Malachiasz may not be the worst monster anymore. Parj and Rashid have friends on both sides and don’t know what to do. Serefin is battling for control from a vengeful fallen God and something darker. Nadya is confronting her faith and magic and her trust in both made much harder by the fact that she can’t hear her Gods. What’s more complex in this book, is that the darker forces connected to both Kalyazi and Tranavian magic systems, are starting to play bigger roles on both sides. However, it did take quite some time to really jump off into the overall story arc. The plot was much better than the first it didn’t feel as simple as the first book. She was torn apart in a thousand directions but there was only one and it was forward. EXCEPT, it really shouldn’t be a surprise because they’ve done it before! Nadya in particular is no longer naive yet still acts naive too many times. And honestly, that is one thing that frustrated me throughout the book is that some of them are surprised when another behaves opposite of what they’ve been doing for the past X number of chapters. While their motivations are always changing or in uncertain terms to themselves (and even others), at the end of the book, I was not surprised by any of their actions. I will say that Nadya felt much more what her age is supposed to be must be all that living outside the monastery. If you read the first book, then some of the immediate changes we see in the beginning of Ruthless Gods is not surprising, particularity with Malachiasz. The characters, I would say, changed a lot more from the first book. “The world they wish is broken bones and blood-always blood.”

I also love all the tidbits we get before each chapter that come from fictional pieces of work.

She really brought the Slavic folklore inspirations together really well with the darker gothic and grotesque elements.

I believe that Duncan nailed all of that in Ruthless Gods. Some writers are not only great at atmospheric writing, but they also give great inner dialogue for their characters things that make me stop and think or rhetorical questions posed that I try to find my own answer for at the same time that a character does. The one thing that didn’t change was Duncan’s writing. While this sequel to Wicked Saints is stronger, there were still some things that didn’t surprise, some things that did surprise me, and some things that confused me or left me confused. Warning: Possible spoilers for the first book below

Something dark and holy series