I don’t have much to say about this book, because despite diligently trying for weeks, I couldn’t get all the way through it. It was, in a word—Dull.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book! My opinions are my own.

This is the story of Elyn and Vale: two young women with a totally different life. Elyn lives a quiet life alone with her father in a small town, Vale is the daughter of a God and commander in his army. When she attacks the town where Elyn lives, both of them are in for a big surprise: they look exactly alike.

I was intrigued by this and couldn't wait to find out why!
While I liked the eventual outcome of the story, the story itself lacked a lot of background and character development. I was left with a lot of questions of why things happened as they did and why people acted the way they did. Besides that, the timeline of when things happen is just off. It's like different parts of the story were written independently of each other and had to be linked together later, which unfortunately didn't go very well.

Still I wouldn't say this is a bad story. I thought the idea was original and I've enjoyed reading it, curious to find out what was going to happen. I loved the connection between Elyn and Vale.
But unfortunately the writing style just wasn't for me.

DNF @ 49%

I'm not feeling it. It's been very predictable so far. I was expecting this to be an adult story but it feels more like a young adult. I don't think this book is for me and I rather put it down than push through it and give it a terrible rating on Goodreads only because I don't seem to be the right audience for it.

The chapter in the bar got me eye rolling so hard... and that's when I decided to put it down. The flirting with barman made me cringe and I couldn't handle Elyn being overly dramatic. The dialogue in general was surprisingly bad in some places. I really wanted to love this book because it sounded very interesting but unfortunately, it's not working for me.

My Mother told me there isn't enough time in the world to waste on reading a bad book. If I hadn't received a review copy of this book I would have heeded her advice and not forced myself through this.

There were times when I had to remind myself that this was a review copy and not a finished product even if I'm reading it on it's supposed date of publication. It was riddled with errors. Particularly grating was when the "two" girls are communicating mentally and the writer manages to lose track of who is who and has one say lines meant for the other. Another is a nonsensical sentence where the words what and that were swapped. It is page after page of this and it made me wonder if I'm reading a review copy or a first draft.

As others have pointed out, the characters weren't terrible and there was enough effort into the world and thought into what was trying to be conveyed. It didn't work. This is why certain people go on to make video games while others can only write fan fiction with those same characters and worlds. Creativity only goes so far. The pacing is particularly troubling. The plot meandered until the end when it finally figured out that there was supposed to be an actual point to this book.

The cover artwork is the most appealing part of this. But you know, you taint it with the blurb at the top about the "awesome" characters and world building. I can't name a single other book that uses awesome as a selling point. It doesn't come across as professional and should have told me that this is a book not fit for print.

This was a book that I really wanted to love, as I really liked the cover and premise. Gods in fantasy is something I enjoy, especially when paired with female main characters, unfortunately I felt that there was something missing. I will say that the characterization for the most part was great, I liked both Elyn and Vale as characters and found it easy to emphasize and get into their story, even when in places their relationship felt a little rushed of forced. The world building was interesting, but not really developed enough, leaving more questions than answers. However, I think what I struggled with most for this book was that the plot seemed to take a long time to get going, certainly improving in the latter part of the book, but it felt as though something missing for most of the book.

2.75/5 stars
I really liked the characters. Elyn and Vale are easy to root for with cunning villains in a place where no one is fully good. Everyone has ulterior motives and it's up to Vale to teach Elyn that. The two have an interesting bond that feels a little forced. Maybe it's because they met and all of a sudden get a bond and then there's a time jump to where they are talking in each other's minds and know each other better than anyone else. That, paired with the fact that they're on opposite sides of the war, made me want more build up to them being friends. Where's the fight? Where's the doubt? I wanted them to struggle, knowing they have an inside look into the enemy, but feeling bad about taking advantage of someone they now know so well. Along similar lines, I wanted more development in the other character relationships as well. I don't feel like we are given enough time to feel for the characters before stuff happens to them. When secrets are revealed that are supposed to put a rift between characters, I have a difficult time caring because we haven't been given the time and words to understand what's at stake between characters.

The world is very interesting. It's a world where all but one of the many gods have died, and the one left wants to rule everything. There's a group of people called the Ageless, left behind by the last goddess. It's an interesting hierarchy and I wish it was developed more. How are the Ageless making more Ageless without their goddess? What is their motivation? They are the leaders of a small Outpost, but they do nothing when the town is invaded. They run to another city, and this where it gets a little confusing. I don't quite understand how long the time jump is. At some places it says a couple weeks, but in others it says a couple years. If it's years, not enough happens, if it's weeks, there needs to be more development. If it's weeks, the main characters became close way too fast, and the locations need more explaining. The worst is that Elyn wonders why her townspeople are still seen as outsiders/foreigners to the place they ran to. If it's only been a couple of weeks, it will obviously take more time. Especially because they are bringing a war onto their heads.

The biggest issue I had is with the plot. There doesn't seem to be any until the last 100 pages. It feels like characters are floating from scene to scene, with no motivation and no stakes. Vale keeps getting what feels like empty threats from her surrogate mother, but they don't end up being anything. There's a scene where the woman says she's going to send her on some stupid mission and keep her away from the fighting so she will lose her standing, but then the next scene is a time jump, and she's still right where she was. This brings up a major question in my mind, why does Yvorre hate Vale so much? She's a great fighter and leader, and does everything she and the god want, and yet Yvorre despises her. Why didn't she raise her to be her champion? To do everything she says? She could use her in the long run, but instead she ostracizes her. Back to my point about the plot, I honestly couldn't tell you what the plot was until the last 100 pages. Then it finally started kind of coming together.

Overall, even though I liked the characters, the world, and the writing, the lack of development in the characters and the plot made it an average, if not slightly disappointing, read.

In The Wake of Gods is set in a world where all the gods left the people except for two.
Now you either follow one or the other.
Vale is the "only mortal daughter" of one of these gods. She's an officer of the Helmsguard. During a raid, she saves Elyn, who's just a girl from the countryside.. and they happen to look identical.
Later on, they discover a bond between themselves.

I liked the premise, fantasy with gods is my jam, and I was ready to read about some badass females.
However, the punctuation of the e-arc was terrible. I don't know what happened, but there were commas missing every single page and most frequently it was in the dialogue which made it hard to enjoy.