I received this book for free from Netgalley, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Sunbringer by
Hannah Kaner Series: The GodKiller Chronicles #2 Published by HarperCollins on March 12, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure Pages: 384
Format: ARC,
eBook Source: Netgalley, Publisher
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Buy on Bookshop "An epic fantasy odyssey." -- Entertainment Weekly
"A richly rendered world . . . Kaner writes action that's both fun and intelligible." -- The Washington Post
Return to the world of Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut
When Middren falls to the gods, your kind will be the first to die.
Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren--but now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth, who murdered her family and endangered her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily, and Hseth's power threatens to reform with even greater strength and a thirst for vengeance. As tensions rise throughout the land, the kingdom needs its Godkiller more than ever.
Still reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, have set out to discover more about the true nature of their bond. As the divide between gods and humans widens, Inara and Skedi will uncover secrets that could determine the fate of the war to come.
Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been tasked with killing the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods throughout the land, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all. And where his heart once beat, a god now burns. . .
"Will have you in its grasp from the first pages . . . An extraordinary journey." -- Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of Priory of the Orange Tree, on Godkiller
"A triumph of storytelling." -- Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf, on Godkiller
"A bone-rattling fantasy thriller that flies by in a breathtaking rush." -- Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Godkiller
Godkiller was a book that I loved. It was about quests, and found families, and delicious revenge. And yet, if Godkiller was the pebble, then Sunbringer is the avalanche following right behind. Inevitable and full of characters with hard choices, I can’t help but think of it as a metaphor for US politics.
First there’s King Arren, who tried to do the right thing and failed spectacularly. His intentions were at one point good: avenge his family, save the human race from the capricious whims of vengeful gods, but his execution was shit. He got a shitload of people killed, an entire city destroyed, and ended up possessed by the very thing he was trying to defeat. “Meet me in the middle”, says the unjust man God, and then takes a step back. Arren is now so far gone that he sets his best friend (former lover? the details are hazy here) up to be murdered in an effort to save his kingdom. I can’t help but see this as a metaphor for a political party willing to sacrifice the most vulnerable of their people in order to obtain a victory that isn’t much of a victory at all.
Then there’s Hseth, the Goddess whose followers murdered Kissen’s family. Her people have become so fanatical in their worship of her that she doesn’t stay slain for long. They’re willing to sacrifice their own children — when they can’t find someone else’s to burn — in order to prove their faith. A metaphor for a group that chooses to believe their leader’s lies in order to be part of an identity willing to sacrifice everyone else to disease, war and death? Sounds familiar.
There are the archivists, a group so desperate to save any small piece of themselves that they’re willing to self-censor and bury their own past in order to be accepted in the present. I wonder what group this makes me think of… maybe something with a rainbow? Fractured into those who’d rather be accepted and those who want to preserve their beliefs (themselves?) at all costs, the archivists are fuel for the fire of genocide and war and also the targets.
There is Elogast, desperate to correct the wrongs that he’s seen and some he’s perpetrated by defeating the man he once served. Focused entirely on correcting his own mistakes, he is ignorant of what’s happening in the wider world. And Kissen. Kissen, who has seen what is coming, who has lived through and knows what the future holds and that it is flame and destruction and death. Kissen, who must convince everyone to ally with the known quantity, the lesser evil, in order to defeat the larger, much more dangerous one.
Woven through all of this is Inara, who is learning to lie, and her little god, Skedi, who is struggling to understand and accept the truth, and their tie to each other that plays catalyst for most of the whole damned thing. What I’m seeing here in this story is a desperate attempt to stem a wave of fascism, flame, and needless death by making alliances that no one really wants to make, that may prove to have terrible consequences, but is at least marginally better than allowing the entire world to be overcome.
If that’s not a metaphor for US politics in this our year 2024, then I didn’t score a 4 on my AP English exam back in the day. This book is breathtakingly tense, the prose sharp and austere. This year has been a hell of a year for good books, and it’s only February.
