I have been a fan of Andrea's work for many years now, and have joyfully interacted with her on social media. This new book was recommended to me by another ARC reader and I could not put it down. I genuinely cannot wait to see how this story progresses.

The Premise of The Gods Below was good. An ancient world with magical gemstones and a few lucky ones that can harnest it's power.. logically a battle for power is started. We follow several pov's, one being in first person, the others in third. The story starts out with two sisters who are seperated by the restoration (easily explained as a sort of 'dome' that alters people in a certain area. They turn monsterous and lose their human features. Many flee, others join the forces of the God Kluehnn. Just like Hakara's sister Rasha, who felt like she was left behind, despite her sister searching for her for ten years straight. Rasha was her only mission to get back to. These are two of the main story lines I would say.

There's a couple of other pov's that follow gods both historically and current, there's pov of character who have their own goals in mind and along with that, their own struggles (what is the right choice, do we do what we must, or do we follow our hearts).

In my opinion, the book is very slow from start to finish. It also a little too enthuastic with the many pov's, causing it to be a bit chaotic and confusing at times - but also takes away the time to truly connect with the characters. And that last bit, is my biggest issue. I love a book that builds a world and with that also dives into it's history, I love a multiple pov, I actually liked that one of the pov's was written in first person rather than third like the others. And I liked the overal "vibe" of the book. Kluehnn reminded me of a game I played once, called "struggling", just a bunch of arms and legs, so it was absolutely hilarious to envision that character every time Kluehnn was described. I liked the sensitivty towards the cats and the mystery surrounding that character, I liked the internal struggles and the choices to accept that; sometimes, people make choices you dont particularly agree with.

But, in all honesty.
I'm not sure if I want to read the sequel. It has the potential, it has the right vibe, but it was so incredibly full and slow at the same time. The romance (of Rasha) was a bit sudden and therefor not very believable - but not being able to connect with any of the characters is a big loss, because that alone will make you want to see what happens to them next.

My advice to the author; take a little more time to introduce your characters to us readers. I think by doing that, you'll be able to build an absolutely amazing romance, world and in general the story.

I am waiting to post the review on goodreads, but it will be posted on goodreads.com/koowl at a later stadium.

on the surface this is good. i think stewart's writing style is easy to understand without being juvenile. but i think this was just. really conventional in too many places

I am the BIGGEST fan of The Bone Shard Daughter and I'm so disappointed with The God's Below...

The concept of the world, magic system, and the characters sounded very promising but I felt like it wasn't executed well at all. At least for my preferences.

I know Andrea Stewart likes multi-POV and normally it flows so effortlessly from one distinct character to the next but this... this was so boring and repetitive!! The only character I found interesting was Mullayne and I wish we had more time with him.

As an older sister myself I thought the storyline of sisters being separated and striving to see each other again would be more emotional but it just felt so FLAT - with Hakara's POV being quite immature and sounding like YA too.

I just don't get it?? This had all the right elements to be a new favourite for me but ultimately it bored me! This story was really lacking in depth.

Sorry!

-Sarah

This is the most painful review I ever had to write but here it goes: I did not care about this book. It was my most anticipated release. I dont want to compare but I have to the Bone Shard Daughter clicked so much better. And I think there are a couple of reasons why:

- There are too many POVs in the first book. And none of them made me feel attached to the characters.
- The main storylines are two separated sisters on opposite sides and I didnt like either of them.
- This book is environmental fantasy. We ruined the world and begged the gods to help. Made them go into war and created a weird cult with the one remaining. Too depressing for me to be honest I need some hope in my stories, silver lining or at least characters that make me care.
- There is supposed to be an overarching mystery to the story probably related to the gods.. but I am completely missing it.

Overall this is not a bad book. Andrea Steward is a solid writer. I just did not connect with this story. If you are looking for an epic fantasy with different POVs, and a cool magic system around gems with Gods below the earth try this book!

Thank you to #netgalley and #orbitbooksuk for this eARC in return for an honest review.

Don't you love it when you find an author who's writing style you just click with? Andrea Stewart is one of mine.

