Against All Gods: The Age of Bronze: Book 1

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The battles are violent and dirty, the world is teetering on the edge of war, the mythology and magic are some of the best I've come across, and the writing as always is top-notch. There is chilling foreshadowing however, that should the audacious mortals somehow manage to survive, and in fact succeed in their quest, will they simply become that which they despise, providing more of the same sort of cruelty and capriciousness, if they manage to supplant their divine masters? Believe me though, it is most certainly worth the wait and you will be glad that you decided to start this wonderful journey. The final 5-10% was actually really good and if that was the same throughout the whole book then it would have resided with me on a 4* level I think. There are many POVs and storylines to follow, but Cameron leads you through them with fast-paced tenacity and joy that you miss each one as you move on.

The Dry Ones are feared and hated monsters, but the one the protagonists encounter seems to indicate potential for otherwise.You know what the storyline is, revenge against the gods but the plot throughout the book was non-existent for so long that many parts just felt sluggish to get through (on top of the huge chapters). In saying that, it's only the first book so I'm sure the author was limited in the foundation he needed to lay for the rest of the series, but I just didn't feel strongly connected to any character or found any of them a bit likeable.

Secure in their power and glory after destroying or banishing the previous pantheon, the current gods make games of the lives of mortals, controlling them for their own gain and punishing them on a whim. The prose that isn't like this is super basic and all characters talk exactly the same, making it hard for me to remember who was who. I wish that there had been a stronger balance between these factors because I think it would have made for an interesting story. Characters swear literally every page, which didn't bother me but did kind of take me out of the time period, whatever that time period might be.From the earliest inscriptions to Coptic literature, Egyptian has the longest continuous attestation of any human language. Modern sci-fi/fantasy falls flat so often because it is entirely without connection to any tradition. Yet, the gods have MAJOR internal issues, and they may just tear themselves apart before the mortals can have their day, destroying the world in the process.

I was very impressed with Cameron's The Traitor Son Cycle but was less impressed with his The Ill-Made Knight. Sacrificing lives, towns, even civilisations as they make moves against each other, oblivious to and uncaring of the suffering it causes. Era, a Godborn dancer and entertainer who travels with mysterious child Daos who seems to receive prophetic messages from his toy bear.His strength is definitely that his writing is much closer to historical fiction -- with the eye for real world historical details -- than most fantasy. If you’re interested in a general sweeping history of the period be sure to read van der Mieroop’s A History of the Ancient Near East: ca 3000-323 BC. The gods feel the humans are beneath contempt, just playthings, but necessary to feed their existence, and the humans become equally contemptuous of the gods, due to the god’s oppressive treatment of their mortal subjects. I cannot say that any is entirely likeable (though I do love Druku), but all are fascinating, right from the opening scene in ‘Heaven’ where the gods dwell, and we witness the wrath of the Storm-God upon his not-so-competent subjects.

This is a minor quibble, as I said, the world feels alive, and the language is just as often astute: Narmer will bring to mind Egypt, Mykoax somehow both the Mycenaeans and the Minoans, Dardanians can’t but help allude to the broader Troad etc. The whole idea was to bring certain chosen characters together, but it took 250+ pages to get there and nothing REALLY happened up to that time. Bronze age technology, marauding cannibalistic tribes, horrifying monsters, half-god / half-human offspring of the gods, indiscriminate liaisons with mortals running rampant, and hey – A REALLY DANGEROUS DRAGON, what more could you want? Yet the missing a in Sanskrit is a privative prefix and so himsha literally sounds like the word for violence.I sure nobody would appreciate my going through the book and pointing out parallels with real world bronze age cultures and I have given enough to convey my impression of the world, I think. Against All Gods is no different, and really speaks to the vast imagination and great skill for writing that Cameron has, because it all just slots together so easily and his storytelling draws me in immediately. Whips cracked, fists pounded, and for the most part, the victims were blank-faced, unresponsive, less inclined to rebellion than donkeys or mules. I thought this worked extremely well given the large cast of characters and kept the momentum by shifting the focus evenly between them.