Hannah Kaner – Godkiller (Fallen Gods)

I am in a difficult relationship with Godkiller from Hannah Kaner. On one hand, the book is passable at best. The writing is not bad, but far away from being good. There are language mistakes, which seems to be more and more common in books nowadays. I’m puzzled that so many people on Goodreads praies its writing. The story is passable, enjoyable, but not that great. And on the other hand, it IS enjoyable to read. The lore and worldbuilding is full of potential, and as a “reading-snack” it’s great. But it never manages to be better than this. There are a bunch missed opportunities in the story, the writing isn’t able to help the lore shine through. It is basic. But still, I enjoyed it. Some rare moments were even good. With a bit more care and time, this could have been great. As it is, it lacks ambition.

Also, there is a bunch of representations. A lot of female characters, disabled characters etc. And that is always nice. I am still wondering how great a prothesis Kissen (one of the main protagonists) has to do all the fighting she does, but hey, I take a nice representation of disabilities. Also, Kissen means pillow in German, and I can’t switch off my brain to not read it like that.

So yeah, there is a lot wrong with this, but nonetheless it is enjoyable and way better than most of booktok’s recommandations from people who are aghast that books have many words and a third person singular narration in them. I will call this snack-books. The equivalent of bingr watching a miniseries after work because you’re too tired to use you brain but still need a minimum to be happy.