In a multi point of view story, this first (in I assume a trilogy) follows separated sisters Hakara who is working as a god gem collector and Rasha, who became an 'altered' through a process called 'The Restoration' is training to become a god killer.

To start with I got a little hung up on some of the language. Holding your breath in the aether. God killers. It felt a bit familiar to other things I've read recently, but as I got more into the story, they are unique concepts, but using familiar words.

The magic system was something I haven't seen before. Some are comparing to other books, but I've not read them, so to me it's new!

Underlying themes of conversion, political corruption, conservation are included in a well developed world. Magical cats, messy one night stands and fallable gods are also a bonus.

Super excited to get my hands on a paper copy and looking forward to the next book.

I liked this so much more than the Bone Shard series. It was so much easier to get into and be hooked by Rasha and Hakara and all the adventures malign gods and adversities they both have to face, after they are separated by a magical barrier between 2 lands when they are young children. There is so much to like about all the characters and you care about each of them and what they are feeling - y ou want them all to win and the plot twists are shocking and exciting. I can't wait for part 2!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for gifting me this arc in exchange for my honest review.
Andrea Stewart’s The Gods Below is great beginning to what I believe will be an incredible high-fantasy series the likes of The Licanious Trilogy, The Priory of the Orange Tree and her other series, The Drowning Empire.
I think the world-building was incredible and the action non-stop. I knew from the first few chapters that I was going to love it. I found the mythology, the lore, the idea of the “Restoration” and the subsequent changes and challenges unique and very well-developed.
I loved to read the two main povs, that of the sisters Hakara and Rasha. But there are many other povs which were not as interesting. However, the dynamic and the tension between the two sisters was very enjoyable. I also believe that the queer dynamics present in the story are well fleshed-out.
The only downside, because of the numerous povs, is the fact that the pacing is a bit off, it picks up quite slowly and readers might be turned off by that.
In just a few words: adventurous, interesting, dynamic.

I loved how unique this book was. Unique world building and premise, and a good introduction into it without tons of infodumping at the start.

The concept of the world is that all the lands are hot, dry and barren and people are starving, and a god offered to restore each land one by one. Restored lands become green with more balanced temperature, but of the people there, half die to feed the restoration magic and the other half are altered, turned into more animalistic people.

Hakara and her sister Rasha live together in a land about to be restored in the opening chapters. At fifteen Hakara is fully responsible for caring for her sister as their parents died, and when the restoration comes, Hakara is determined to flee. She doesn't want to risk dying in the restoration. While Hakara succesfully flees, Rasha remains behind and becomes an altered being.

Years later, Hakara wants nothing more than to find Rasha, but going into restored land is not so easy, and to get even a chance of finding here, Hakara joins with a group of rebels who are against the god and his restoration and try to save their land their own way without sacrificing half the population.

Meanwhile, Rasha has joined the faith for this god and is training to become one of his godkillers, fierce warriors who slay any other god, as their can only be one.

There's lots more to the world building that I loved but I have to explain everything we'll be here all day. It's complex, but I found it easy to follow. The early chapters with the two sisters trying to flee give a lot of information combined with pretty high stakes, making for an engaging beginning.

The book is mostly plot driven, with a focus on the rebellion Hakara is joining, but I liked the characters as well. There are five different POVs, most of which are Hakara, but also Rasha, Mull, Sheuan and the last one is a POV set several centuries ago from one of the old gods about this new god's rise to power and provides some context on the world. I liked each POV, all characters are distinct and have their own character development, even if I think it's more plot driven than character driven.

There's two romances, both not super frontal and slow burn. One is bi for bi m/f, and the other is f/f. The final POV character, Mull, is aroace and I appreciated the representation. I love that Mull loved his best friend so much he's going on a dangerous quest so save her, and his subplot is not super connected to the rest, but I quite enjoyed his storyline.

I'm curious where this is going next. Compared to the first book in the Drowning Empire, this felt much more like a first, full book rather than a very extended prologue.

Would recommend it to epic fantasy fans who like weird and complex world building, and think this would be great for fans of the Drowning Empire, the Final Strife or the Jasmine Throne.

The world building in this book is excellent. I was fully immersed in the world.

