I loved Andrea Stewart’s first trilogy, The Drowned Empire series, so I had high hopes for this.

It has fantastic world building and a really unique magic/power system. As usual she has written really good characters. We cycle through several different points of view, with a few of them meeting during the story. There was a lot of set-up which is not surprising given this is the first in a series and I’m really intrigued to see where it goes.

I did not finish this book.
I found the characters and their romances to be weak and the world building messy.

Another fantastic book form Andrea, she builds athe most wonderful world & magic systems for me, a true great of fantasy

Thassir's story arc alone would've been enough for me to enjoy this book ngl. my heart was ripped out, and I hope the next book in the series will put it back into its place.

at first, it was a bit weird for me that 2 out of the 5 POVs were in first person and then three in third, but once I got used to that, it actually really helped me create a distinct voice for all characters in my mind. the pacing was a bit slow sometimes, but I think it was necessary for worldbuilding so I didn't mind that much.

all in all, I will definitely continue this series, I can't wait to see what these five will do next! 👀

oh and btw, did I mention kittens? the only thing that my cold, broody favorite liked? bc there are some, and they are cute.

2.5 stars. Overall I'd say this was a confusing, overly long story about sisters split apart by essentially a natural disaster, and the Gods who control the world they live in. Each chapter starts with a time frame that that section of the book takes part, but there are so many taking place at the same time it felt redundant and I'm not sure if I ended up skimming over some of them and assuming things were happening at different times than they were. The characters were all quite annoying, a lot of them were keeping secrets and had their own motivations that didn't add anything to the overall story. The magic system was strange and based on mining God gems then swallowing them - but some of these stones are stronger than others (and a prettier colour because sure why not). You are constantly reminded how dangerous the atmosphere is and how after the God has been through a region and "Restored" it, its no longer suitable for human habitation. OK, now tell me again 50 times. I was pretty bored I'm afraid and won't be continuing the series.

The mortals broke the world with their greed. The skies were filled with smoke and ash, the air grew hot, and Tolemne made his way into the core of the world to ask a book of the gods - to restore the world. The god Kluehnn granted it by restoring the world realm by realm, but restoration comes at a price: half the population will become material for the restoration and the other half will be changed into something better. Hakara and her younger sister Rasha flee from the restoration as it hits their realm but are separated at the border; Rasha stays behind in Kashan and Hakara gets swept into the neighbouring realm.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

The Gods Below is an epic fantasy that's the first in a series/trilogy. It is set in a fantasy world that has multiple realms, and whereas our Earth has lava at its core, their world is hollow and used to be the place where the gods lived.

The story is told in multiple POVs (5), four of which are set in the present and one in the past. Each POV has a different narrating view (Hakara and Rasha are written in first person, the others are third person), which is odd when you switch chapters and, therefore, the POV because there are rarely two chapters told from the same POV.

Unfortunately, I struggled with the book just like I did with The Bone Shard Daughter - an interesting plot, but the characters and their development are so utterly lacking. All characters are so single-minded in their behaviour, so their POVs became very quickly annoying and sometimes repetitive. Especially Hakara's and Rasha's when they think of the past and the other one. They have the same thoughts over and over and over again. It's something that annoyed me in TBSD as well. I believe I would have cared more about the sisters (and them being on opposing sides of the overall conflict) if they had been better developed.

Something that I struggled with in TBSD as well: the romances. The f/f pairing and the m/f pairing happen out of nowhere and are utterly shallow. Neither pairings have a true connection with each other, but suddenly, there's yearning and pining in the f/f pairing, and a hint of it in the m/f pairing? The m/f pairing is even more annoying because the male character is still grieving his dead partner and family. Why the fuck is he suddenly interested in a stupid 25 years old girl? Because Hakara isn't the brightest character at all. She rushes into everything, she never thinks through anything, ... - it's very unbelievable and exhausting.

I liked the plot and the world-building (even if the latter can be confusing), but I wish the characters had been better. As it stands now, I don't think that I would continue with the upcoming books (when they are published).

