Book Blurb:
"Centuries ago, the heretic sorcerer Ruven raised a deadly briar around Runakhia's palace, casting the royal family into an enchanted sleep - and silencing the kingdom's gods.
Born with a miraculous gift, Lia's destiny is to kill Ruven and wake the royals. But when she succeeds, she finds her duty is not yet complete, for now she must marry into the royal family and forge a pact with a god - or die.
To make matters even worse, Ruven's spirit is haunting her.
As discord grows between the old and new guards, the queen sends Lia and Prince Araunn, her betrothed, on a pilgrimage to awaken the gods. But the old gods are more dangerous than Lia ever knew - and Ruven may offer her only hope of survival.
As the two work together, Lia learns that they're more alike than she expected. And with tensions rising, Lia must choose between what she was raised to believe and what she knows is right - and between the prince she is bound to by duty...and the boy she killed."
My Review:
Once again, author Rosamund Hodge does what she does best, creates an elaborate fantasy world around a well-known fairy tale, and the result is pure magic. ‘What Monstrous Gods’ is a wonderful fantasy novel which begins as a gender-swapped re-telling of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and evolves into so much more.
For 500 years, the royal family has been trapped in a sleeping curse, frozen in time inside their castle, with all of their court and servants, wrapped in thorny briars. For 500 years, the Old Gods have been silent and New Gods have become popular with masses.
Lia is born into this world, of silent Old Gods and a cursed royal family, and an unstoppable plague. Orphaned as a child, she was raised at a convent and taught to worship the Old Gods, for the nuns see in her the Royal Gift, which means Lia has a chance to enter the briars are save the royal family, and the Old Gods.
And she does. Lia is the first person in 500 years to survive the moving, living briars, deal with the sorcerer who controls the curse, Ruven, and wakes the royal family.
Thus begins a long adventure of Lia, Price Araunn, and his sister traveling to awaken the Old Gods, and learning their true nature. Then comes navigating the royal family, as they struggle to find their place in this new world, 500 years into the future, from their perspective. All with Ruven’s ghost actively haunting her and trying to make her question everything she was ever taught about her Gods.
Pre-order so you can dive right in on March 5, 2024!
#WhatMonstrousGods #NetGalley – I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.