The story followed a few different people and it did take a while to get my head around who was who. The Gods, the humans and the Altered, along with the magic system with the aether and the God gems was interesting to read about.

Rasha and Hakaras relationship at the start was heart wrenching. Rasha and Sheuans relationship was very rushed and unexpected but Hakaras and Thassir was only a whisper, I hope that this relationship is explored more in the next book as I really liked every interaction they had together. Also Thassir's past seems very interesting and I want to know more.

I can't wait to read the next book, I want to know what Mullayne finds out, what Nioanen did at the end and what Hakara will do now 😊

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This world-building was so clear and easy to understand, yet it felt so rich at the same time. This is just how I love my world-building. I also felt like I really got to know all of the characters. The multiple POVs and their individual timelines and places also helped to expand the world.
The magic structure kind of gave Mistborn vibes, with the way they ingest gems and infuse them with magical aether to give them powers until the aether ran out. Similar feel to allomancy.
I thought it was clear right away who Thassir was, however at the end I'm no longer so sure!
I can't wait to figure out what happens next in this world, the series has clear direction so I know the plot of the rest of the series but can't wait to figure out how it comes about.

The Gods Below is the first book in the Hollow Covenant series, from the author of the amazing The Drowning Empire trilogy. Set in a new world with a new cast of character, this was a fantastic introduction to this new series. The characters are all well written, the plot is compelling throughout and the world is an interesting one. The world building was definitely one of my favourite things about this book. I would definitely recommend checking this out.

After taking weeks to get through 3 chapters, I've decided this isn't for me. The characters and the writing are not gripping me.

I loved Andrea Stewart’s previous trilogy, The Drowned Empire and so I was really looking forward to reading this first volume in her new fantasy series.
As before, Andrea Stewart excels in creating a new world for the reader to explore. The world here is huge with many different lands and gods who are certainly taking an active interest and involving themselves in what is happening.
The story opens with Kakara and her sister who are eking out a precarious existence in a land that is almost a wasteland. The land is about to be restored by the god Kluehnn however restoration results in many of the lands’ inhabitants being transformed into what might be seen as monsters and so is an event to be feared as much as welcomed.
The story is told through multiple POV and we see different aspects of the world through each of their eyes. As is generally the case with multi POV books, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. I enjoyed Kakara’s POV the most and that was certainly the one with the most action. She also had the best partner too in the huge mountain of a man Thassir. Possibly I loved him so much because he loves cats and hates anyone who is unkind to them.
I loved the world building and the magic system of gems that could give god-like powers. The idea of a magic system that involves being able to hold your breath is an imaginative idea and Kakara’s skill in this was echoed for me when I watched some of the artistic swimming at the recent Olympic Games and was amazed by how long the swimmers were able to hold their breath underwater while still performing a routine. The fact that the magic is forbidden to humans is also something that I really enjoyed. It’s always good when the characters have to break the rules.

My main difficultly with this book was the sheer number of different POV that we were introduced to very early on. I felt that I was moving onto different characters and situations before I had really got a hold on the POV that I was reading about. As well as Kakara and her sister, Rasha, we have 3 other POV who each have their own storyline. This constant changing early on in the novel made it difficult for me to engage with the characters and there were days when I put the book down and read something else which is very rare for me and not a good sign for the book in question.
I did go back to it and enjoyed the novel as a whole but it was a struggle to keep going at some points. Hopefully, now that everyone is established and the world building done, the next instalment will move more quickly and I will feel more connection to the characters. I am certainly looking forward to seeing where Andrea Stewart takes the story next.
Three and a half stars rounded up to four.
I am very grateful to Net Galley and the publishers, Little Brown Book Group for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is very clearly book one in a series - it takes a while to set things up (understandable) and leaves a lot of questions and hooks that may or may not play out well later.

Through multiple POVs, we follow the story of the separated sisters Hakara and Rasha - as well as the story of a dying and partially restored world. It has a magic system that for now looks coherent if maybe not exactly easy or efficient to use, a religious cult whose members actually get to meet their god on a regular basis, some politicking among the elite of the yet-to-be-restored part of the world, and mysteries galore about the nature of gods and the way the world works.

