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I am particularly interested in learning more about the trion because they are such an interesting element to the story. I should note here that while the book (and by extension, Barker himself) is not transphobic, the world of Wyrdwood is not always a pleasant place for non-binary folx. At one level, the trion are revered as potential Cowl-Rai, and as possible saviors of the entire world. On the other hand, they are feared for having this power; they are forced to endure grueling trials and tribulations as their magic can only be awakened through very specific (and intense) circumstances. This is fairly standard practice in this world, and therefore none of the characters in the book itself admonish these practices (although many are sympathetic to Venn, the primary trion character in the book, and what they had to go through). It is obvious that Barker himself is critical of these practices in the world he built, and that he is directly critiquing the way that gender non-conforming people are used for Admittedly, when I first dug into Gods of the Wyrdwood, it took me a little while to get used to the writing style and sentence structure of the novel. This was my first time reading a novel by RJ Barker, so I don’t know if this is his trademark writing style. Anyways, his prose is very direct, to the point, and unadorned. It also contains a lot of sentence fragments. This didn’t bother me, nor did the switches to second person during some chapters interspersed between the events of the present story, but I could see some readers struggling with the style or finding it not to their taste. Venn is a chosen child, whose destined to be a warrior, but chooses not to be and alters Cahan's too. Crua is a land of many gods. The gods enter those with the strength to hold them. These godly companions are called cowls and the people they possess are known as Rais. The Rai are the most powerful people in Crua and the Cowl-Rai is their ultimate leader. Once the cowls were recognized as different gods and there were Cowl-Rai for each of the gods. But a new Cowl-Rai has risen who follows Tarl-an-Gig. This Cowl-Rai will tolerate no other Cowl-Rais or other gods. Finally, even though I knew who the big bad was when they are revealed at the end it is such a crushing blow to know I was write I was genuinely holding out hope that I was wrong and it was just heartbreaking when it turned out I wasn't.
And I wasn’t surprised at the emotion I felt while reading. Not only did I bond with the characters, but Barker broke my heart whenever one of them was in danger or pain. Each one goes through some type of important transformation, and it wasn’t always easy or comfortable.
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Pinpointing what the main plot is in this book is a little hard. There is so much that transpires but through following Cahan and a few other key characters over the course of this chunky tome it felt more as though Barker was laying out the tone and the foundations for the series than actually leading us down one predominant storyline. So for anyone who enjoys plot focused stories or a noticeably linking plot sequence to follow you may find this one a little hard to get into. I would say the book falls more on the character driven side of things as there is a lot more development when it comes to relationships between individuals who cross paths and personal arcs but overall it felt like a very thorough prequel.
All three of them have very important roles to play in the battle at the end of the book, and all the build up was worth it. That last third passed by in a flash and when it was over I wanted more. Barker is one of my favorite authors and the Tide Child Series one of my favorite series of all time, so when I started this I knew I would enjoy it, even love it, I did not think it would measure up to Tide Child though, it did. It is just as good, if not even, dare I say it marginally better than Tide Child. And I loved Cahan absolutely as much as I loved Joron Twiner, not more mind you, no character will ever be better than Joron for me.But our main character, Cahan, is by far the most interesting character in the story. He reminded me of Logen Ninefingers, or of Clay from Kings of the Wyld, in how he thought and kept himself a bit a part. But he is also wholly his own. While the story was slow to start, he did grow a good deal as the narrative progressed. Other characters I enjoyed were Udinny, a monk of a relatively unknown god, and Segur, who is something of a pet to Cahan but who I still can’t come close to envisioning in my mind.
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