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

TWs & CWs: death, violence, estranged sisters, sexual content (fade to black), cannibalism

Trope(s): /

Diversity: bisexuality, genderfluidity, POC characters, aromanticism

Genre: Fantasy

Heat/Spice: 0 🌶️

As usual author builds a great world & magic system... life after the mortals destroyed the plant...but this time to book felt too long & far too many POVs to follow

Aunque la saga de The Drowning Empire tuvo sus altibajos, confirmó a Andrea Stewart como una autora a la que seguir, de forma que cuando se anunció The Gods Below, la marqué como lectura futurible. Y aunque la premisa del mundo que propone la autora llama la atención, lo cierto es que como primera entrega de una trilogía la obra no acaba de despegar.


Stewart vuelve a utilizar distintos puntos de vista para contarnos su historia y ahora también varía el marco temporal de su relato. Veremos por una parte el presente de la historia y de vez en cuando lo que aconteció en el pasado, que puede haber llevado al mundo a la situación actual. Se podría definir The Gods Below como fantasía ecológica ya que una gran parte del mensaje subyacente que nos hace llegar la autora chino-americana, sin ir más lejos el comienzo del libro nos habla de una catástrofe “natural” por sobreexplotación de recursos y la máxima amenaza para los habitantes del presente es la restauración mágica (ni la del Ecce Homo de Borja) de los distintos reinos que provoca la desaparición o el cambio brutal de los afectados. Por ahí y por la idea de un mundo mágico subterráneo me podría haber ganado, pero es que en general la historia se siente plana, los personajes no tienen profundidad y la resolución de los misterios tampoco es muy convincente.

Dos hermanas separadas por una catástrofe tras haber sufrido una vida de penurias deberían resultar conmovedoras como para llevar la carga emocional del volumen, pero no es así. Creo que se podría haber trabajado mucho más en el desarrollo de los personajes, no solo de las hermanas Hakara y Rasha si no de todo el compendio que ha creado Stewart.

En cuanto al sistema mágico, lo siento pero el hecho de tener que aguantar la respiración para obtener los beneficios de las piedras mágicas me ha recordado tanto a las fuerzas especiales de Freezer que no podía quitármelas de la cabeza. Podía haber sido interesante también la idea de la cacería de dioses que llevan a cabo los “cambiados”, pero tampoco es que tenga mucha incidencia en el relato. La lectura se me hizo pesada por momentos, aunque los puntos de vista de los personajes están bastante equilibrados en cuanto a interés y número de páginas, más de quinientas, a todas luces demasiadas, incluso aunque algunas de ellas se regodeen en un battle royal arquetípico para decidir quiénes serán los próximos asesinos de dioses.

No sé cuántos volúmenes hay previstos de la serie The Hollow Covenant, pero la cosa tendrá que cambiar bastante para que continúe con ellos.

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐A solid start

I received an ARC from Net Gallery and was excited to pick this one up when I read the blurb unfortunately it didn't quite hit for me. It felt like it needed maybe another round of edits before release. The world building was unique and I love me a good magic system but the sisters fell flat I wanted to be invested in them a bit more. The plot slogged a bit in the middle but the last 10% was a ride! Over all a stunning word that Andrea has created honestly Fantasy is one of the hardest genres to cook up.

I have read another sweeping series but the author and found the idea of another quite enticing.

Like the previous series, this book has multiple narrators as well. The world we are encountering has had multiple issues and wars. The main war has been to eradicate all the Gods but one. Kluehnn is the one enacting the shatterings that are supposed to alter the lands and part of the people to bring back a prosperous setting. There are many flaws in the plan, as we see right from the onset.

Two of the voices are of estranged sisters who were once each other’s only family. Then there are two relatives who are connected by one’s discovery of filters that might change some things. Then there’s one God who we watch as the timeline moves closer to the current one. All but one of them converge at one point or another.

There are a lot of moving parts and I was not as excited by them as I hoped to be. I was equally suspicious last time around so I will reserve major judgement on the series as a whole until I make progress with the next. This book as a standalone is a decent start to a whole new world. I would recommend the author to fans of fantasy.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Andrea Stewart has an image skill in building complex worlds and magic systems that are different to anything else you have read and simply does not miss. Having read the Bone Shard trilogy I was looking forward to reading the Gods Below and I was not disappointed. The world building, the magic system and the character interactions are perfect and I can’t wait to delve deeper into this world.

