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All gods must die in this searingly relevant YA from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Bargain and Most Ardently. In a world bound by violence, a teen descended from the god of Death must keep their true identity a secret as they fight their way through a gladiator-style competition towards victory and rebellion against the gods who murdered their family.
Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the city: the Shallows.
Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow's even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable -- which comes in handy as a fighter in the city's lucrative underground fighting ring.
Then, Crow's uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren.
With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they're going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow's very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods -- a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner's circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles' freedom as their reward.
But in a city of gods and magic, you don't ask for what you want.
You take it.
"Though lacking the tonal clarity and originality of The Hunger Games, the story follows in its footsteps as a critique of artificially stratified communities that use violence as both a tool of suppression and as a source of entertainment. The emphasis on the loss of the Deathchildren's culture and the creative mythology that characterizes this world help set it apart, as does the frequent, overt inclusion of characters with diverse gender identities...A familiar story made fresh with compelling details and social commentary." —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] cathartic revenge story crackling with rage against systemic discrimination, set in a contemporary fantasy dystopia with an extensive and inventive magic system." —Publishers Weekly
This information about These Vengeful Gods was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Gabe Cole Novoa (he/him) is a New York Times bestselling author with an MFA in Writing for Children. He writes speculative fiction featuring marginalized characters grappling with identity, particularly Latinx and nonbinary or transmasculine teens. Gabe is the author of the Beyond the Red trilogy, written under a former pseudonym, The Diablo's Curse, Most Ardently, and the award-winning novel, The Wicked Bargain. He also runs a popular writing-focused YouTube channel, bookishpixie, and is active on X and Threads.
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