual heroine. Yes! Gimme some asexual romance that understands that asexuality is a spectrum and that romance and connection can and are separate from physical intimacy. Like seriously, I loved this story. It discusses that people with asexuality can and do want intimacy and family and children and that there are options for them. Frankly we need more ace romance out there. -- Five Stars.

The Creeping Moss
With the divide in the gods growing stronger, the Goddess of the Tundra, Renaei needs a bodyguard. For her, the choice is easy, Lorne Lavine -- the child she'd saved years ago now grown into a competent and charismatic man. A man she could see herself spending the rest of her hopefully immortal life with.. The one problem, he worships her.... literally. And that's kind of hard to overcome.

I'm sort of on the fence about this one. I liked it for the most part. I really liked Lorne. I loved that the story featured a transgender romance -- especially a FtM transgender romance. However, this is probably the story that stands on its own the least. There's also some jealousy issues and I'm not a huge fan of that in romance. But at the same time, I really really loved the overarching plot. So on the fence... So I'm going to split the difference and go with - Four and Half Stars.

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So adding those up we get 4.625 Stars rounded up to Five Stars.

Basically this is a great diverse collection and I look forward to adding more from Alyce Caswell to my library.

I am trying to think if I have a favorite in this series and I have to say it is difficult to choose. Alyce Caswell gives rainbow readers and everyone else a fantastic representation of diversity, identity, and genre in “The Galactic Pantheon Novellas” series.

The novellas tells the different stories of a divided family of gods and goddesses. They are of course at odds with each other and do not depend on their parent at all. There are three sides, but no one is really neutral by the end of their story. The stories are told in different worlds and display the power of a particular god.

Caswell tackles a range of difficult subjects from suicide to self-isolating. Loneliness is a common theme among the tales. I would say with the exception of one god, all of them are hoping for their great love. This search leads to humorous situations, but also to love.

There is an excellent balance between the subject matter and the romance. I laughed a lot in The Flickering Flame which deals with suicide. The joy in Renaei jumped out of the page, even though Renaei and Lorne were in the midst of battles in The Creeping Moss.

I loved all of the books, but I do have some favorites. Finara is the god I liked best. Her attitude and kick butt style appealed to me. The best assist I think was the moss as it stands out clearly in my mind. My favorite couple is Sanyul and Isabis because of their unique situation and how Caswell writes their ending. I love a couple that can work around what others might see as obstacles. Best warrior is Lorne hands down. The steamiest couple is Dom and Rasson. There is a scene where Rasson is standing still and it is very erotic.

The stories are quick reads with humor, family drama, and romance. Caswell gives us a ride across the rainbow with The Galactic Pantheon Novellas series. I loved this ride and I am sorry to see it end. If you have a particular type of couple, Caswell provides it in this series. You cannot go wrong with any book in the group. I loved all of them.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of queer stories!

Also I’m a sucker for anything futuristic and space.

I had no knowledge of the universe before this collection but I definitely didn’t feel left out reading these

I did not get to read this book due to taking a degree. I will look out for the title as it seems like a story I would enjoy.

These novellas are my first approach at this world created by Alyce Caswell and I find that they're perfectly understandable without having read the two previous novels, even if this book kinda leaves me wanting to read them.
So we have this almighty God, Ine, that had a lot of children to manage different aspects of life after humanity has expanded too much around the universe and he can't take care of everything. In these novellas, we follow four of these children, the goddess of fire, the god of ice, the goddess of savannah and the goddess of tundra, as they find humans that were designed by their father to teach them lessons, and they fall in love with them.
The stories we found are about very imperfect people that act realistically and not always in a likeable way. And I really enjoyed their inner conflicts, and the different ways in which everyone dealt with love, relationships and immortality.
Overall, I found a good, engaging and quite sexy read in this book.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Another great book from one of my favorite authors. Highly recommend to friends and family.