The God Eaters is a story of redemption, friendship, and young love, set in a world of guns, magic, and religious oppression.  It is an action thriller, an epic fantasy, and a carefully-paced romance, all in one—and, much to the author’s credit, these disparate elements work wonderfully together to produce a beautiful, involving, and utterly indelible reading experience.

The story proper begins on a train, heading for a secret prison in the middle of nowhere.  Ashleigh Trine was raised by his aunt in a large city in a northern country long occupied by the Commonwealth.  He’s kind, naive, and bookish, and helped the Resistance by writing newsletters and keeping records.  He’s good with math and codes, but couldn’t win a fight to save his life.  In fact, he’s never really been in one.  When he’s arrested on sedition charges, the Watch discover an almost inconsequential—but illegally undisclosed—empath Talent, and, instead of hanging him for sedition, they decide to send him to the secret prison where his Talent can be studied and dissected.  Ash is terrified and disbelieving of his fate—he knows he can’t survive prison for long.  Meanwhile, across the continent, Kieran Trevarde has led a very different life.  He’s a quick-witted, angry young man of tribal descent, orphaned at a young age in a frontier town to a life of prostitution.  He learns early how to fight, and by his mid-teens finds work killing for money.  Apart from being very effective with a gun, he has an unnatural ability that interests the leader of a local gang: people who Kieran wants dead have an odd way of turning up so, sooner or later, from one apparent natural cause or another.  If he doesn’t just gun them down first.  He is eventually hunted down by the police and the Watch—who have an interest in his ability to kill by thought—and, after a shootout in which he is wounded and his lover killed, he is healed and sent off to prison for study.

Assigned to the same cell, Ash latches on to Kieran for his protection, which Kieran provides as an excuse to bust some heads—and so quickly solidify his reputation within the prison population.  Although it is not easy for either of them, they slowly become friends, first out of mutual self-interest—and some unspoken physical attraction—and, later, out of growing respect and trust.  The tests they are subjected to by the Watch amount to little more than physical and psychological torture, and they quickly come to rely on each other to pick up the broken pieces when either is returned to the cell.  Kieran becomes determined to escape, and he convinces Ash to help him plan and execute the attempt.  Meanwhile, as time passes, it becomes clear that there is more to Kieran than meets the eye.  When tortured more than he can bear—something that happens frequently, as he steadfastly refuses to cooperate with his captors—he somehow detaches his consciousness from his body, and the things he sees in this dream state soon start coming true. 

Meanwhile, Theylon, Director of the Watch, a man of rigid and very questionable morality, is also more than he seems.  Charged with defending the Commonwealth and the Dalanite religion from all enemies, well, let’s just say he has some very ignoble concerns and plans, into which Kieran may fit.

The story plays out against a huge, rich background of clashing cultures, burned landscapes, and a well-integrated system of magic, but it never strays far from its true strength: its characters.  The events in the story grow to have world-changing consequences, by the end, with Kieran and Ash taking on the evil empire and Theylon himself—but the story itself always remains close and personal.  We experience the events almost entirely through Kieran and Ash, as their friendship grows and blooms into romance and love, and as they come to rely on each other to help withstand adversity and pain.  This character focus provides a consistently human scale to the progressively more epic scope of the story, and serves to ground the story, keeping it believable and compelling.

Readers who loved Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword will find a lot in The God Eaters to love—not because the worlds or characters are similar (they aren’t, and The God Eaters has a lot more adult themes), but because the warmth of the narrative—and the centrality of the romance—will feel very familiar.  The God Eaters is, ultimately, a story of young love, and of learning to truly trust someone else.  Some readers may find it to be, at times, overly sentimental—Ash, in particular, wears his heart on his sleeve—but, personally, I loved the warmth and honesty of the narrative and dialogue, in that regard.  It reminded me of when I was that age, and how everything felt so very important.  Truth be told, I’ve fallen in love with both Kieran and Ash, and I’ll miss them both, now that I’m done reading. 

My only real complaint about the story is the prologue.  Unfortunately, I don’t think you can afford to skip it, as it sets up both Kieran’s background and some important plot elements; however, it is by far the weakest writing in the story.  In tries to cover too much ground—nine years of Kieran’s life, plus the introduction of several of the key players, including Theylon—and it feels a bit clunky.  Rest assured, though: once you get past it, things markedly improve.

A good story, a vivid, unique sense of place, and friends I will miss: these are reliable ways to my heart through fiction.  The God Eaters delivers in all three ways, and more besides, and I think it has already become one of those few stories that I will never forget, and that I will carry around with me forever.  In fact, I’ve ordered a paperback copy of The God Eaters to put on my shelf, so I can pull it down and reread some of it any time I want to.  Yes, in my opinion, it’s that good.

6 of 6 members found this review helpful.
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Beautiful description. ^^ I don’t know why someone hasn’t rated this before, but I assume it is because they lack the words to describe its awesomeness.

The prologue begins with, in my opinion, one too many POV changes, but it appears to get somewhat better as the story unfolds. The plot appears strong, and it lets you know right up front this is a gay romance so those offended can be aware right away.

If you’re looking for well-built characters, strong dialogue, and witty writing, this is for you. If you like to feel the emotions of the characters at every step, you might want to find a different story. Emotional response of characters needs to be brushed up a bit.

All in all I am giving this 5 stars anyway because it IS something I would both buy and enjoy at a bookstore, and that is after all what matters. To me anyway.

2 of 6 members found this review helpful.
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