“People make gods, and, for better or worse, gods make people.

We show each other for what we truly are. Yearning beings, desperate for love, power, safety”

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner is a dark, gritty and highly immersive debut. This is a tale where gods and mortals collide, where myth and legends are brought to life, where having faith could get you killed. The power of belief is strong, worship can bring peace to many but believing in Gods can be deadly. To seek a God’s favour, to have their light shine upon you, is to pay a high price. 

Our story follows Kissen, a godkiller. Kissen’s childhood was filled with tragedy, one which has left her with scars that will never fully heal. Haunted by memories and filled with a constant simmering anger, Kissen devotes her life to killing gods, and she’s pretty damn good at it. Yet when she chances upon a young noble child in a tavern, she sets forth on a quest to free her from a god Kissen cannot kill. Inara Craier is bound to Skediceth, the god of white lies, and should they try to part from one another they would both die. Kissen cannot allow another child to die at the hands of a god. Then there is Elogast, once the King’s knight who fought to destroy shrines and kill gods in the great God War, yet in the horrific aftermath Elo put down his sword and to escape his nightmares turned his hand to baking. Elo longs for a quiet, simple life, but when King Arren, once his closest friend, sends him on a mission to save his life and the kingdom, he is forced to return to the city of gods, Blenraden, the city he helped bring to ruin. 

“The people with the sharpest edges sometimes hid the deepest wounds.”

The opening pages of Godkiller set up a world where the king has outlawed the worship of gods, and the people are forced to hide their faith and whisper prayers in secret. Much to Kissen’s annoyance, as prayers allow gods to manifest, and though she earns coin as a Godkiller, for good reasons she hates all gods vehemently and would rather they didn’t exist at all. Kissen’s an interesting character, she is strong-willed, resilient and though she has had a disability since childhood, it has never slowed her down one bit. Whilst I loved all that about her, and Kaner really does explore fantastic disability representation through her character, I did find that Kissen could often be too aggressive. She was snappish when there was no need to be and her ‘take-no-shit’ attitude unfortunately presented her as somewhat immature. However, if you love feisty characters, then you will love Kissen.

In contrast to Kissen, we have Elogast, our knight turned baker. Immediately we see Elo is kind, gentle but he is also traumatised by his past. Throughout the novel we see that he is suffering from PTSD, the battles he has fought have left their emotional scars and knowing this we realise just how much strength, loyalty it took for him to help King Arren. These are the kind of characters I am fond of, ones who find the strength to face their personal demons and ones who have a firm sense of honour. However, my most beloved characters were Inara and her tiny god Skediceth. Though Inara is young, she shows as much resilience and courage as Kissen. She knows she’s the daughter of a powerful noble house, her mother has taught her well and she always strives to act accordingly. I loved her bond with Skedi, how this connection allows her to see people’s emotions through colours and how she could always sense if they were lying. Skedi’s form is a cross between a hare and a deer with wings and antlers, always changing his size to become noticeable or stay hidden. Though I found Skedi adorable, I also liked that he was the god of white lies and that power made his character rather untrustworthy throughout.

“Mortals were a riot of thoughts, and gods could see the colours they made, twisting the air about them with their more powerful emotions.

Each person’s colours were different, bright, manipulable. Skedi could tell a liar from a lover, a joker from a fraud.”

I found Kaner’s portrayal of Gods captivating throughout. These are not invisible gods which the people blindly pray to, oh no, these gods can be summoned, they can physically manifest, and they can be bargained with. Kaner takes great care to show two sides: one where gods offer comfort and hope to those facing desperate times, and one where gods feed off people’s pain and their suffering, and greedily lust to grow more powerful through their prayers. Thus showing why gods of old and new fought against each other and divided the lands between those who still held belief and those who feared the gods.

Godkiller is a fiery debut set in a brutal, unforgiving world. It’s a story of courage and survival, of faith and greed. The ending is explosive, with a rather shocking twist, one which left me anticipating what will come next.

ARC provided by Susan at Harper Voyager, thank you for the copy! All quotes used are taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Godkiller is out 19th January but you can preorder your copy HERE