#WyrdandWonder Book Review: The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The Bloodsworn Saga
Publisher: Orbit (April 12, 2022)
Length: 672 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Picking up immediately from the end of The Shadow of the Gods, A dragon god of legend has been freed from her eternal prison and she’s about to unleash a reign of blood upon the world. As Lik-Rifa quickly amasses her army of tainted dragonborn followers, the plot of The Hunger of the Gods once more follows our three main characters as they each embark on their own individual quests.
Orka, a veteran warrior who has come out of retirement to seek her stolen son, is trying to stay one step ahead of the mayhem with a traveling warband of her own. Meanwhile, Varg has found a new freedom and family with the Bloodsworn, embarking on a mission of vengeance. And then of course there’s Elvar, a Jarl’s daughter who is determined to show the world she is so much more.
In an interesting development, we also see the addition of two new POVs, including Gudvarr, a morally complicated character who adds a bit of darkness and avarice into the mix, as well as Biorr, who gives us insight into this world of warring gods.
Plotwise, I’m not going to go much more in depth than that, not really over a concern of spoilers like in many of my other reviews, but simply because the story itself is truly that straightforward. In some ways, The Hunger of the Gods feels very much like a bridge book setting up a big hurrah in the final installment of the trilogy, but in the best way possible. That said though, at close to 700 pages it’s a doorstopper of a novel, and for most of it, we go nowhere fast. Author John Gwynne likes to put his characters under a magnifying glass, which sometimes is a good thing, while at others it can get a bit tedious. As Orka, Varg, and Elvar each set off on their respective missions, there’s inevitably a lot of downtime as we switch back and forth between their chapters, which I feel is a common pitfall for many multi-POV fantasy epics.
Thankfully, we get frequent bursts of breathtaking, action-packed sequences that ultimately help keep the pace from dragging, and there’s always something interesting happening despite the plot’s slower moments. Gwynne’s gift for character development should be highlighted here, as the story delves into the minds and motivations of our protagonists while exploring themes of family, friendship, ambition, revenge, and courage. I also loved how the world of the Bloodsworn Saga was greatly expanded in this sequel as our characters travel to new and faraway exotic places, introducing more mythical Norse elements into the series.
Still, at the end of the day, I would say The Shadow of the Gods is the overall better novel, though The Hunger of the Gods probably has the edge for having more depth. In fact, in certain respects I would even argue that it was more epic as well. Our characters continue to grow, and while I will refrain from gushing about how much I loved Orka, Varg, and Elvar since I feel like I already did enough of that in my review of the first book, I think Gwynne did a fantastic job continuing to flesh them out in this sequel, not to mention that with the addition of the two new POVs, I sense we’re deep diving into more complicated territory as the author challenges himself with new boundaries.
All in all, I have to say I’m pleased with the way things are going in this series. Now bring on the next one!
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Shadow of the Gods (Book 1)
The BiblioSanctum 
I have book 1. Gotta read it!
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Well, I guess this officially makes you a Gwynne fan. I’ll do my best not shun you from now on 😉
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I’m definitely a fan, but the book probably still fell short of my expectations. The first one was much better.
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Agreed: despite some slow sections, this was an amazing read and I can’t wait to see how Gwynne will wrap up all the individual narrative threads. One thing is certain: it will be an *epic* journey 😉
Thanks for sharing!
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Yep, I have hopes the final book will be GO GO GO again 🙂
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I’ve seen all positive reviews for this. I’m sad I didn’t get to it yet, but hopefully next month😁
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I agree this was much slower than the first book and for me, I felt it had a bit of middle book syndrome but I still thought it was pretty awesome!
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Excellent review! And I still need to read it. But I think I’ll wait to be closer to release date of the last oen. When that will be I have no idea as since the death of his daughter he has had a hard time writing.
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Yeah that was quite sad 😦 I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to do anything let alone write with grief like that.
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Definitely has me more interested in trying the first book.
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I am simply loving this series. It’s given me a whole renewed love of epic fantasy. Such characters, such battles.
Lynn 😀
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