‘The Splintered Gods’ Book Review

Written by Stephen Deas | Published by Orion Books | Format: Paperback, 544pp

The Dragon Queen Zafir had been captured by an unknown enemy and is forced to wage a war for them on the back of her Dragon, bringing death and fire to their enemies. Meanwhile, lost in a body that isn’t his own and accompanied by an Adamantine soldier, Berren continues his search for the man who stole his life. This tale of murder, epic battles, hidden powers and half gods will lead to a confrontation that threatens to shatter entire worlds.

Written by Stephen Deas, The Splintered Gods reads a little like a a courtroom drama, a little like a fantasy epic and a little like an adventure story. Sequel to The Dragon Queen, this tale starts right after a battle in which a dragon, ridden by the Dragon Queen from the first book, has destroyed an entire city. This leads into a sort of ‘whodunnit’ style mystery as a judge of sorts is called to figure out who is responsible. The Dragon Queen herself takes a lesser role in this story, following a whole host of characters all who have played their own little part in either the battle or who are linked to the other epic storyline, following half gods and magic powers in some way.

Deas has definitely created a colourful world in The Splintered Gods, my favourite part being the dragons (of course) and the mysterious ‘storm-dark’, a maelstrom which seems to be feared by everyone, completely destroying anything that is unfortunate enough to enter it. Apart from these you will also find magical flying ships, enchantresses who can mould ‘gold glass’ to their will and alchemists all playing a part in this action filled story of discovery.

However, there is one thing that annoyed me, and it could be because The Splintered Gods is a sequel story and I have not read the first one. With all the description that Deas goes into describing the action, the objects and the places, which is done very well, the description of what the characters look like seems to be lacking, or not even there at all. I found it so hard to imagine the characters acting out this story he was trying to weave because I had no idea what they looked like so I just had to guess. I personally found this dragged me out of the story a lot and actually made it harder to keep going with the story to the end.

The story itself isn’t bad, but I did find it a struggle to keep going to the end. Although Deas himself says that you could probably start reading straight from this book, I wouldn’t advise it. Perhaps the first book provides a better, in depth look into the characters which will allow you to connect more with the story, this one does seem to struggle to do that.

The Splintered Gods is out now from Orion Books.