I don’t necessarily appreciate the multiple POVs, especially when they switch so often, but here the scale of the story justifies it; whether or not it will turn out to work in the end remains to be seen. Book one was mostly a fast and easy read, though some things were predictable enough (Thassir’s origins, for example, despite the red herring thrown in later in the story, or the fact that Mitoran is not who she says she is). I can’t say I got invested in any of the characters very much, as I’m way more interested in what the author has planned for the cosmic-level world building, but I’m okay with that so long as they stay consistent. That said, I didn’t care for romantic subplots much: Rasha’s seemed a bit rushed, but at least it’s more balanced than Hakara’s [SPOILER I’m just not into god/human ships, okay. Call it an old woman’s concern about unrealistically large experience and power gap].

On the subject of what else was sort of meh, I would point out some excessive repetitiveness in both internal monologue and dialogues, which just slowed the story down, and some interactions that honestly were just not clear. A good example is a conversation between Thassir and Hakara that happens later in the book. It is positioned as a fight of the kind after which people go their separate ways, and I actually had to reread it to a) figure out what was going on with Hakara’s motivation and how she got there; b) why the basically single accusatory thing she said was supposedly so hurtful, especially to someone who has barely started becoming her friend. These kinds of things are jarring, and if more of them surface in the later books, it would certainly have an impact on the overall enjoyment from the story, which, on balance, was a pretty fun read for me.

Overall, rounded up to 4 & looking forward to the sequels.

3.5☆


Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.


I'm going to preface this with how much I loved the author's Bone Shard series. Whilst her new series has promise, the first novel is not on the same level, unfortunately. 


Having said that however, I will keep going with the series as if the threads begun in The Gods Below follow the same plot structure as The Bone Shard series, these separate threads will come together in lster books, intertwining into an epic ending.


The reasons I'm unable to give this higher centres around a few points. First, let's discuss the things this novel does well. The world. It feels original, well constructed, and intriguing in many aspects. There's enough mystery embedded in the world that I will return for this, however, if you haven't read the author's earlier series and know her writing style, i can see why this alone would not be enough for you. Additionally, the magic system has some unique aspects but also sometl that I'm not totally on board with. 


The magic system involves drawing/summoning aether (magic) from below the ground. The deeper, the more powerful, to be breathed in, giving certain users powers is pretty cool. Holding ones breath to keep hold of that power is also a pretty interesting limitation. The part that doesn't work as well for me is that usually this is poisonous to mortals unless they 1. Swallow god gems (mined from the earth, where they aether is) and 2. They infuse inside, allowing the aether to give them powers. It reminds me of Mistborn, and I'm just not really sure this bit is needed/works. It certainly isn't as rounded as the bone shard magic system. I also didn't really understand where the gems actually come from or how they are formed, which left a whole in the relatively hard magic system for me.


Further to this, the actual powers gained aren't all that varied/spectacular, and our main protangonist Hakara primarily just uses them for super strength to hit things, which isn't particularly inspiring. I wanted to see some more unique powers to this series, if I'm honest.


The second part I took issue with is that every romantic entaglemnt is same-sex. I have no problem with some of this, but every single one? Seems unrealistic/unbalanced and I couldn't quite follow how essentiallly one night stands, that happen with a few hours of meeting one another, seem to progress into all encompassing love in the blink of an eye. I'm not a huge fan of romance in fantasy novels as it is. They often don't work, and the lack of build hinders the believability of it and distracts from the main plot for me.


Finally, there are several povs, similar to The Bone Shard. The difference here is twofold. There's too many too early, with Naionen's earlier ones playing no part in the story until the last 15%. I like to really get to know the main characters of the books and understand their thoughts, motivations, and the complexities of their decisions. This is challenging to achieve with so many in so short a novel. I actually ended up wanting a lot more of Mullayne and his quest than I did of Hakara and Rasha by the end, and he is a side character hut at least with clear motivations and difficult decisions to make. Perhaps this makes him a little more relatable and, therefore, more interesting to read. Consequently, the plot suffers as a side character's became more interesting than the main focus of the novel. 


