Review: The Orphanage of Gods

The Orphanage of Gods 
Rating: 2/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.

No one has ever escaped the orphanage.

Until now.

Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free - but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her - ones that will change the world forever . . .

As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done? 

I was so excited for this book, it was an anticipated read of mine and the premise sounded fantastic. Unfortunately it didn't quite deliver for me. I started out really loving it, the opening was tense, yet vivid. We quickly got to the gist of the world and its history with a few sentences from Hero and I had plenty of questions and was certainly intrigued. 

But I only got through this book by resorting to skim reading it, after I couldn't force myself to keep reading it properly anymore. I didn't particularly like or connect with any of the characters. Hero seemed to be quite practical and pragmatic, realistic about things too. She's the leader, although she isn't used to it, and you can kind of tell. She only really snaps at Joshua the once, and I kind of felt like she needed to grow a spine when it comes to him and tell him to sod off. 

Joshua himself doesn't seem to be all that stable. He's cold and there's something broken within him...he's a God and has some amazing powers but I really didn't find him likeable to be honest. He annoyed me a hell of a lot throughout the book, and it got worse the longer the book went on. He talks to Hero, and treats her like crap and demands she heal Kestrel all the time and...no. Not loving him. 

Kestel meanwhile, is human and none of them are actually related by blood, but they do have a close bond and trusted each other. I'd tell you more about her but I honestly don't really have that many thoughts on her to be honest? 

We have Hero's POV for part one, Raven's for part two which gives us a chance to get to know the Resistance without the prejudice that Hero may have. I actually quite liked Raven, she as grateful to Hero and didn't like Joshua and fully supported Hero growing a spine and getting mad at him! Unfortunately even that couldn't grab my interest, and we then switched to Kestrels POV for the final part of the book. 

It's quite chilling to read about the Orphanage and the Guards and what happens to the kids when they're taken, I'll give it that. We switch from what's going on with Hero and Joshua to what happened in the past and how the Orphanage is run etc, slowly building up the world alongside the plot. It took me a while to get in to the book to be honest, Joshua was irritating me and it was quite slow to start but things sped up when it came to the rescue and the first part ended pretty explosively...and then I found my attention and interest wandering again and just couldn't get back in to it properly, or really get invested in it. I was so indifferent to it for the most part. 

The premise was interesting but I just didn't gel with this book. I only really got in to it very briefly, and then I lost interest again and I wasn't compelled to keep reading. I finished it because I felt I had to, and like I said I resorted to skim reading it to make it through. There are so many unlikeable characters, one of whom gets away with everything and is never held accountable. We have 3 POV's and once you get one that's it. Done. I feel like it would have been better to switch between the three of them. 

A romance suddenly sprung up, and the whole "overthrow the Guardsmen" thing was a bit...anti-climatic, a bit too easily solved, and then we went off for the final part of the book to deal with Anthony. A member of the Resistance who apparently thinks having power is more important than saving Gods and half breeds and bringing about a revolution. I thought the whole point of the book was going to be overthrowing the Guards and everything, but it ended up getting swept under the rug with the main focus being Anthony and quite frankly, yeah he's bad but...we didn't actually see him enough for me to give a damn. 

I actually think Kestrels rescue was a bit too easy too considering that place was supposed to be a stronghold no-one has ever escaped from and the fuss that everyone was making about it. 

Overall, I just didn't like the characters, never connected with them, the book never really grabbed me for long despite the action it had and I don't think things were fleshed out or handled well at all.