Gunmetal Gods: Gunmetal Gods, Book 1

I owned Gunmetal God's for over a year; it sat in my Kindle library, an ignored book I had purchased on a whim while it was on sale. There it sat, waiting patently while I chose to read dozens of other books. After finishing a very good series, I was looking for basically a throwaway read, so I started Gunmetal Gods without any expectations.Thus, I was unprepared for how absolutely superb it would be.Zamil Akhtar has created a world with a fresh twist on fantasy that is riveting and exciting. His mix of magic, religion, metal, and myth drew me in and had me wanting to learn more. His ability to take the reader into places beyond perception was remarkable and unlike anything I've ever read.The characters and their motivations are complex and extremely well written. The primary characters move along their arcs in understandable and reasonable ways; you may not agree with them, but you can understand how and why they do what they do. Akhtar understands human drives and the complexities of how religious beliefs can affect people's decisions, justifications, guilt, grief, and hope.There is plenty of fantasy action as well. The tension and action of the fights and battles is extremely well done, and there are plenty of unexpected losses amongst the characters, reflective of true battles; sometimes important or powerful members of an army or force are lost or maimed because every battle is chaotic and full of chance. Akhtar displays exceptional skill at writing these scenes and portraying the weight of loss and the cost of success.I won't give a plot summary; there are plenty of summaries or descriptions available and none of them do this book justice. Do yourself a favor, stop reading the reviews and instead read this book. You will experience a new twist of fantasy writing that is well worth the read.

📖/🎧 with kindle whispersync.A semi-finalist in the SPFBO-7 and one that I wanted to read the moment I saw the gorgeous cover, and it rightfully won the cover contest! This was a great read, lots of action, great pace and great fleshed out characters who were not safe from harm, world building wasn’t super detailed but it was enough to understand the surroundings. A story of conquest dealing with scheming and political manipulations from both sides as well as internal conflict mixed in with some divine intervention.“We’re all good men until we’re pushed to the edge. Then you either die a good man, or the good man in you dies.”Knowing that Zamil was introduced to the fantasy and Sci-fi world through his brother with Star Wars. I appreciate the subtle and not so subtle influences that are scattered within the story. Once I knew about that I was catching small things here and there that may or may not be influences but definitely felt like it. One I thought was a pretty glaring homage and when you get there, you will agree with me!“Better someone was being killed. Better swords be sharpened daily for killing.”I did enjoy this a lot, but why 4 stars instead of 5? Unfortunately, since I used Kindle Whispersync to read and listen, I have to grade it with that in mind. Peter Noble did a pretty good job narrating, but the issue I had was with the main character voices. The voices were far too similar, almost as if they were the same person… and I was expecting a twist at the end to reveal that fact or something along the lines of a past/future revelation, but it was just 2 voices that were basically the same. I got confused several times listening to the story because I thought I was still listening to the other character, forgetting that the chapter ended and it moved to the next POV. This is a BIG problem if you’re an audio listener and it’s the only reason it did not get 5 stars from me.No disrespect to the narrator, but I would suggest reading this over listening to the audio for a better experience.

I’m addicted to reading fantasy novels, but am very remiss at writing reviews. At this point, I’ve read literally dozens of different series by as many different authors, and this was one of my favorites. (For reference, other favorites include Brent weeks, John Gwen, Anthony, Ryan, and Tad Williams, among others.) This book has it all complex characters, a fast moving plot and interesting story elements. Its basis In Middle Eastern mythology separates it from, and elevates it above, many other fantasy novels/series that are based , consciously or unconsciously, on European history and culture. This book is definitely worth a read, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I’m looking forward to binge-reading the rest of the series.

Absolutely amazing, beautiful prose, characters, and plot. New favorite

This was a really fun fantasy read. Allot of really cool plot points and an interesting choice to have the chapters change characters throughout the book. I'd strongly recommend this to anyone seeking a quick thrill in an expanding fantasy world.

