Book Review: The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

Who #1: Gwenda Bond

Who#2: Strange Chemistry

What: The Woken Gods

When: September 3rd 2013

Where: Goodreads – Kobo – Amazon – Book Depository

Why: The blurb was awesome.

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Strange Chemistry via Net Galley.

The more things change…

Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke all around the world.

The more things stay the same…

This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school because of an argument with her father.

Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., dominated by the embassies of divine pantheons and watched over by the mysterious Society of the Sun that governs mankind’s relations with the gods. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way home, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn’t what it seems. She escapes with the aid of Osborne “Oz” Spencer, a young Society field operative, only to discover that her scholar father has disappeared with a dangerous Egyptian relic. The Society needs the item back, and they aren’t interested in her protests that she knows nothing about it or her father’s secrets.

Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the suspect help of scary Sumerian gods, her estranged oracle mother, and, of course, Oz–whose first allegiance is to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to recover the missing relic and save her father. And if she doesn’t? Well, that may just mean the end of the world as she knows it. From the author of Blackwood comes a fresh, thrilling urban fantasy that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Rick Riordan.

Let me start off this review by saying that the story of The Woken Gods is unlike any other I have read. It’s pure epicness in story form. I loved the thought of gods being woken up from a deep slumber, only to not take over the entire world because they can die. It’s just amazing. Which is why I am so torn about this book,

I just couldn’t fall in love with The Woken Gods. I have no idea why. As I just mentioned, the story is amazing! But there was just something preventing me from falling in love with it, which was very well achievable.

Firstly, I wasn’t a huge fan of Kyra, the main character. She kind of confused me. I couldn’t understand her motives for half the things she did, and I hate it when that happens. I want to know why a character is doing something. And she risked everything – her life, the safety of her friends – everything – to save her father. They weren’t even that close. In one of the scenes in the beginning of the book, Kyra’s father doesn’t seem to care that she didn’t come home the night before, and proceeds to give her a vague and cryptic message. But Kyra goes on and on about how he’s never at home, how he doesn’t care about her, and how crappy their relationship is and then BAM she’s risking everything to save his life. Now, I’m not saying that she should try and save him, he’s family after all, but it just seemed a bit weird how invested she was in saving someone she was not even connected with.

The two saving graces of this novel for me were Oz and Anzu. I liked Oz’s character, and I could understand why HE did the things he did. And Anzu was just the cutest god in the history of ever. Seriously. If I had been assigned that lion/eagle/cuteness overload god as my guardian, I would have been flying him around like a magical pegasus (if he would have let me). I was kind of expecting some relationship to form between Anzu and Kyra, but it never came. This disappointed me a lot. There was so much potential there – and only one or two moments between the two characters. I would have loved to see them bond.

I love that the explanation behind the gods actually being in the world was not confusing. It was straightforward and understandable, and I greatly appreciate it. There’s nothing worse than reading a book and thinking: what the heck is going on here?

The lack of insta-love was commendable, and there was actually relationship development between the two love interests. It’s pretty obvious who they are but I shall keep quiet just in case.

After finishing The Woken Gods, I am left wondering whether it is a standalone, or the first in a series. If it is a standalone, boy am I unhappy with the ending. Everything was left open, and pretty much zilch was resolved. If it’s the first in a series, then I can accept the ending in hopes that it will be resolved in the forthcoming novels. But as it is now, it doesn’t seem as if this is the first book in the series, and in that case I was really let down by the ending.

I did like this book, but I was torn on so many aspects. It was just missing that special something that makes me love books and write raving reviews.

However, if you’re keen on myths and legends involving gods and the such, I would highly recommend this book to you, as I think it does a pretty good job of representing a unique story involving gods.

© 2013, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.