The Hunger of the Gods continues John Gwynne’s acclaimed Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance.
Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest.
As Orka continues the hunt for her missing son, the Bloodsworn sweep south in a desperate race to save one of their own – and Varg takes the first steps on the path of vengeance.
Elvar has sworn to fulfil her blood oath and rescue a prisoner from the clutches of Lik-Rifa and her dragonborn followers, but first she must persuade the Battle-Grim to follow her.
Yet even the might of the Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim cannot stand alone against a dragon god.
Their hope lies within the mad writings of a chained god. A book of forbidden magic with the power to raise the wolf god Ulfrir from the dead . . . and bring about a battle that will shake the foundations of the earth.
🐺🐺🐺🐺.5
Hi and welcome to my review of The Hunger of the Gods!
The Hunger of the Gods is the second instalment in the Bloodsworn Saga and it picks up right where its predecessor, The Shadows of the Gods, left off and can I just say: massive thanks to whomever listened to my pleas to put a recap of book 1 at the beginning of book 2! A year has passed, many other books have been read, my memory is faulty, the “what has gone before” felt like a gift from the gods and was just what I needed to get back on track.
Does this mean you can just jump into this series with The Hunger of the Gods? No! So much happened before, you really do need to read The Shadow of the Gods first. And why wouldn’t you, it’s fantastic! I’d buy it for the cover alone, but the content is just as epic!
Speaking of cover love, there’s a whole lot of that with The Hunger of the Gods! Expectations were high, but they were not just met, they were exceeded. I’m not the most avid reader of epic fantasy, I find it a rather daunting genre with its big books that require all my attention, and it always takes me a while to get into the story, it’s like brushing up on a language I haven’t spoken in a while. The Hunger of the Gods was no exception but I knew my efforts would be rewarded and they absolutely were.
Once I was in the story, I was IN THE STORY. John Gwynne is a brilliant storyteller, his worldbuilding is astonishing, his plotting is excellent, his characters are magnificent. I love all the action, another epic battle is always just around the corner, and in between there’s also intrigue and scheming and one queen / lord / chief / god trying to be more cunning than their adversaries, it had my thought-cage whirling! Some fight for power, others fight to get their loved ones back, some are just trying to find their feet and survive in this mad, mad world in which hungry gods roar.
The Hunger of the Gods is a fantastic sequel, I am totally hooked on this saga and I’ll be waiting with bated breath for book 3, especially after that ending (damn you, John Gwynne, you had better fix this! Please and thank you.). Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Huge thanks to Orbit for the fantastic finished copy. All opinions are my own.
I have no idea when I’m going to be able to squeeze this in. It’s HUGE! 🤣
I know 😂