The beginning of this book completely compelled me. I couldn’t put it down. The world was so unique, in the same way this authors other series is so unique and unlike any other I’ve ever read. However sadly my interest did start fade the further I went into it

Absolutely exquisite. I’ve been a fan of Stewart’s since her debut with Bone Shard Daughter, and this she has yet to disappoint.her prose always amaze me and there are lines from all of her books that will always have a place in my heart. Gods Below opens up another epic fantasy with a bang. The cast of narrators are all compelling and she has a way of at every chapters end maying you sad to switch narrators. I can’t wait to learn the full depth of this magic system in future installments.

The Gods Below takes a little while to get going but is engaging enough, centred on the lives of two sisters living in a place where the gods' presence literally causes people to transform within the areas where their power is present. One sister is caught and transformed, the other escapes to live the life of a refugee and be sucked into a cult which trains people to kill those who are transformed.

It's a solid enough start to a new trilogy though it didn't immediately grab me in the way her previous series did (though I have to confess I only read the first two of that one and never got around to finishing it). There's some interesting world-building, the characterisation is pretty strong too but for me it doesn't have that special something that makes me desperate to know what happens next.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

The world’s ecology and environment have been destroyed but one of the Gods who live below the surface makes a deal with humanity. Kiehuan, the God, will restore the world to normal but the people will be transformed from their human forms. The change which happens country by country tears two sisters apart when one sister stays in Kashan and is transformed. Hakara, the other sister, escapes to the neighbouring country as an illegal refugee/immigrant struggling to survive while trying to get back to her sister until she gets caught by a strange cult who wants to kill the other Gods and another who wants to kill the transformed. But some mortals can get powers by using gems which Kiehuan wants. The book is much more complicated than this of course but this is the bare bones of the story.
As with her previous books there are a few points of view characters with their own stories and struggles that eventually come together at the end. Harkara was the most compelling character- a human who has her own strengths and very human weakness, a woman who accidentally becomes a hero.
I found the start a little slow, but I would recommend sticking with the book as by the time the story really got into its stride, I couldn’t put my Kindle down. The various strands come together, with some beautifully described action scenes, some angst, realistic relationships and twists I didn’t see coming.

This was not I was expecting or hoping for. I could not get into the world conceived, nor did the characters really engage me. The Bone Shard Empire was one of my absolute favourite fantasy trilogies so I was excited to receive this arc. I am beyond disappointed and yet if Stewart can work her magic in the next installment, I still feel the overall story arc could be rescued. Time will tell. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Andrea Stewart’s The Gods Below is a gripping fantasy that blends divine intrigue with a deeply human narrative. It’s an ambitious tale filled with layered characters, vivid world-building, and a plot that keeps you guessing.

The story centers on a protagonist grappling with destiny and betrayal while navigating a world where gods meddle and mortals suffer the consequences. Stewart’s prose is evocative, and her ability to weave tension into every interaction is commendable.

While The Gods Below boasts strong themes and fascinating lore, some pacing issues and minor plot inconsistencies might leave readers wanting a bit more clarity. However, the depth of emotion and thought-provoking exploration of power and morality elevate the novel.

Perfect for fans of mythological fantasy with dark undertones, this is a solid addition to Stewart’s repertoire. Don’t miss it if you enjoy stories where humans stand against divine forces.

This book was such a great one! With
several POVs, we were drawn into the world and saw through the eyes of the different characters, Hakara, Rasha, Sheuen, Mullayne and Nioanen who were unique and interesting characters with well-fleshed out thoughts and actions.

However, if there was one thing I could improve on, it would be the voice of each POV which kinda started to blend together. Despite that, I liked the world building and prose.

After a gripping plot and storyline, am excited to see how the next book continues their specific journeys!

I absolutely love Andrea Stewarts writing style! Her world building is incredible and it really shows in this book.

It is written from multiple POVs which I love. Sometimes when it is more than two people I feel some can seem pointless but all of the characters experiences are pivotal to the storyline.

As the first book of the series I feel like there was a little less character development than I'm used to but it really set the scene for future books.

Highly recommend this to anyone looking for a complex, epic fantasy read!

4 stars
Multiple POVs

I enjoyed the world building and the characters, Hakara, Rasha, Sheuen, Mullayne and Nioanen were interesting.
Sometimes the jump between each character could be a bit hard getting used too

I’m interested to see where the story goes.

Thank you netgalley and orbit for the eARC