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The Shadow of the Gods
John Gwynne
2021 · Fantasy
How it reads
The Shadow of the Gods is fantasy (norse-inspired epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in an invented world, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are friendship, survival and war. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It opens a series. The ending resolves happily. It's a long book, and a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something adventurous
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you like disappearing into an invented world
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or melancholy
- you want dense, lingering prose
- you want something you can finish this weekend
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- fictional world
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- adventurous
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- long
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- friendship, survival, war
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
Red Seas Under Red SkiesScott LynchShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast pacedThe Grace of KingsKen LiuShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast paced
The Priory of the Orange TreeSamantha ShannonShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast pacedBoneshakerCherie PriestShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast paced
The City of BrassShannon A. ChakrabortyShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast paced
The Rage Of DragonsEvan WinterShares: fantasy, adventurous mood, balanced tone, fast paced
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