Welcome friend! The first book in The Cruel God series, The Thirteenth Hour was a reading experience like no other book. I loved the world and the characters. My heart broke so much for Quen! After such a fantastic read, I was exhilarated but also nervous to return to this series. Would it’s magic on me hold true in book 2, The Children of Chaos? Let’s find out. 🙂
Trudie Skies | Goodreads | The Cruel Gods#2
When the saints call, the sinners answer.
Chaos stalks the steam-powered city of Chime and threatens the existence of the gods and their domains. Kayl swore to protect Chime’s mortals from their gods’ cruel whims, but when she agrees to represent the mortals of a god long thought dead, Kayl is thrust into a political role that goes against everything she’s ever stood for.
As the newly appointed ambassador to the god of time, Quen’s goal is clear – protect Chime and the domains by any means necessary. But as the gods make their demands, Quen is caught between his loyalties and his conscience.
To ensure a future for all mortals, Kayl and Quen must unite the gods against the threat of chaos and decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for Chime – before the gods choose for them.
For the gods are capricious and have their own divine plans.
The Children of Chaos is the second book in The Cruel Gods series—a gaslamp fantasy featuring magical portals, gothic cosmic deities, quaint Britishisms, and steampunk vibes. This is an adult book containing strong language and mature themes that some readers may find disturbing. For a full list of content warnings, visit Trudie Skies’s website.
The Children of Chaos – Review
The Children of Chaos has all my favorite characters from the first book but it also has some new ones. One of my favorite things about this book was that as Quen and Kayl took the role of ambassador for their respective gods, I got to accompany them on a number of domains for their political and investigative missions. The notes about each domain from Quen’s Warden Dossier gave good context on what to expect, the weather, what to avoid and what to watch out for. The steam-powered city of Chime continued to be the backdrop of a lot of the action and I enjoyed visiting the temples of the various gods and their devotees.
The plot around Kayl and the Godless became rife with tension as their motivations and ways of operation started to conflict with how Kayl had to do things. I already adored Dru but I came to love her more in this story. The Children of Choas answered many questions about the past, including the history of many of the casts, how Chaos came to be in Chime, who her children are and what they can do, the war that happened where gods had to take sides and how the world came to be as it is.
What I struggled the most with Kayl. I had liked her in The Thirteenth Hour but in the second instalment, I was annoyed by her actions and found her to be naive in her approach to the political situations. What I didn’t like was how her actions impacted Quen and the dangers he had to face but I guess that kept the story interesting. She wanted mortals to be free of their gods but she didn’t understand loyalties and safety nets at all. She is who she is based on her experiences in life, having truly lived godless, and as a result she was missing the understanding of why anyone is devoted to their god. Through her, The Children of Chaos tries to answer why the bond between mortal and god even exists, particularly when the gods treat some mortals as their playthings.
Another motivation that Kayl had for behaving as she did was her twin sister, Jinx. The Thirteenth Hour introduced Jinx but this was the first time where I got to read her perspective. She is Chaos embodied and everything that Kayl isn’t. She is resentful that she had to be stuck in Kayl all this time. She judges Kayl for her actions in the past and now and unleashed chaos a little at a time. Kayl is insecure and rather than trusting her friends with the truth about the end of Eventide and exposing Jinx, Kayl sets up situations for them all to be misled. How can something be infuriating and entertaining at the same time? Well, that’s Chaos. 😀
As always, the pacing of the book was spot on. Trudie Skies creates a delicious concoction of political sabotage, personal vendettas, cruel, selfish and duplicitous gods and mortals who just want to look out for themselves or other mortals. I loved the twists and characters in this book. I enjoyed the visions of death and continued to feel bad for Quen as he was bossed around by Dor.
I am excited to read the next and final book in this series, The End of Time.
Add this book on Goodreads, read my review of the first book, The Thirteenth Hour.
Let me know in the comments if you have/plan to read this series. 🙂
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