Oh my word, what to say. This book is epic. Honestly, just epic. The novel feels large, the story spanning many, many events to create something that feels full and complete. The characters are interesting and individual, and while I would say it gets off to a bit of a slow start, the pick-up is INCREDIBLE.If there is one weak point, it is pacing. While it picks up considerably at the end, I would say there are some parts that slow it down. It's never bad; you never struggle to keep reading about this world and its cast, but it just takes time to go from a good book with interesting things going on to a great book that you CAN NOT PUT DOWN. Some of the relationships in the book, to me, felt they could have been better developed. I would have liked to see Vara and Kevah's relationship fleshed out more, but all in all, this was still strong.But the strangest thing about this whole book is the world-building. The religions are thought out, the mythos is amazing, the different gods, the wider plot that you know is playing in the background, but that won't be revealed until you've read all of it, and the way the magic works. All of it is incredible, fleshed out, and utterly unique, unlike anything I've read before really.What's more, the way the plot twists and turns, it is clear that whatever's going on in the mystical realm of the gods in this world is going to be unbelievable. The book is worked out almost perfectly in alternating chapters for each character, and with the plot twists that come, it is very clear this novel has been planned out perfectly. And on the plot twists, let me just say many novels with big plot twists sometimes feel hollow, cheapening the story you have read until that point. Not so with Gunmetal Gods. Every twist is earned, to the point that if you re-read the book, it feels like you could see those twists making sense. It is one of the best things about this story. It is not simple, but it is utterly real.

Gunmetal God è un libro splendido! Nulla da dire!Dalle recensioni lette mi aspettavo un libro più oscuro e militare.. non è così, per quanto mi sia piaciuto lo stesso! (La storia prequel invece è molto oscura e orrorifica)..Questo è un libro dall'ampio respiro anche se fondamentalmente seguiamo le gesta di due protagonisti leggendo i loro punti di vista in prima persona (cosa azzeccatissima e ben riuscita!).. ma è la storia di due nazioni, di due religioni, di due civiltà.. si c'è la guerra, ma c'è molto di più..Il setting medio orientale è davvero ben riuscito, non è solamente una cornice, ma è vivo e si respira in ogni momento, paesaggio, azione..La trama si rivela molto complessa, molto più vasta e epica, con divinità diverse dal solito, con un orrore cosmico palpabile (Lovecraft docet) e con eoni di mistero da scoprire...Non mancano azione e scontri, sangue e tradimenti.. soprattutto la storia non segue mai un sentiero banale e prevedibile, ma sterza con improvvisi colpi di scena, ribaltamenti e rivelazioni, senza essere spiazzanti o incomprensibili, ma sempre coerenti e geniali..I due protagonisti sono 'scolpiti' in modo unico, vividi, reali, lacerati e dolorosi, ma anche i comprimari sono ben creati e affascinanti..La cosa che più mi ha colpito è la grande qualità di un debutto autopubblicato (difficile da rilevare in autori anche più navigati) e l enorme inventiva e genialità dell'autore..La cosa che mi è piaciuta meno è il sistema magico, non propriamente spiegato e un filo casuale, ma forse verrà spiegato nei prossimi capitoli della quadrilogia che corro subito a comprare!

There are very few authors I've read whose unique voice made the reading experience an absolute marvel. Zamil Akhtar is definitely one of them.I discovered this book in late 2020. The blurb, cover and all the noise it made in the fantasy community made me add it to my TBR, but I never got around to reading it for some reason. I hate myself for taking this long to get to this book because HOLY HELL THIS IS AN EPIC BOOK.Right from the prologue, the author's astounding-yet-appropriate poetic prose threw me into the world of Gunmetal Gods, without overwhelming me with any info dumps or world-building. Seriously, very few books have successfully pulled off such a perfect balance of world-building, characters and plot.That's all I'll say. The best way to experience this book is to go in without any prior knowledge and just let the author do his magic.5/5 EXCELLENT READTL;DRWHAT DID I LIKE: EverythingWHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The fact that I took this fricking long to pick up this book [if that counts]