"Welcome to Kava, where the undead gods neither hear nor care, but you'd best pray to them anyway lest they curse you with their gifts".

What a stunning, dark, moody fantasy debut by Caitlyn Battelle! I was hooked from the first sentence of the prologue. Undead Gods is being released on September 30th, so if you, like me, enjoy dark fantasy with gaslamp vibes and a unique twist on the classic Hades & Persephone myth, please grab your copy!

Magic, once a living & breathing thing in the kingdom of Kava, is gone. How and why, nobody knows. Was it a punishment, or were they simply abandoned by the gods they believed in? What's left is a kingdom of mists and grey skies, a kingdom where no trees grow and everything is covered in layers and layers of soot and grime. What's left is a curse, or so they call the gift of magic, being reborn in some of them. No matter whether you call it a gift or a curse, it will only bring you death and destruction in Kava.

So, what is Elysia's plan? How to save her life while being cursed with magic? Hide in plain sight. Play the role, be the child of the Crown, be the beloved of the Crowned Prince. Just keep going. I loved Elysia. She is a true morally grey character. She does and says questionable things, but she always manages to survive. To survive, not just the curse of magic, but the true curse of being born into a family so power-hungry they will sacrifice even their own. And Elysia survives. She develops true feelings for the prince, as he does for her, but can you call it love when it's based on secrets? Can your need for survival top it all?

Caitlyn has woven a perfect tale of intrigue, political scheming, life-threatening situations, a deep urge for survival, and love born in secrets and shadows, set in a place the gods have forgotten, and the only currency is power. We weave through this dense forest with Elysia Parker, and we see it all, the good and the bad. We meet other characters, each of them crucial to the story. Each of them with their own set of secrets and scheming. And we love it all.

Caitlyn's writing style, so lush & poetic, only adds to the overall atmosphere. She truly transports you to Kava, and you enter there willingly, wanting to devour each page and uncover at least some of the secrets. Especially those concerning the magic, the undead gods, and the reasons behind it all.

Undead Gods leaves on a cliffhanger so excruciating I know I will be holding my breath until Book 2.

In short, Undead Gods will gift you:
- moody, dark, gaslamp fantasy
- lush & poetic prose
- intricate world-building
- forbidden magic
- so many secrets, intrigue & scheming
- magic deal
- devastating cliffhanger
and so, so, so much more!

DNFed about 35% of the way through the book, when I got frustrated that I still didn't know what the goal of the FMC and the book even was. Not a lot is happening for this entire chunk of the book, except perhaps miscommunications between characters and a lot of verbose narration. The world is admittedly very cool, with its beautiful yet grim atmosphere in the dark city of Kava. However, that was unfortunately what made up the entirety of what I enjoyed about the book. I wish I could have loved it, but alas it was not for me. It felt very much like it was written to set up future books rather than to stand alone on its own merit, which is a shame because the world is genuinely very cool and I would've loved to read a more well-developed plot within that world.

Thank you to NetGalley, Twelfth House Publishing, and Caitlyn Battelle for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for this ebook!

✨️ My thoughts ✨️
Undead Gods is a book inspired by Hades and Persephone. Which im a HUGE sucker for. This book is full of magic, danger, and a  little bit of betrayal. You will follow Elysia Parker(our main character) on her journey to figure out what's the truth in her world and to the death realm. I truly enjoyed Elysia and her personality. This book does end in a cliffhanger... so you'll need book 2 immediately.

✨️ My favorite qoutes ✨️
"You have to make it real - you have to keep them safe."
"I owe you a conversation? That's rich."
"Whatever we had died when you left me to do the same."

✨️ Tropes ✨️
▫️Hidden Identity
▫️ Forbidden Magic
▫️Hades and Persephone inspired
▫️Miscommunication done right

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me a bit to get into the world and the characters but it was a lot to comprehend in the beginning. The idea of forbidden magic and a blackmailing father is one of my favorite tropes though. The struggle with holding onto a secret to save your life but you have to expose others with the same secret was soo dark and I loved how the MC handled that. She was strong and even though she made some questionable choices at times she was still an endearing character to follow.

Thanks again for the book in exchange for a review!

I had a hard time getting into this book but once it got rolling it was really engaging. We spend quite a large amount of time world building and establishing characters and a main player is introduced fairly late in the game so I suspect the second book will be stronger. For those who like a dual pov romantasy with lots of twists and betrayals I think you’ll be down for it. And there’s a raccoon.

This book was perfection. The character development was beautiful and in depth enough that I felt attached and emphasized with their emotions strongly. I found myself rooting for Elyse and Topp, even when they were being silly or in conflict. I loved the wit and banter with all the characters. This authors sense of humor definitely matched my own! I love that while I have a few inklings of where the story could go, its not s0 obvious that reading feels redundant. It feels like there will be some twists coming up that I am on the edge of my seat for! Basically, I am now likely to be in a book slump because I need to know what happens! Also, not even shy about the fact that while I like Topp, I am totally shipping Elyse and Aiden. You know, dark god of death with a soft side? Come on! Thats every girls weakness!!

I wanted to love this book, after all it has a strong female main character and great atmosphere!

Alas, while it was not bad I couldn't fully get into it either as it sadly fell into some tropes which are typical for most romance fantasy nowadays and it's where many stories lose me if the rest of everything doesn't make up for it.
The writing is really great at setting up the vibe but the pacing of the book had me struggling at times to keep going, so I have to say that this book sadly is not for me.

The world building and magic system was really well done. Incredibly descriptive yet also simple. This book is definitely heavy on the fantasy and I hope we go into even more details in future books. I was also kept guessing the whole time! I can always appreciate that in a book.

