Hello my lovely readers. It’s been a busy month and I haven’t blogged as much so I have some reviews to catch up on. These two books were from the end of January/beginning of Feb. So let’t catch up on what I’ve been reading. Let me know if you have read these in the comments.

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Published by Hot Key Books on January 30, 2024
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Feminism, LGBTQ+
Amazon | Waterstones
Goodreads

FIVE WOMEN ARE DEAD. The killer leaves no fingerprints, no DNA. Police are utterly stumped. In a world where only women can use magic and the men who know about it seek to eradicate them, three damaged young women - one cursed, one hunted, one out for revenge - will team up to track down and take out a brutal supernatural killer.
Jude Wolf is rich as sin and handsome as the devil. But she's also cursed. Her immortal soul is tethered to a rather hateful demon - and she wants the hell out of the deal. What Jude needs is a cursewriter - and she thinks the string of dead women, all of whom she suspects are messing with the occult, might just be able to lead her to one.
Zara Jones has also been tracking the murders since they began. Her older sister was the killer's first victim. Zara doesn't just want revenge, she wants to find a way to bring her sister back. What Zara needs is a witch, a sorcerer, a necromancer - in fact, what Zara needs is a cursewriter.
At the apartment of the fifth victim, Jude and Zara meet by chance, and there they find a clue that brings their paths crashing together: a strange business card bearing three words. Emer Byrne. Cursewriter.

Trigger warnings – suicide, rooming, sexual assault and domestic abuse

So I’m not sure I had any expectations for this book. I haven’t read Krystal’s debut book House of Hollow yet and I was intrigued by a magical mystery packed with demons, epic magic system and feminist patriarchal plot line.

It for me started slow, told through multiple perspectives of 3 girls Emer, Zara and Jude, you get to know them until their own stories connect to a much bigger plot. With and mystery peaked with occult murders, these three girls, each looking towards magic to save their life. I found enjoyed the gothic mystery plotline way more than the characters. My intrigue was more for the plot and for the dark academic suspense throughout this thriller/horror. What it did remind me of was a YA Charmed, fighting demons, creating spells, having their own Book of Shadows and saving humanity from the London Ripper with the help of the police.

I’ll be honest though for me I felt I couldn’t connect with the characters as much as I really wanted too which I feel really bad about. However, the plot and the last 150 pages of the book really turned it around for me and I couldn’t put it down. The suspense, and magic atmosphere ramped up and I didn’t see the end coming what so ever. I really enjoyed it and I would still recommend it as I know my friend really loved it. Some books aren’t for everyone and that’s okay.

Thank you to Hot Key Books for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

Godkiller (Fallen Gods, #1) by Hannah Kaner
Published by Harper Voyager on September 12, 2023
Genres: Fantasy & Magic
Amazon | Waterstones
Goodreads

Enter a land of gods and monsters, soldiers and mercenaries, secrets and wishes—the explosive #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut in a new trilogy for fans of The Witcher and Gideon the Ninth
Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world—but after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays “godkillers” to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.
As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child’s soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can’t kill it without ending the girl’s life too.
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it.

So this is the first time I’m reviewing a book club book. As well as my own book club on instagram, I am part of my local Waterstones book club hosted by a friend of mine. This was January’s book.

Living in a world gods, was chaos, the people and the villages suffered at the plight and immaturity of wild gods and high gods. The hierarchy affected the way the people lived as they were at each others throats until King Arden decscned and won the war with the help of the Godkillers including the veiga, Kissen. Many years later, the knight that stood by his side is now a baker, Kissen is continuing to rid the villages of it’s gods, with Inara, the hidden child of a well off family being tied to her own god of white liars, Skedi. Each of them have their own quests and they must go on a pilgrimage to discover their true path and go to the one village were gods were at their mighest once to get all of there answers. If you could have a god for anything what would it be? 

After reading a lot of YA recently, this adult fantasy took me a while to be fully immersed it. It helped to have rather short chapters and it wasn’t too complicated of fantsy world in terms of the world building. It started out as like the writing of Winternight trilogy and I was hooked. I really enjoyed the different perspectives of Elogast, Inara, Skedi and Kissen throughout the book, they were a brilliant cast of characters. It did remind me of Game of Throne and The Witcher. In our book club discussion one had said that Kissen reminded her of Brianna of Tarth – which I could definitely see but I feel with a bit of Lara Craft a bit as well.

I really enjoyed this book, a debut fantasy writer, Kaner will definitely be an author I will look out for. I look forward to more Kissen, Eloghast, Inara and Skedi adventures in Sunbringer.