Sheuan I loved in the beginning. However, she quickly becomes one dimensional after her one night stand/romantic entaglement mentioned earlier, resulting in myself hurrying through, hoping Mullayne's chapter was next


Now, I fully expect Stewart's next entry in the series will surpass this for two reasons. Firstly, I think we will get to know the characters more, and they will 'flesh out' with more chapters, making them less one dimensional and consequentky more intriguing. We also got some interesting reveals that made the plot more engaging in the final 10% of the book. This is a big reason why I can't award more than 3.5, however. The plot, outside Mullayne, doesn't engage enough because I can't feel invested in the characters without the necesary depth - the number of characters here requires considerably more chapters in my opinion in order to achieve said character depth and a reader's emotional investment in them. 


Furthermore, in book 2, i think more of the mystery of the world will be revealed (and it is a refreshingly different fantasy world) and the plot threads will further intertwine, giving us character development and hopefully more investment in the characters' journeys. Right now, they feel very single-minded. Hakara wants to find her sister, Rasha wants to belong, Sheuan wants to save her clan, Mullayne wants to save imeahand follow in Tolemne's path. That's it for character depth, sadly.


This book was ultimately a book I was happy to complete as it is a decent novel, it's the characters' depth and the romantic aspects need further developmeyn to make the plot really engaging and grab a reader's emotional investment. Stewart is more than capable of this, based on her debut fantasy seties, so I will absolutely be on board for book 2.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC.

Ultimately, The Gods Below was simply not for me. DNF @ 37% — I gave it a shot for 20 chapters and was still bored from the plot and not interested enough to keep dragging myself through it. There were multiple POV chapters, of which only one I was even mildly intrigued by: Hakara, whose goal is to find her estranged sister separated from her ten years ago. I definitely can see the *potential* of the story's premise of rebelling against a self-proclaimed One True God and having your world and selves molded according to said god's whim, and I acknowledge that Andrea Stewart is playing the long game of building up this world and all the respective politics in each region/perspective. It is a shame that I was unable to reach the crux of the story where, hopefully, things would escalate far more rapidly than it did in the first 20 chapters, but my lack of enjoyment with this proved too much to force myself with the slog.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for my digital review copy.

I enjoyed this, even if the pacing felt on the slow side for the majority of this book.

I forget how seamless Steward blends all the POVs together (especially how she uses both first and third person to differentiate the different voices.) I didn't have a difficult time at all discerning who I was with whilst I was reading.

Due to the number of POVs, it felt like a slower paced book, as you spent time with everyone setting up their view of the world, which can feel satisfying when done right, but when I finished, I found that I wished there was slightly more development happening so I could guess where we will go next.

I know this is a completely separate world to Stewart's other trilogy so it took me a while to remember that they were completely separate worlds. I do love how Stewart writes magic systems and this has to be one of the highlights for me.

I love how there's a character with a soft spot for cats in this! As there was one in The Drowned Empire and I'm glad there's one in this!

I know I was the most invested in Rasha and Sheuan but that's because I am more invested in the sapphics.

I am excited to see where this goes next as I felt like this book was setting up what's to come in the next one.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book. The concept and plot were brilliant. Two sisters, the oldest fighting to get back to her younger sister who had to figure out her place in a new world and become independent. The world itself was creative, the gods, godkillers, gems and cats. The history and snippets from then were so intriguing. Also, the writing was good, it flowed well, the use of description was appropriate, not too much to take my attention off the story and make me want to skim, and not too little to leave me blind. To be honest, all of these things kept me reading.

The foundations were solid but the construction was flawed. Hakara is desperate to get to her sister and maybe it was because the character pov changed so often, but I just didn't feel it in my gut. There was something missing. Her character fell a bit flat for me.
Rasha just annoyed me. She basically gave up on her sister, never mind didn't even consider going back for her even though she had been altered and would probably have no issues. She just decided that she was going to devote herself and risk her life to be a godkiller. Then she had the audacity to be pissed with hakara.
Mull - why did he have a pov other than to highlight a historic event and poke holes and confirm theories? That and his masks.
Thassir was an intriguing character. Dark, brooding, likes cats (really appreciated the connection between the past and present there) but other than showing up and helping hakara, he was also flat. There was minimal chemistry between him and hakara, she used him like a tool she was vaguely attracted to.
Sheuan was another interesting character, giving another view into the workings of this world, hakara highlighting those who have nothing, just trying to survive, and through her the unanointed. Sheuan was born into a clan, although her clan was in decline and out of favour with the sovereign after her father had been caught embezzling. Her journey and adventure was by far the most exciting, coupling political intrigue and adventure. She was the character I was most invested in. The f/f aspect was very well written and her attraction was more believable than hakara and thassir.

