Godly Heathens (The Ouroboros, #1)
H.E. Edgmon
Infatuation. Reincarnation. Damnation. Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers’ queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn. But even Enzo doesn’t know about Gem’s dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence that have always felt too real. So how the hell does Willa Mae Hardy? The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions, and seems to know things about them they’ve never told anyone else. When Gem is attacked by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves their life and finally offers some answers. She and Gem are reincarnated gods who’ve known and loved each other across lifetimes. But Gem – or at least who Gem used to be - hasn’t always been the most benevolent deity. They’ve made a lot of enemies in the pantheon—enemies who, like the Goddess of Death, will keep coming. It’s a good thing they’ve still got Enzo. But as worlds collide and the past catches up with the present, Gem will discover that everyone has something to hide.
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0 0Thank you so, so, so much to NetGalley and Wednesday books for access to an eARC of one of my new favorites in exchange for my honest review!
When Gem Echols wakes up one morning from yet another intensely realistic, horrifying dream in which they see themselves doing horrible things, they're convinced it's just more proof that they're 'not okay' in the head. And despite their struggle to separate the dream from their reality at first, they soldier on with their day, bolstered as always by a text from their long distance best friend and confidante Enzo. But their day only seems to get weirder when new girl Willa Mae--who just so happens to be the 'most breathtaking girl they've ever seen'--shows up at their table at lunch and apologizes for being late. It's just too bad that there's no way she's sane, acting like they've known each other for years and asking Gem where a *knife* is, of all things. Willa Mae gives them the shortest version of events possible, and the story takes a complete turn towards the outrageous. Because suddenly, Gem Echols isn't just Gem Echols anymore. They're *The Magician*, an ancient deity from a different world who has been reincarnated and become the person they are today. And they're...in danger? From other Gods? What!?
This book was an absolute roller coaster ride from start to finish and there wasn't a second that I considered getting off. The characters were fascinating and had me questioning more than once why I loved them so much when they were all *so* morally grey and did some of the questionable things they did. The use of rural Georgia as a setting for this story of an age old battle between Gods was *so* smart, as someone from Georgia. It lends this sort of closed-in feeling to the narrative that you really need when you're playing with concepts like repeated reincarnation and multi-generational family trauma caused by in-fighting between ages-old, all-powerful deities.
The way that H.E. Edgmon weaves such a beautiful, fantastical, *unreal* story by using so many extremely real elements--mental health representation in *multiple* ways, racial diversity, the struggles of indigenous peoples, identity struggles, trans visibility, gender-fluidity, lgbtqia+ representation, trauma, etc.--made for what I'm not shy to say was an absolute *masterpiece* of a contemporary fantasy.
This book was such an easy five star for me, and I've already sunk my teeth deep into the second book and am *so* excited to see where it takes me.
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