Against All Gods: The Age of Bronze: Book 1

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I'm a fan of The Boys tv show and so when I read the synopsis for Against All Gods I was really excited to get into this. I picked up another book in the genre recently in which there is an almost Marvel comic book attitude to combat – this is all to common.

Again, this doesn't necessarily bother me in some books, but here it just felt unnecessary and mean. For those who are fans of the author's earlier "Traitor Son" and "Masters and Mages" series, there are hints of linkage revealed late in the novel, and of course, if you read the protagonists' names carefully, some interesting hints of what might lie ahead. Era, a Godborn dancer and entertainer who travels with mysterious child Daos who seems to receive prophetic messages from his toy bear. Consequently, when word comes that one of the war-gods children has murdered the daughter of an aged mortal magus.But, to be quite honest, if he didn't stress the importance of Bronze Age reference, I honestly wouldn't even pay the intention as much and you know why? Scheming, megalomaniacal, utterly egotistical gods, caring for nothing but their own pleasures, indulgences, and cruelties, and holding onto and increasing that power, at the expense of all other life, and using mortals as their pawns. I have done ever since I saw the 1980s Clash of the Titans when I was 7 years old and I still love reading stories inspired by that time period so I was in my element reading Against All Gods. Many thanks to Miles Cameron and Gollancz for sending me an advance copy of Against All Gods in exchange for my honest opinions. I had to keep flicking back through the pages to see who was who or who had just done what action recently.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Similarly some events can feel a bit convenient, but in a sort of familiarly mythological way that still satisfies – accept anything improbable as ‘because a god wanted it to happen that way’ and you’ll be fine.

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. 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. 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. There are a lot of characters in play here (as evidenced by the four-page dramatis personae at the beginning), but Cameron largely keeps to four point of view characters – an aged magos out for revenge, a grieving dancer acclimatising to an unexpected responsibility, a young scribe coming to terms with betrayal and a broader truth, and a cynical warrior uncomfortably aware that he’s past his best. Black et al’s The Literature of Ancient Sumer (seriously there are a lot of editors here) is most comprehensive collection of humanity’s earliest literature.

I am entirely conflicted about this, because I was baffled by some things, and then there were some parts I was absolutely enthralled with and wanted to know more. Sadly, for Enkul-Anu, quite a bit, as it turns out that old wizard, Gammash, has a new ally -- one of the older race of gods (aka: Titans), overthrown by Enkul-Anu and his brood, who is only more than happy to reveal that the rulers of 'heaven' are more mortal than they let on, and terribly, terribly afraid of iron, for a very good reason.

Set in a period that I think broadly aligns with Bronze age mankind in Mesopotamia, Miles presents us with a complex world where the new gods have ruled for a thousand years, and the old gods are dead, lost or tolerated with disdain. I felt like we were supposed to know if the readers should like a female character based on her positive or negative physical description, which doesn't exactly lead to a lot of nuance.

It is part of the Blackwell ancient history series and so I can promise neither good prose nor graceful formatting, but the book successfully conveys much of the complexity of the bronze age without overwhelming you.