Ours is a land of many gods, and we are a people with the ability to pick the worst of them.
Cahan du Nahare is known as the forester—a man who can navigate the dangerous Deepforest like no one else. But once he was more. Once he belonged to the god of fire.
Udinny serves the goddess of the lost, a goddess of small things; when she ventures into the Deepforest to find a lost child, Cahan will be her guide. But in a land where territory is won and lost for uncaring gods, where temples of warrior monks pit one prophet against another—Cahan will need to choose the forest or the fire—and his choice will have consequences for his entire world.
Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker is a hard to review book, but I can easily say—I loved it!
It’s a slow burn epic fantasy, which enthralled me with its mysteries right from the start. The main character is an outcast, living a solitary life on the edge of society. His POV and voice were really intriguing and captivating, so even though the story takes a good while to really take off, it never felt too slow to me.
Another absolute strong suit of this is the worldbuilding! I adored the fantastical creatures, the intimidating forest, the unexpected use people found for nature and the sheer imagination there. The magic is mysterious enough to still feel mysterious, but also clear enough to not but feel like an emergency solution to every problem. It felt like I walked off the page right into the forest and village, and coming back to the real world was jarring!
As always I appreciate the inclusive cast, trions for example, who are neither man nor woman, and use They/Them pronouns. It’s also very normal to have a first wife or second husband or whoever/whatever you choose. I love how this isn’t made a big deal, it is just the normal setup for this society.
The characters were varied and plausible, and I’ll really miss spending time with some of them! We have two main POV characters, Cahan as our “hero” and Kirven as his opponent in a way. While Cahan tries to avoid bloodshed and violence, he clearly has a very dark past and is not innocent himself.
Kirven on the other hand revels in causing pain, and ruthlessly doing what needs to be done to keep her power. Yet both get enough page time, so you can understand their motivations and goals. I always love it when the “bad guys” aren’t just bad for the sake of it, but you somehow manage to care for them, while hoping they won’t win.
Her child Venn is a trion and meant to be extremely powerful. Yet they refuse to kill to actually activate said power. They are very naive and yet stronger than it seems, and I really enjoyed this counter balance to Cahans world weary way.
Udinny, a monk, is yet another character type, and is very outgoing, optimistic and never shutting up.
I loved the relationship that slowly grew between Cahan, Venn, and Udinny, which had a strong found family feel, even though they all just met.
Barker manages to write fantasy that has the magic we love so much from the genre, and yet it feels fresh and different. I need more!
