Book Reviews

Book Blurb

What is worse: Being so broke you can barely afford food, getting hired for dangerous missions way out of your league, suffocating under mountains of unanswered questions—or wanting to sexually dominate someone who can kill you without lifting a finger?

Lu Delong is a mercenary who evaluates antiques most of the time and deals with the paranormal on rare occasions—even though it's supposed to be the other way around. When he joins a dangerous quest for an ancient artifact, he meets and becomes strongly attracted to a mysterious and powerful immortal named Cangji. Despite his friends’ warnings and Cangji's icy, unsociable demeanor, Delong is unable to resist befriending him. However, Cangji is deeply involved in a matter beyond mortals, and Delong is drawn into a chaotic struggle by both visible and invisible forces.

Always the pacifist who wanted to live a simple human life, Delong never imagined he'd end up involved in a conflict that will affect everything from the lowest insects on earth to the highest gods in heaven.

Book Review

Chinese legends and mythology are not something I am very familiar with, so to find an adventure/quest based on some of those myths is a treat. I love getting to know new worlds, and to find a paranormal world that I am entirely unfamiliar with, including new-to-me beings and rules, is a special pleasure. Additionally this is a classic quest/adventure story that includes the search for a vanished spiritual master, mysterious artifacts that are relics of various gods, all kinds of serious foes and hidden villains, and a team of mercenaries who each have their own agenda while pretending to work together. Betrayal and defeat lurks around every corner, but what really kept me turning the pages were the quirky characters and the underlying mysterious goings-on.

Delong is a half yao, an elk spirit who has collected enough magic to shift into human form and, according to some, should be on his way to becoming a xian – an immortal celestial being. At the beginning of this story, he is an antiques dealer and sometimes-mercenary who makes little money and, seemingly, has no ambition to further his spiritual growth. He has already been kicked out of Cloud Fortress Sect for breaking the celibacy rule, his Xian master vanished ten years ago, and robbing the tomb of the god of fire – ancient artifact or not - does not enthuse Delong in the least. Except it is the tomb his master was investigating when she vanished and the temptation to earn significant money proves impossible to resist. Delong’s plans to live a simple human life go out the window the minute he realizes exactly how far-reaching the consequences of the current conflict might be.

Cangji is a xian, an immortal who may or may not be a god. To say he is quiet is an understatement – he seems to be looking down his nose at everyone. Yet he joins the team of mercenaries who are looking for the fire god’s artifact and his fighting skills get them out of more than one tight spot. It takes a while for Delong to begin to figure out what is going on, but his attraction to Cangji keeps driving him to dig deeper - that and his insatiable curiosity. What he finds out about Cangji, himself, and the state of the universe is way beyond a mortal’s comprehension and surprised the heck out of me. It also pulls Delong right into a struggle that I suspect will come to full fruition and possibly a resolution in the next book of the series.

With a great group of secondary characters, a rich world history, and lots of intrigue, twists and turns, and unexpected discoveries, I found this to be a very enjoyable story. Even though a lot of the culture and names are unfamiliar to me, I think the author did a great job making them understandable and relatable. The many locations visited came alive with vivid descriptions of their sights, sounds, and smells. The people were real, and even the immortals and legendary beings seemed realistic. ‘Relics of Gods’ gave me a wonderful world to dive into and forget my own reality for a while.

If you like epic adventure stories and quests of all kinds, if the struggle to understand forces far beyond human comprehension fascinates you like it does me, and if you’re looking for a read that is as challenging as it is enjoyable with the beginnings of a torrid romance, then you will probably like this novel as much as I did. I can’t wait to read the sequel to find out what Delong and Cangji get up to next!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by DSP Publications for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 350 pages/121497 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	06-January-2015
Price	$6.99 ebook, $17.99 paperback, $17.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/the-relics-of-gods-by-yeyu-10909-b