What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge

 
What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Balzer + Bray through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lia has spent much of her life being trained to kill the heretic sorcerer who has forced the royal family into a time-freezing slumber. When she completes her task, she expects the royal family to awaken the gods and end the Red Death. What she doesn’t expect is to be forced to make a pact with a god and marry the prince or be killed by the queen. Lia certainly doesn’t expect her entire life to be turned upside down at every turn. The only person she can trust is the ghost of Ruven, the man she murdered, who she has accidentally bound to herself.

I’m a huge fan of fairytale retellings, so I was all over this the second I saw it. This time around, we’ve got a compelling Sleeping Beauty retelling. We follow Lia, a woman chosen by the gods who was born into a world that mostly doesn’t believe in them. However, Lia was raised in a convent and knows all about how and why so many people became heretics: Ruven. I thought it was an interesting twist that sleeping beauty is the royal court rather than a single person, and that the innocent people forced into a 500 year slumber are not so innocent after all.

This was truly a fascinating take on Sleeping Beauty. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Ruven. I wish we got to learn more about Ruven and his life, but it is what it is and I’m happy with what we got. Lia is a great character, but she was constantly going back and forth about her decisions and not seeing what was very obviously sitting in her face. I had to keep reminding myself that she’s an extremely sheltered character who grew up in a convent, and that she is not prepared for anything she’s facing. In fact, I’m surprised she held up as well as she did given how much she faced, with the main thing being everything she’s believed turning straight on its head.

That said, I do wish we got to see more of the royal family and see exactly what they’re made of. We barely touch the surface with them and it would’ve been nice if they were a little more fleshed out. I also wish we learned more about the gods and their world, but I’m also happy with what we did learn because they are still meant to be mysterious to everyone, including readers. I do think that the entire mythology behind the gods was really interesting, though.

All in all, this is an excellent read. I love how different this story is compared to the source material to the point that I actually forgot it’s a fairytale retelling at some point. I’m excited to check out the author’s other books because the characters and the world they live in are extremely interesting.