Hannah Kaner blasts onto the epic fantasy scene with her debut novel Godkiller, an impressively tight and thrilling tale of vengeance, honour, murdered (and murderous) gods and sundered families. With civil war looming and enemies closing in, four disparate characters make their way to a ruined city in search of answers from the old gods – mercenary godkiller Kissen, troubled knight-turned-baker Elogast, and the bound-together duo of runaway young noble Inara and tiny god of white lies Skediceth. Despite their differences, and a conspicuous lack of trust, they find themselves travelling together, forced to rely on each other to survive the curses, demons, gods and men that bar their way to the war-ravaged city and the truths they hope to find there.
While Kissen, the titular godkiller – sharp, sweary, highly capable but tightly wound – is arguably the story’s main protagonist, Kaner rotates through all four characters’ viewpoints, exploring each of their motivations and worldviews. This proves effective in really digging into the shifting dynamic of the group as they all meet, warily accept the benefit of working together, start to build a degree of trust, see that trust tested and broken, and generally argue their way through their journey. It’s a really engaging combination of characters with enjoyably conflicting drives and backstories, from the tragedy that set Kissen onto her path (and took her leg), to buttoned-up Elo’s difficult relationship with his friend and companion the King. Inara and Skedi are too young to have much backstory, but both are shrouded in mysteries which provide just as interesting.
This compelling tale of flawed, troubled, brilliantly entertaining characters, all of whom need answers to be able to move on with their lives, is set to the backdrop of a conflicted world which both hates and needs gods, with a rich history of conflict that sees old gods, new gods and mortals inextricably tangled together. The world building is delivered gradually and elegantly, never dominating the plot but revealing a fantasy setting that’s deceptively dark and which finds a balance between classic fantasy tropes and an engagingly modern tone. In much the same way as the magic here (generally in the form of various gods, whose powers draw from elements of nature) is an intrinsic part of the world that doesn’t need explaining as such, things like same-sex relationships, sign language and living with prostheses are presented as just natural, interesting elements of the setting, helping to provide a general sense of believable reality.
It’s particularly great to see an epic fantasy novel which doesn’t need an extended word count, and instead condenses a compelling, powerful story into a tight 100k-ish words. What’s more, this is a nicely balanced story from start to finish – for every exciting action scene (Kissen in particular is great fun when swords start being wielded) there’s an equally powerful moment of quiet, whether that’s Elo calming himself by baking bread, or Kissen gradually thawing to her companions. Factor in the strong queer and disability representation, an engaging world, and a set of genuinely interesting, believable characters, and you’ve got the start of something properly special. You could read this as a single volume, as Kaner absolutely nails the epic ending, but chances are you’re not going to want to, and happily this sets things up nicely for the next volume in the series.
Godkiller is out now from Harper Voyager – check out the links below to order your copy:
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