God's War

Having heard more than a few intriguing things about it and seen it on this year's Nebula shortlist, I decided to make time to read Kameron Hurley's God's War. And despite some flaws in the pacing, I'm glad I did: it combines a kick-ass action plot with some quality world building and plays interesting games with religion and gender stereotypes. ( More... )

To sum up, God's War features an excellent setting, interesting characters, fun action sections, and an intriguing boxing sub-theme, while the clever way it sets up and knocks down preconceived ideas about gender and culture differentiates itself from the crowd. In fact, the only serious problem with the book is the jarring decade-long jump that separates the prologue from the bulk of the action — I think my difficulty is the way that cuts the reader off from the impact of Nyx's imprisonment, whilst wanting them to buy into the idea that it continues to shape the course of her life in an important way ten years later — but once you're over that, the pace never really lets up.

Most enjoyable.