The twists and turns were well thought out and extremely enjoyable but to get to them there were a lot of flat characters and everything was so dire all the time, there was very little let up from the sense of doom. I couldn't seem to become invested in the characters so I struggled with this book even though I enjoyed the world, it's rules and everything else that came with it. There was a lot in this book but nothing was every really duelved into, everything was quite shallow. I did enjoy this book and I'm grateful that I had a chance to read it.

I've read some mixed reviews for this and I find myself almost sitting slap bang in the middle of them all. The world, execution and writing style were all brilliantly done, however I don't feel the characters were as well built as I would have liked.

Let's start off with the bit's I loved, because they far outweighed the bad when it comes to this first in a new series. I had absolute faith in Stewart's world building based on her previous series, and she certainly doesn't skimp in this one. After a war broke the world, a man went to bargain with the God's to save humanity, and only one answered. Now that God, Kluehnn, asks for regular tributes of magical gems to help build his power, and in return he is gradually transforming each land. But all wishes come with a price, and the price of transforming the land, is a transformation of the people also, at least the ones who survive. Those who do survive the process wake up wholly changed, taller, stronger, with horns and scales and many other changes.

It's a brutal world, one where people both pray for transformation, and also wish that it didn't have to come for them. A world filled with God's, god's who are hunted to cement Kluehnn's power, God's whose only crime was living. Stewart brilliantly builds the world to life, and her opening few chapters really show the emotional impact of transformation, especially for those who aren't worshipers of Kluehnn, those who simply want to survive, as well as allowing us insight into the time before the breaking, when Kluehnn was just coming into his power, and seeing the other God's trying their best to stop him from total control.

The story is told from multiple POV's, Hakara, Rasha, Sheuan, Mullayne & Nioanen. Hakara, Rasha & Sheuan were definitely the main POV's, the one's we spend the most time with and the ones who have the most impact on the story, with Nioanen used to throw us back to the time before the breaking, a time when God's had only just started to be hunted. Mullayne... I really don't see what he added to the story. There were certain things he brought to light, but I do feel these will become more important as the story progresses. Hakara was definitely my favourite of the characters and, apart from Sheuan, the only one I felt was reasonably well developed. We meet her at a pivotal part in her life, one that quickly becomes traumatic and that trauma follows her for the rest of the story. She is someone with only one goal in life, to go back to her kingdom and find out if Rasha, her little sister survived the transformation. She's feisty, not afraid to push when it's needed, nor is she afraid of stepping on any toes, not if it gets her back to her sister quicker. Not only was she the best developed of the characters, but her POV added the most depth to the world, as well as introduced us to some pretty pivotal characters.

All in all though, the characters were severely underdeveloped. There were so many emotional aspects, high action scenes that should have had me emotional, on the edge of my seat, and for a few I was, but for the most part I struggled to find myself caring enough about them. I almost feel she used this book, and the characters to focus more on the building of the world, than the characters themselves, which was a little disappointing because they had a lot of potential. I have faith that Stewart will develop them more in the next book, but their lack of strength made some of the plot points, the romance in particular seem overly rushed. I will say that despite all that, the characters all had their own, strong distinct voices that made them stand out from one another.

Normally, a book with this lack of character development wouldn't be a win at all for me, which just shows the strength of Stewart's writing and storytelling because I never once found myself bored or tempted to DNF. Her ability to draw you into her worlds is truly spectacular, and her writing style is descriptive and propulsive enough to ensure you get stuck in quickly. Maybe my expectations were too high, after all I loved her previous series, I just felt I didn't click with this one as easily. All that being said, by the end I was fully invested in the story and despite having quite a few questions I am absolutely eager to get my hands on the next book and see where the story takes me.