Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the the Shallows.
Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow’s even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable — which comes in handy as a fighter in the city’s lucrative underground fighting ring.
Then, Crow’s uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren.
With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they’re going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow’s very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods — a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner’s circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles’ freedom as their reward.
But in a city of gods and magic, you don’t ask for what you want.
You take it.
**These Vengeful Gods comes out May 27, 2025**
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
For me, this was The Hunger Games if it were a fantasy. And lots of representation. Timewise, the period of time does match the Hunger Games a lot. However, this story was not focused on the Tournament of the Gods itself, but rather an exploration of Crow’s character as they learn about how to fight back against the gods that rule.
All the characters in this story were quite loveable (or hateable) and so it was easy to follow. The naming convention is also quite blunt, and so it really isn’t too hard to follow the wealth of characters that show up. The interactions between the characters I suppose are sometimes a bit more juvenile, although sometimes more adult too—really a decent mix, which makes sense for this kind of YA book. Ultimately it is a kind of coming-of-age story in which Crow has to learn about their past and forge a future for himself.
A lot of diversity and representation issues are addressed in this story and I thought it was fairly well touched upon without being overly preachy or taking you out of the story. Rather, it is a natural part of the story that we learn about, so it didn’t feel like pure social commentary. That being said, it is of course a fairly large portion of the story, so be aware of that.
I really enjoyed the magic element of this story. The gods and their powers were pretty simple, but it made sense in a way that didn’t make me question it much, which made the story flow well and not need a lot of time to explain. The story was incredibly fast paced and it was definitely a page turner. The world building was pretty quick but I think it was just easy to understand and imagine because it is a typical dystopian story.
In terms of predictability it was nothing very surprising, but that being said there were still satisfying moments, and I felt pretty happy with the way things played out in general and the progression of the story. It was a quick read yet had its emotional moments, and it felt like there was a full story without random loopholes, which is surprising for what felt like a very quick story.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, and while it had its sad moments, I think overall it was a good story of self-discovery, and highlights the themes of fairness and class differences that are so relevant still today. It does read very much like a YA, but I think appropriately so.
Down the Rabbit Hole 