Iona Night-Singer thought she’d overthrown the gods. Her mortal rebellion eked out a painful victory by using the gods’ own powers against them—though she lost her betrothed, Taran, in a final battle with the god of death. Months later, the war doesn’t feel over. Not with Taran gone. Especially not when the gods still answer the prayers she sings.
Angry, grieving, and with a gnawing dread that the gods will return, Iona strikes a deal with her former patron goddess: if Iona can convince Taran to follow her home from the Underworld, he’ll be free to live again. If she fails, they’ll both be trapped there forever.
No sooner does she find him, she makes a horrible discovery. The dead gods have been reborn, they are plotting revenge—and Taran, it seems, was always one of them. This reincarnated trickster god with Taran’s face no longer remembers her or the war they fought together, and she doubts not just his loyalties but his love.
Determined to stop the next war without revealing her part in the last one, Iona enters her deadliest battle yet, one where she fights to bring Taran home without him even knowing it.
The Younger Gods by Katie Shepard is epic and powerful, pulling many of the elements of Greek mythology that made me fall in love with those stories to create a whole new mythos and a love story equal to the tales of Eros and Psyche or Orpheus and Eurydice. From the very start, I loved Iona for her unrelenting nature, her willingness to fight and her inability to let go of her love for Taran. Even in the face of the truth of his nature, she continues to try to find a way to fight back against the gods and bring Taran back to her.
One of the aspects I like the best is the complexity of their emotions. Taran is not quite what he seems and Iona is hiding secrets; her life depends on it. I love the truth of the gods, nothing is quite what it seems. Even at the conclusion to the story, there are more revelations in this powerful and haunting story.
If you like epic and powerful love stories, this is absolutely engaging and the relationship between Iona and Taran is fantastic. The story is by turns passionate and heartbreaking but most of all the romance between the pair and their fight for the truth will make you fall in love with Iona’s world. I can’t wait to read the second book in the duology.
Rating: 5 out of 5 secrets
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