I lost interest in the middle of the book and since I don't like doing DNF reviews so it took me a long time to finish this book. The only thing I like about "The Black God's War" was the entire conflict was due to a convergence of two civilizations inspired from Indus and Greece civilizations. It was interesting for me since I always like historical adaptations even if its deathly fictitious.

Plain speaking, I can't stand female characters who are too stupid to live especially in a book with a lot of words in it. Halfway through the book I was asking myself whether it was the character developments or plot progression but despite some promising start, as I go on, I don't find myself invested at all. Its not about likable characters or ELI5 plot but there's a need to add more complexities to make a fantasy book rich in content and soulful. Add to the fact that it does get tiring when the descriptive parts tend to be uneven and bland and sometimes appropriated to fit into the desired conflicts that drive the whole book. Usually I like politics in fictions but when clarity was rendered optional and the narrative style made character motivations genuinely nonsensical and again with the blown up writing style, do understand why it was so easy to give up on reading the book in the first place.

I don't feel the book was meant for me. Some may like it but overall, it was plain disappointment to me. Being Asian, I do love asian history and there's a whole field of unexplored territory of asian fantasy anyone could exploit with some imagination. Although I don't feel the book appropriated anything and the setting does remind me of Devdas, but I wish there was more to it than the setting being used as plot devices.

The ARC was given by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Moses Siregar III has spun an epic tale of growth, love, betrayal and acceptance in The Black God's War. The first book in his Splendor and Ruin series, War tells of the end of a long-waged war between two civilizations that have more in common that they know.

The book is very well written and the characters come to life after a somewhat slow start. Dialogue is smooth and easy. It rarely feels as though it's for the sole purpose of exposition, save for one section where one character reveals information about another character's past. The monologue feels as though it was lifted from something more modern and urban than this story's setting and it feels as if a completely different character is speaking.

Beyond that minor lapse in style, the book forms a very cohesive whole until the end. There, the resolution feels a little contrived, as if Siregar realized the book was running too long and wanted to wrap things up. Regardless, I look forward to Book II.
( )

I've been on an Indie Author craze for a few months now. A good friend of mine loaned me Black God's War by Moses Siregar III via Amazon's Kindle Lending Library. While it took me a minute to get into the story, after the first couple of chapters I was hooked. It's always a crap shot when it comes to Independent Authors because of their general lack of editing, but I was pleasantly surprised by Black God's War.

Black God’s War is actually the prelude to Siregar’s Splendor and Ruin Trilogy. It’s a stand-alone novel about the war between the two kingdoms of Rezzia and Pawelon. The two nations have always known war, and the story has an interesting take on its main characters and their gods.

The story centers on the interaction between the Haizzem, the Rezzians young spiritual leader named Caio, his sister Princess Lucia and the Pawelons Prince Rao, his best friend Aayu, along with Prince Rao’s lover Narayani. These five characters feel that there is no need for the war to continue and they begin to look for ways to end it.

Caio will have to overcome his natural aversion to war and useless killing in order to protect his people and fulfill their wishes. His sister Princess Lucia who has been tormented throughout her life by the Black God has to learn to open her mind to the possibility that not everything is clear and concise, and that there is always a price to pay for one’s actions. Prince Rao seems to be the most sympathetic character in the entire story. You come to realize that he is the true victim.

This is a dark fantasy with strong religious overtones. The Rezzians are reminiscent of Muslims in that there isn’t a separation of religion and lifestyle. The Rezzians live and breathe their Gods, while these patron Gods wield their power to directly help they Rezzians only when they choose to.

There are a few editorial glitches in the book, but overall Siregar has done an excellent job of story building and editing. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Black God's War is a story propelled by human ambition and desire for cultural dominance, and ambiguous heroes choosing paths sometimes based on misunderstanding and poor information. It's war, and military intelligence is not always what it seems.

Faith and Spirituality is a character in this story, as much as Caio, Rao and Lucia. One side, (the Rezzian) has a much more personal interaction with their pantheon of Gods; there's a lyrical scene where Caio ceremonially chooses, or is chosen by, his patron god. In contrast, the Pawelons – a primarily non-theist nation - give lip service to the concept of personal responsibility and profess disbelief in a more personal type of mystical worship of Gods, and yet, they also display an incredibly strong “faith” in the abilities they develop through meditation. It's an adept and respectful handling of spiritual variance, and I appreciated that.

I loved the character of Lucia. She's strong, smart and interesting. As a female long-time reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy, I think I've read every permutation of overwrought, emotional and incompetent female character a man can write. Lucia is anything but incompetent, and even better, she is still emotional, but contextually so. She's passionate, a leader, and her actions have reasons. It's beautiful. She's not a stock male character rewritten to be a woman, she's the kind of intentional woman character that makes you believe that the writer is surrounded by strong, capable, intelligent women, and has taken the time to listen and learn what strengths, motivations, and ideas these qualities drop in his lap for the content of his story. I found this to be the best piece of Black God's War.

I'm torn by whether or not I wanted more fleshing out of the Gods. On the one hand, I think it's an important idea that we are driven by our own desires far more than the desires of our Deities. King Vieri wants to conquer, and he will do anything to accomplish that, even if it places him in direct conflict with the goals of his Gods. The ease at which he drowns out their direction rings true throughout the story. On the other hand, you have a Pantheon of higher beings that work as a single unit, each reflective of a different concept, with different supernatural abilities, which they can confer on their devotees. There are glimpses of a much larger story here. Why are these Beings so interested in this one protracted war? Why are they seemingly unconcerned with a whole nation that denies their existence? Why are they so incredibly powerful in battle, but with the exception of Danato, apparently so unable to directly influence any of their own people? I wanted to know this story.

That brings me to my only real complaint about the telling of this story. Even though I personally love a “wordy” story, I can't even count the number of epic-style fantasy stories I've read that were horrendously overwritten (*ahem* Jordan *cough*) sometime to the degree that I couldn't finish. Still, there is something to be said for the kind of writing that envelopes you in a world, and builds a universe in the mind. I want to feel the heat of the sand coming up through my sandals, and smell the stone and earth. I wish to see the citadel and hear the tent fabric flapping when the breeze comes up. I need to know about the sweat running down his back as he's locked in mortal combat, and the fear in his eyes, and the feel of the horses gathering up their muscles for the gods-powered burst of battle speed.

This story provides some of that, the combat scenes have a life of their own, but many of the other parts of the story feel like they were edited too closely. The soul of the story – the personal conflicts and relationships – were somewhat constrained, and left me wanting more development. Draw me a picture, I want to see it all. Maybe that's really too picky for a debut novel. Maybe I'm criticizing because I liked it so much. Maybe it just didn't otherwise feel like a debut. And yet, it's not a short novel, nearly 400 pages in the print edition, and I've started to really sour on the 700 page epic series debut. So maybe this accomplishes what a first in series should do – give me a story and a tease. It certainly does that, and whatever/whenever Splendor and Ruin, Book 2 exists, you can be sure I will be reading it.
( )

Very different take of fantasy and myth. Like the Greek and Roman deities, the gods are not necessarily good or evil, and they are not to be trusted either. I found the whole thing with the Black God and his obsession with Lucia to be rather disturbing. Overall, I just couldn't get into this book. I found it so confusing. Not really what I expected.

I received this book free from Member Giveaways for a review. ( )