Hello! I hope 2023 has been going well for you all so far. Today I have a post showcasing my top reads from December. Last month I managed to read 11 books, but there were two that really stood out to me. Both epic fantasy, both series and yet two completely different stories. One a found family style journey and the other a brutal and political story, but they were both outstanding in their own ways. What was your top read from the past month? Let me know in the comments.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Kissen kills gods for a living, and she enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skediceth, god of white lies, who is connected to a little noble girl on the run.

Elogast fought in the god war, and helped purge the city of a thousand shrines before laying down his sword. A mysterious request from the King sends him racing back to the city he destroyed.

On the way he meets a godkiller, a little girl and a littler god, who cannot find out about his quest.

Godkiller

godkiller

Favorite Quotes:

“That’s an interesting dagger, he said as she stood up again, stamping the earth back down over the roots. She sheathed her knife and counted the ones she’d pulled, then lifted her eyebrow at him. ‘That’s an interesting fuck you give about it.“

“The people with the sharpest edges sometimes hid the deepest wounds.”

“Elo found himself smiling, feeling more anchored in the present by the twinge of his own aching jaw. The bull-headed woman was better with a blade than he expected. One to on, sword to sword, he likely would have overpowered her. She had predicted that, adapted her skills to undermine his own. He liked it, being outwitted.”

The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter

Desperate to delay an impending attack by the indigenous people of Xidda, Tau and his queen craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all-out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the ‘true’ Queen of the Omehi.

If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne and reunite her people, then the Omehi might have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.

Fires of VEngeance

Godkiller

Favourite Quotes:

“Rage is love…twisted in on itself. Rage reaches into the world when we can no longer contain the hurt of being treated as if our life and loves do not matter. Rage, and its consequences, are what we get when the world refuses to change for anything less.”

“A fighter who will only go into battle when they’re at their best fights for pleasure and not principle. The things worth fighting for die in darkness if we’ll only defend them in the sun.”

“The way she was looking at him made Tau worry he’d overstepped, but he was weary of making himself less than he was so that those cloaked in power might be comfortable.”