by Andrea Stewart
528pp (Hardcover)
My Rating: 6/10
Amazon Rating: 3.9/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.4/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.67/5
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In this sweeping epic fantasy comes a story of magic, betrayal, love, and loyalty, where two sisters will clash on opposite sides of a war against the gods.
A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms – if they survived at all.
Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself and her sister, Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate.
Alone and desperate for answers on the wrong side of the world, Hakara discovers she can channel the magic from the mysterious gems they are forced to mine for Kluehnn. With that discovery comes another: her sister is alive, and the rebels plotting to destroy the God Pact can help rescue her.
But only if Hakara goes to war against a god.
The Gods Below is the first book in The Hollow Covenant, a new fantasy series by Andrea Stewart. I was interested in reading it because the deal with the god and clash between sisters mentioned in the description sounded compelling, plus I rather enjoyed the first two books in the author’s other series, The Drowning Empire (The Bone Shard Daughter, The Bone Shard Emperor, The Bone Shard War). Given that the final book in the previously published trilogy had some problems with execution and pacing, I also had some reservations about reading The Gods Below when there are so many books out there waiting to be read—but, obviously, my curiosity about the new book prevailed.
Unfortunately, I felt that The Gods Below had execution problems similar to those of The Bone Shard War without having the advantage of concluding a story with characters I was already invested in. Although it did have a strong start and a fascinating world with intriguing mysteries, I doubt I’ll be continuing The Hollow Covenant series due to its uneven pacing and lack of memorable characters.
As with her previous series, Andrea Stewart developed a creative secondary fantasy world (although I didn’t think it was as unique or interesting as the introduction to The Drowning Empire’s bone shard magic and sinking islands). Other than some flashback chapters, The Gods Below is set nearly 600 years after humans had damaged the ecosystem of their world beyond repair, prompting one mortal to descend into the earth seeking a boon from the gods. One god agreed to help, but restoring the world would be a slow process with a cost: half of each land’s inhabitants would disappear, as their matter would be used to recreate the land, and those who remained would be transformed to better be able to survive. The desperate mortal agreed to the bargain, and the world was split into realms separated by magical barriers, which are still in the process of being restored one by one when the main story opens centuries later.
The panic and devastation caused by this cost are shown early in the book with the two primary main characters, Hakara and Rasha, facing the imminent restoration of their land in the first couple chapters. The two sisters are children when we meet them, and Hakara, the older sibling, is doing her best to ensure their survival since they are on their own. When Hakara realizes their land is about to be remade, she attempts to get herself and her sister across the barrier, but the two are separated. Hakara is brought across the barrier to a neighboring land that has not yet gone through restoration, but Rasha is left behind, altered to be taller and stronger with sharp teeth, claws, fangs, and horns.
This is an excellent start that intrigued me, but I found it less compelling when it skipped ahead ten years about 30 pages into the novel instead of spending time on the aftermath and how it affected who the characters became. When it picks up again, Hakara is trying to save enough money to return home to search for her sister by working in the mines, where she accidentally discovers the power of the valuable gems she unearths. Rasha, who was taken under the wing of a priestess of the god restoring their world, is beginning the arduous training to become a godkiller: one of their order who removes the remaining gods who threaten the supremacy of the One True God.
From here, their stories seemed to simultaneously move too quickly and too slowly. There are both parts I found dull and relationships that develop far too suddenly, keeping them from having emotional depth. Though this is a problem with both sisters’ romances, the underdevelopment of the sibling relationship bothered me most. Their circumstances are tragic: Hakara feels she failed her younger sister, and Rasha feels abandoned and betrayed since she doesn’t know her older sibling did not willingly leave her behind. However, this heartbreaking situation didn’t hit as hard as it should have since we barely see the two of them together.
All five storylines had similar issues with pacing. Although the two sisters and their first-person narratives are the biggest part of the novel, there are three additional main characters with third-person perspectives. One of these storylines is about a manipulative observer whose search for the truth behind her family’s disgrace takes her across the barrier, where she attempts to uncover some mysteries about restored lands (and ends up in a romantic entanglement with one of the sisters). Another focuses on her cousin, an inventor trying to find the exact spot where the mortal found the gods centuries ago to ask for a boon, hoping he can save his dying friend. The third follows one of the older gods, starting before the bargain was made with the god restoring the world.
These individuals and their arcs are compelling in theory, but I didn’t think their stories quite lived up to their promise. Although the overall plot for each was interesting, there were a lot of parts that seemed to drag between the major points. In the end, it felt like their stories were trying to hit some main beats to get them all in position for the rest of the series. (Despite not always finding her chapters engaging and feeling all the characters could have had more dimension, I did have some special fondness for Rasha as a soft person who had to try to harden herself to survive the cutthroat order that took her in.)
The worldbuilding was easily the highlight of The Gods Below. Like the author’s previous trilogy, it doesn’t go into a lot of depth on the social aspects of living in this world but is conceptually interesting. I enjoyed all the brief lore drops at the start of new chapters, everything related to the mysteries of what really happened in the past, and all the questions raised about what happens in a realm after its restoration. However, I did find the magic system involving the gems, which imbued powers based on their color, a bit rote and uninteresting to read about—especially given how fascinating I found the rest of the world with its gods and secrets waiting to be unraveled.
The Gods Below excels at setting and has a strong opening, but its pacing issues and thin character development prevent it from meeting its full potential. I am curious enough about the world that I might read the next book if I hear that it improved upon some of the problems I had with this one, but it’s unlikely I’ll continue the series.
My Rating: 6/10
Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the publisher.