One point that could have been better is the character development, or maybe the connections there. I didn’t really connect with the characters, but I did like them if that makes sense. Thats where the four stars come in.

Overall a great fantasy I recommend giving a read!

I really enjoyed reading this book I loved the cat and mouse aspect of it and the banter between the characters

Absolutely loved, but of a slower start but then it gets insane! I love the lovers to enemies vibes and the FMC is a total badass! Also love the forbidden powers trope 💖

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book if you're looking for a fantasy book that is complex and keeps you on your toes.

There is so much world building, a complex magic system, romance filled with twists and turns turning enemies to lovers on it's head, dynamic characters and character relationships, and plenty of plot to keep you interested. And, of course, a fun explosive ending.

I really liked this story. The way the author created the worldbuilding is și captivating that i can't fiind the right words to describe. The heroine was interesting, although sometimes she annoyed me, but that didn't stop me to enjoy the book. I can't wait to read more books.

Thank you NetGalley and Caitlyn Battelle for the ARC copy of Undead Gods.

I enjoyed the book a lot, I really enjoyed the plot and premise and I’m looking forward to seeing our readers recitations to the characters and overall story!

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★★
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶️
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Caitlyn Battelle
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 434
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: October 1, 2024

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭
🗝️𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝙱𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐
🗝️𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌
🗝️𝙷𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙸𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚢
🗝️𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 & 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚊𝚕
🗝️𝙳𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝙾𝚅
🗝️𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔, 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙶𝚊𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚙 𝚟𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚜
🗝️𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚐𝚎

"𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝒹𝓊𝓈𝓉, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝓊𝓅 𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝒶𝓌𝓃 𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹𝓈."

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 first say that I am a visual person so when an author can bring a story to life and I can see the world they created so easily in my mind I already know it's going to be a good book. Caitlyn did such an amazing job and seriously came through with the world building. I could picture the dark and eerie vibes this book was giving off.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 had me hooked was the twists and turns. The book starts off at a slower pace but when it gets going it gets going and I had no idea where it was going to go but I was along for the ride. From Elysia's personal journey to her trying to navigate her deadly secrets kept me on edge. Elysia is a strong FMC but there's so many questions on where her magic came from...oh and how about being in love with someone who could literally order your death? I'm telling you, there's so many things going on but, again I loved every page of this book.

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy with high stakes, morally complex characters, a love story that's anything but simple, dark and moody vibes and more fantasy than romance BUT there's still romance in this book and I'm hopeful there's going to be more in book 2!

I got through a little over 50% before DNF'ng this book It was really hard to follow and I couldn't seem to get into the book

This book was a slow start for me. I went into it knowing it was probably book 1 of a series, and there would be a lot of world building. This was true, much more than I expected. The writing is very well done and the author spends a good portion of the book building Kava and developing the characters in it. And though I say it was very slow for the first half of the book, once the plot started to drop I was all in. I would still recommend this book to my fantasy loving friends. This book gave any future books for this world great structure.

Elysia is cursed, her forbidden power used solely for the gain of others. She has a plan however, protection through marriage. Topp is witty and clever but victim to his own arrogance. A relationship without trust is doomed, trust being a 2 way street and the ommitance of truth is straining. I found myself frustrated wishing for them to just talk to eachother instead of dancing around the inevitability of their third act breakup. I was kinda rooting for Topp ngl... I really wonder what will become of him in book 2.

This is not a Hades and Persephone retelling, instead this is an inspired by story. The elements are there but it's too early to tell how deep the influence weaves through yet. There's love and games a plenty in this dying land. There is little drops that tease at the tale.

The ending of this book had me ready to throw my kindle, because just as events start ramping up, your falling over the edge of the final page. Book 2 is set up perfectly after this and cannot come fast enough.

Gosh, I wish the rest of the series was also out already! Feel so empty after reading the last chapter – so so good.

With a dark and moody worldsetting, Undead Gods, has you hooked from the get-go. The FMC, Elysia, is well written with a morally grey side and there's one (maybe two;) ) morally grey MMCs as well, that adds a little banter to the mix. I especially liked how the world building and magic system is - Kava being void of magic as the country is decaying and how it seems like it's a phenomenon only happening in Kava and not the sorrounding kingdoms. It's also an intriquing way of seeing magic as the small things. How filtering out lies from truth or having healing abilities is a power on its own instead of always having 'the whole package'.

I give this 4 stars, as some of the build up could have been cut-out to make the plotline sharper as the start/middle was a bit long. Not that I minded but I can imagine that for some, it would be too long before 'the action' was happening.

Can’t wait to read the continuation of this series because I’m definitely hooked – and that cliffhanger, wow!

Thanks to NetGalley and Twelfth House Publishing for this ARC.

I enjoyed the author's style and the gloomy atmosphere. Characters are complex (and mostly morally grey). World building here was great. The magic system is quite interesting.
Overall it was a nice read, but something in this book did not work for me to love it. I had a hard time getting into it and then got bored a couple times in the process of reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Twelve House Publishing for this ARC.

Undead Gods takes you into a world where magic is illegal and keeps you guessing who is good and who is evil. Elysia is always doing what she must to make the best out of tough situations and Topp tries to enjoy his time with Elysia while they both keep secrets from each other. You will like Undead Gods if you like secrets, morally grey characters, and politics

I wanted to love it more but not only did I struggle to get into it, but also to finish. Battelle uses a lot of words to describe emotions and situations (often repeating herself) but not a lot actually happens and I struggled to make sense of what did happen (and then to care). I didn’t feel an anchor to any one character, or the connection to Persephone/Hades, and I LOATHE miscommunication as a plot device at the best of times, so when it’s the source of almost all the plot, I despair. All in all a bit disappointed.