Review: Godsknife: Revolt by Timothy C. Ward
Blurb:
Caroline intended to visit a college campus, but stands instead at the edge of Hell on Earth.
The cicada invasion has come, and a skin-crawling hum pervades the pitch-black Iowa sky. Cocoons line the streets, spilling forth their murderous offspring. Ancient magic has returned with a vengeance, bringing a threat greater than anything we saw in WW III.
An orphaned girl’s visit to Iowa State entangles her with a handsome Order mage, and with a priestess who’s triggered an apocalypse worthy of the gods of Earth and the Abyss.
When the impossible becomes reality, what price will Caroline and her new friends pay to survive the insect apocalypse?
EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS a chilling, horrifying look at a world gone mad. The “Godsknife” series is perfect for fans of Stephen King (The Dark Tower, The Stand), Larry Correa (Monster Hunter), Nick Cole (The Red King, The Wasteland Saga), Ted Dekker (Circle Trilogy) and Tosca Lee (Demon, The Books of Mortals).
Review:
I saw this book scrolling through the SFF Insiders review category. Never heard of the author before, nor have I read his books, so I thought, “Why not try ‘Godsknife Revolt’? The cover and blurb make it sound interesting”, sent Timothy Ward an email, received the book in PDF version, and read through on Friday evening, Saturday morning. And, if I have to be frank with those reading this review, it was not the most enjoyable book I’ve read this year. Some parts were good, other parts, not so much. I can see “Godsknife: Revolt” being a fun book for some, specifically those who do not shy away from overly descriptive scenes, both visceral action scenes and sensual bedroom scenes. But I said I’d review the book for the site, so here we are. I know this one isn’t going to be as light hearted or upbeat as my other ones, bear with me please.
If I had to pitch this book out to those who would be interested in such a tome, I’d give them this spiel: “Just another day in Des Moines, Iowa. Caroline is out applying for a job at a hospital when fate steers her to disaster. All is in chaos.”, and alongside that, the usual “Find out more here.”.
Again, that isn’t the full story presented, nor is it satisfactory to just say that this was a good book and leave it at that. Reading through it felt like a surreal trip through a world familiar, yet not. Kafkaesque, if you will. A few things Timothy Ward did well with the book, a few things could’ve been done better, but I alone, being the youngest here on the review team, might not be able to bring across the whole part of the book, nor is what I think about “Godsknife: Revolt” what everyone thinks about after they finish the book.
First of the few things Timothy Ward did well, Caroline. Caroline felt like an actual person with motives and drive. At some point though, when her backstory comes to light, it feels like that was placed there specifically to fulfil a purpose in the story, without much behind it. Aside from that, I liked her motives and how she interacted with the story.
There are a few side characters who are important and have a similar layer of backstory to them, and I loved their interactions, however some fell flat and others, specifically the antagonist of this story, being who they are just because of a singular event. Sure, there was someone behind the evil, but that change was just “oh, ends justify the means. Let's go with that now”. I’ll get back to this person in a bit.
Then, the magic system sans the harvesting of male DNA via sex (we’ll get back to this). There’s a symbiotic worm for the Order people, and the Abyss for the Chaos people. Meanwhile the Makers (the party inbetween) are just somewhat overpowered Clerics with body control via touch. The symbiotic worm listens for someone's correct answer, and if they fail that, goodbye person, hello corpse. If the symbiosis is complete, and no issues are had, the atom, as they are called, learns how to manipulate inanimate matter. And they become a math wizard, being able to exactly measure or count things in their head, no matter how difficult. The more chaotically arranged items though, they are the counter to the symbiotic math wizards.
The Abyss is just that, the abyss, a realm of nothing and everything just beyond ours housing both mortals and immortals. Interesting idea, set up and executed well, wouldn’t mind seeing more of that.
And the people who I called Makers, they are really good at manipulating organic matter, from taking over someone else with a touch, to healing injuries. Not much to say there except that both the Order and Chaos people like to take their chances trying to kill these people.
Aside from that, the last thing I have to say that works well for this book is the action. There’s a ton of it, with copious amounts of bug smashing and bullets flying that would be expected of an end of days book. Very descriptive. Felt a bit like reading an action flick playing on the late night TV stations. It was enjoyable.
Now, to the part of the review where I highlight why this is only for specific audiences. I, being on the younger side of readers, enjoyed the parts mentioned up above. Other parts however, which are here, made me want to set it aside.
The antagonist. I mentioned that I would get back to her. Here is an excerpt from one of the chapters that made me almost toss my iPad out the nearest window (it would’ve been fine, more symbolic than anything) regarding the main antagonist:
“[...] [Redacted name] left the door open so her moans could reach the ears of the atoms outside. [Redacted name 2] didn’t last until her climax. [...]. She’d kill for less, the burn of an almost orgasm burning up inside her. [...]”
That was one of the few scenes that made the reading of this book more taxing than I wish it was. Sure, you might say it’s just an intimate sex scene. But to me, I had absolutely no clue that was what would be in this book. I had a graphic violence warning, but not an intimate sex scene with strong BDSM tendencies.
This directly ties into the next thing I wanted to get back to. The harvesting of male seed after copulating. This is for DNA splicing with giant praying mantises that would listen to the antagonist, and would be smart enough to get through most things. At least that’s how I understood it. This next excerpt is how the antagonist goes about harvesting that male seed:
“[...] She squatted and deposited his seed into a preselected pouch where it would mix with one hundred forty-four that she had engineered with her eggs. [...]
The concept was good - but it felt like that part of describing how those DNA engineered bugs came into existence was put in there for either shock value or a show of “I’ve written a book, so I can add this in here now”.
There is a balance to go with describing. Timothy Ward has decided to go full tilt in one direction, and while I commend him for doing so, this type of content resonates with a select audience, of which I am not a part of.
Then, the way that the plot moves. Some points, it moves great, other parts, it becomes a fever dream and it is difficult to get fully into the proceedings. And I said earlier about some of the backstories being there for a single purpose - driving the plot onwards. Not a lot of info dumps, but the way the backstories came across, it did not work well for me. The only one I could truly connect to in terms of non-conveniently added information that only drove the plot onwards was John. His felt the most fleshed out out of all the cast.
If you would like an action packed and overly descriptive apocalyptica novel, I’d give you Timothy Ward's debut novel, to which a sequel is coming out soon.
Due to the content of this review, if you have made it to the end of this review, thank you for reading it. I hope I’ve helped make a choice when it comes to your next read. If this novel isn’t up to your liking, feel free to check out other reviews up here on this site for books of almost any genre. There’s something for everyone here.
Wherever you are reading this review, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening or good night!
