The Hungry Gods - Review
- TheLittLibrarian
- Sep 1
- 3 min read
*I received an audio copy from Solaris via NetGalley. All reviews are my own
One day, I was scrolling through Netgalley and requesting all the audiobooks for the books I'm already approved for, when I came across the newest Adrian Tchaikovsky short story, The Hungry Gods. I've heard many things about his writing through one of my book clubs, B2 Weird, and I wanted to give him a shot. They haven't steered me wrong with their random recommendations yet, so why not?
"The Gods have returned to the world.
Amri was a Rabbit, one of a tribe of survivors scratching out an existence in the blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world. The Seagull fight, the Pigeon trade and the Cockroach scavenge, but the Rabbit had one rule: If you want to see tomorrow, you run.
But they didn’t run fast enough when a weapon fell from the sky and consumed their home, and now Amri is alone, in the company of a fallen god named Guy Vesten. A god who promises revenge against the three gods who turned against him, and who killed her tribe.
But gods don’t kill easily. Guy will need followers, like any god, and warriors to aid him in his quest. And if Amri is to find a place in the world that is to come, she may as well be standing at his right hand, as his priestess…"
The audio, done by Emma Newman, is 4 hours and 59 minutes long. This is my first time experiencing Newman, and I wasn't all that impressed. Her style of narration sounds like she's on the brink of crying, and I couldn't get over the 'woe is me' role she gave herself. Sad to say, but I'm not a fan.
I'm going to be very transparent about this book: It was a DNF for me. When I read the synopsis, I was already on the fence about picking it up. It sounded very Science Fiction (to which I have had problems getting into the genre previously), BUT I thought it would compare to Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle series, which is what swayed me over. From what I gathered, the human population was wiped out by the Gods and their war over territory, and a small select few of human souls, somehow got transferred into the bodies of insects and vermin on Earth. A God, who was betrayed and has crash-landed on the planet, now needs the help of these tiny inhabitants to restore the glories of Earth and all that lives there.
The problems that I had with the book are purely my own. I've already mentioned that Newman wasn't it for me, and the Science Fiction genre has been trial and error. But what I also didn't like about the book was the writing. B2 Weird has finally gotten too weird for me! I couldn't get into it. I was trying my best to follow the story and how it all connected to the human population being decimated, and the twists and turns were there to throw off my premeditated guesses on how, but between describing the beef between rabbits, roaches, plants, and seagulls, it got to be too much for me.
Overall, I have no rating. I saw a name I was semi-familiar with and wanted to try it out. Regretably, The Hungry Gods wasn't for me. I ended up DNFing at 88%. If you are a Tchaikovsky fan, please don't let my review deter you from picking up this novelle. I'm still trying to get my footing in the Science Fiction genre, and unfortunately, this book wasn't a good stepping stone for me.
The Hungry Gods is available now!
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