lauraღ's Reviews > The Slain Divine

Let this house be the first forge she kindled. And within it, bathed in embers, let her own body be the first weapon crafted in her name. The Goddess of the Forge stepped out to the cold night street and exhaled ash onto the wind.

4.5 stars. What a great conclusion!! Action-packed and exciting and surprising and full of really great character moments. I feel all buzzed, and I'm itching to find more high fantasy similar to this, that deals with gods and religion and the faithful in this type of way, talks about different types of devotion and deity like this, and also has a bunch of queer characters and characters of colour. I enjoyed this so much, and while I have some minor nit-picks, everything that I loved far outstrips those little quibbles. Spoilery thoughts below!

(view spoiler)[I will say off the bat that one of my little criticisms is that everything did feel a little too easy in this book. Until like that final battle, things kiiiinda felt dangerous for our protagonists, but they never ended up being very dangerous. Except in a couple circumstances. Like, the God-Incarnate's sons. I definitely expected them to last a hell of a lot longer than they did. Cyrus and company took them out soooo quickly. I mean, the fights were tense and in the moment it always felt like there was a lot riding on it, but the heroes prevailed so easily. And the God-Incarnate himself didn't DO much, other than be evil and sexist and yearn homoerotically in his bodyguard's direction (which I LOVED, a bit more on that later). I just expected things to feel so much more fraught and dire once the God-Incarnate came to Thanet, and it didn't really feel that way? I don't know. I'm not really mad about the fact that our heroes won so many of the early fights easily, because I do liked how everything turned out in the end, but I would have perhaps liked for things to feel a little more high stakes.

Cyrus is a great main character and everything, but man, I loved this series for its women, especially Stasia, Keles and Sinshei. I think there's just nothing cooler than deification, and Stasia coming to the realisation of her godhood and eventually taking on the mantle from her father was so so so fucking good. It felt EPIC in a way that was just brain candy for me. I felt like a ful l-on fangirl. The first time she entered battle as the Goddess of the Forge I was kicking my little fucking feet. SHE'S SO COOL I WANT TO BE LIKE HER WHEN I GROW UP. I keep saying it, but I just love the series for its representation of gods, and what faith means to different people. I loved that scene when she attended the ceremony with Clarissa, and how that rolled into her vision of the Miquoan gods. Like, just getting that understanding of her wife's faith, and that example of prayer. And it made the later moments hit even harder, when she begins to feel the whispers of prayers of the people who now pray to her. I kinda wish more had been done with the weaponry aspect of this, like having Ahlai weapons react to her or work for her in some way. I'm also really sad that we didn't get a scene with Stasia and Clarissa after Stasia become a goddess? I really wanted to see Clarissa's reaction to her wife being a goddess, especially since she's so devout herself (albeit to Lycaena). I really wanted to know what that conversation would be like, and just Clarissa's reaction in the moment! The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am that we didn't get it.

Keles was so good. Her development over the series has been so heart-breaking and fascinating by turns, and I was glued to it. After seeing her get jerked around by Soma and Sinshei in the second book, I loved that she got to reclaim power and autonomy in her own right in this book. I honestly wanted to cry when she had that heart-to-heart with Lycaena. So good. The dynamic between Keles and Sinshei was absolute catnip to me. I wouldn't have minded a little toxic romance, ngl. Sinshei as a villain is really compelling and also really funny to me. She's the ultimate evil failgirl. Running around with all her little plots and absolutely none of them work because in the end her dad is a megalomaniac AND a misogynist. And also I mean Sinshei was just kind of inept. But by the end I was so ENDEARED by her, I can't explain it. And I honestly felt really bad for her. I could see so many other scenarios where this plotline wouldn't have worked out for me (evil woman fails at everything because the world is sexist, and then she dies) but the way it was written here really worked for me. Keles showing her that compassion in the end... ah. :'( 

Lucavi, the God-Incarnate, was a bit of a disappointment to me as a character, because, I don't know, I expected him to inspire a lot more fear and tension than he actually did. Like I said, it really felt like he accomplished almost nothing, and after he was set up as the big bad over the past few books, that was a bit lacklustre? Galvanis felt like more of a tangible villain than he did. HOWEVER, I did really love his dynamic with his bodyguard, Bassar. King and lionheart is a trope I will eat up any day of the week. And it's taken to another level here, because Lucavi is literally Bassar's god, and his absolute devotion and yearning made me want to kick my feet. Same for the romantic undertones. And again, that's a trope that could have easily gone sour for me. The fact that Lucavi is the big evil bad of the series, and half of what we get from his POV is him battling his internalised homo/biphobia and not allowing himself to act on Bassar's feelings for him... honestly, I'm surprised it didn't piss me off. But it's just not written like the usual queer villain trope. It felt meaningful and really compelling, while not giving Lucavi an out for his general terribleness. But that could be my bias speaking. Paladins in love with the god they serve is my SHIT. It's the entire basis of my only D&D character. I love it so so much. 

What else... there was a lot of exciting stuff in the latter portion, a lot of stuff that rounded up well and ended just the way I hoped. The last few battles had me feeling the way I think Marvel movies are supposed to make me feel. I was screaming at Stasia as the Goddess of the Forge, I was screaming when Rihim returned for Mari, I was screaming when the Nameless She did the damn thing. Dagon's ending is so tragic and ironic, how he becomes what they vilified him for. And oh my GOD the last battle with the Vagrant. The literal skull and the bone swords??? It was sooooooooooo fucking grosss but also sooooooooooooooooooo fucking cool. And I kinda wanted to tear up at Keles being a big damn hero!! The ending was perfect. I did really like Cyrus and Keles as a romance, but I think this works better, with him leaving Thanet. And just... the idea and the visual of the Vagrant God watching over Thanet now... it's so damn good.

I think I've said 'so good' like 16 times. (hide spoiler)]

There's probably a lot that I forgot to mention/discuss... a lot happened in this book! And I mean, it's far from perfect, and there are a few things about the writing that are a little cheesy or over the top I guess. But I just enjoyed my time with it SO much. I love finishing a series and feeling so satisfied. 

Listened to the audiobook as read by Jaime Lincoln Smith and Imani Parks and... woof. I'm just glad I still liked this so much. Parks isn't my fave narrator, in terms of her cadence and character voices, but I've gotten used to her. This is a different male narrator, however, and I... did not like his narration much. Lol. The way he did prose was fine, actually pretty good, but every character voice he did sounded so whiny and nasally and downright bad. Cyrus especially sounded a little ridiculous. I finished this 500+ page book in a day, and it's because I was so immersed in the story, but it's also because I sped up the male parts as much as I could bear while still being able to understand, so that they'd go by quicker. Again, I'm just glad it didn't impact my opinion of the book itself! I'm really glad to have tried this author and this series, and I will be looking into his backlist soon.

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[a fair amount of death, violence, blood and gore, brief sexual violence and mentions thereof (hide spoiler)]

“Turn away from me, and I shall forever love you still. If you are to grant me your faith, may it be because of that love , and nothing else.”