NetGalley Review: Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon

Faith

Nov 28

This is easily one of my favourite ARCs from NetGalley and Daphne Press for the whole year! There were SO many aspects of this novel that I enjoyed I cannot wait to discuss them below.

Before I get into my review, I want to thank NetGalley and Daphne Press for providing me with an eARC of this novel in return for a review.

Now, here's my review:

The year is 1717. The Mountain and I have spent lifetimes running from the Lionheart and the Reaper.

Chapter 18, p. 113/233

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

This novel follows Gem Echols, who is a non-binary Seminole teenager living in small town Gracie, in Georgia, USA. Gem is a charming person but uses that charm to hide the anxious mess they are on the inside. The only person who knows Gem's true self is another trans kid, Enzo, who is in Brooklyn, NYC.

Image taken from Goodreads.

However, even Enzo doesn't know about Gem's dreams of magic and violence. Yet, somehow, the strange new girl, Willa Mae Hardy, knows exactly what Gem is going through.

So, when Gem is attached by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves their life and claims that she and Gem are gods, old companions, lovers, who have been reincarnated multiple times over the centuries.

When Gem was a god in their previous lives, they were not the most benevolent deity. Gem, in their past lives, had made many enemies, who are all now re-emerging and creating havoc in the 21st century.

Luckily, Gem still has Enzo. However, when their worlds collide, Gem quickly discovers that everyone has something to hide.

Starting with the plot, I absolutely LOVE the idea of reincarnated gods living in the 21st century. This entire concept is what caught my attention in the first place and was what made me read this novel. For context, I'm Indian and a practising Hindu and this idea of reincarnation is significant in my religion and culture (and I assume it is significant in other cultures and religions as well). Interestingly, I've never come across this concept in a novel before. So, I was extremely excited to read this novel (of course, this novel does not have any links to Hinduism, I just want to clarify that this idea of reincarnation is significant to me).

And I was not disappointed! I loved how this concept was introduced and I enjoyed reading about Gem and Willa Mae's past lives. There's something so romantic (noun) about experiencing so many past lives and, when combined with magic and brilliant world-building, this novel was almost perfect for me!

This novel is also inclusive and diverse. Gem is non-binary, Enzo is transgender, and Gem also has links to an indigenous Native American tribe Gem. Overall, we get a lot of great representation of minority groups, which, I always appreciate.

Now, the only reason why this novel is not five stars is because of the trigger topics included. I don't usually need trigger warnings but I always appreciate them because sometimes I do need them. This novel has a lot of trigger warnings (which are all listed on the first few pages of the novel). Since there were a lot of difficult topics, I found myself skimming or skipping some parts of the novel. So, I cannot give a full 5 stars since I did skip some sections of the novel. However, I want to mention that I recognise that trigger warnings are important and it is also important to include these difficult topics as well.

For reference here is a list of the trigger warnings:
- illness
- ableism
- self-harm & suicide
- graphic gore & body horror
- violence (mainly murder and torture)
- sexual violence (some involving children)
- abuse (some including children)
- transphobia
- racism (including discussions of slavery and genocide)
- animal death

Overall, this was a gripping, morally grey, emotional and brilliant novel. This is apparently going to be a duology so I am already looking forward to the sequel to see where Gem takes us to next. So, thank you so much for reading my review and I hope you all have a lovely day.