B. Berry

How To Kill Gods & Make Friends has a full cast of characters that stole my heart one by one. It’s got a network of parallel running plotlines that eventually come together. All around fantastic plot, character development, and world-building. I can’t recommend it enough and will definitely be reading the sequel.

It feels like the author knows the universe, all the characters (heroes, villains, and antiheroes alike), and the magic system to their very core. Every character feels fully realized, with a history, backstory, and baggage. The world feels so established that I’m surprised this is the first book in the series.

There’s quality transgender, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ representation (including main characters). Even more rare: there’s casual and seamless use of non-binary pronouns.

STYLE:

The style is casual, snarky, fun, and descriptive. The story flows naturally. Each character has their own distinctive voice and brand of humor. Great dialogue. Lots of witty banter, snark, sarcasm, insightful comments, and heart-to-hearts. Fantastic, if rather dark, sense of humor. It is sometimes intense and emotional, sometimes hilarious and lighthearted.

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

The story is told in third person and largely follows the perspective of the protagonist, Vivian, but there are also plenty of scenes that follow and focus on the other main characters. In many of these scenes, Vivian isn’t even present.

Vivian, a freelance exorcist. She’s a wonderfully complex strong female heroine that’s very comfortable with shades of gray and improvisation. She’s intensely loyal to her found family friend group, protective of those in need, and slow to trust new people. She’s skilled and brave, but not invincible or overpowered. She’s got a great sense of humor and a mysterious dark past of magical experimentation. She’s a bit jaded, but still believes in second chances. She’s unapologetically queer (presumably bi or pan) with a female love interest.

There’s Isaac: a prickly, secretive spellwriter who accidentally ended up tied to a demon. (That’s mostly his fault… and a little bit Vivian’s fault. Whoops.) Of all people, it’s said demon that gets Isaac to make friends and open up a bit.

A demon named Sam that’s without a doubt the sweetest character in the whole book. I’m pretty sure he’s developing a hopeless crush on his summoner. He’s also quite powerful, dangerous, and ruthlessly protective. He’s definitely willing to fight. He’s also completely new to the living human plane. Cue adorable cluelessness and curiosity about almost everything. He’s also alarmingly trusting of Isaac and Vivian. He is ridiculously honest, kind of morally gray, and a total sweetheart. Really, he’s just trying to figure out who he is.

A psychic who sees bits and pieces of a myriad of possible futures. She’s reserved, decisive, and has nerves of steel. She tends sparing with what she sees from her visions, especially when they’re contradictory or hard to make sense of. It’s hard to make sense of her visions, she can’t control when she gets them, and just about the only thing she can see for sure is that something apocalyptically catastrophic looms on the horizon. I love this variant of precognition. What do you do when your visions mark someone as a possible future friend and ally and a possible bitter enemy? How do you get close to people when half the futures you’ve foreseen for them end in untimely death or bloodshed? Despite her closed off nature, she’s intensely loyal to her friends, haunted by a death she didn’t foresee, and undoubtedly cares. The wide array of possible futures has also taught her to have an open mind because people always have the potential to become so much worse or so much better than they are.

There’s too many major characters to get into each one. But, there’s also a ghost that’s trying to become a luck spirit (which is theoretically impossible) and a lonely orphan she’s haunting and helping however she can. A psychic that can get in people’s heads and dreams. A ghost and human hunting duo that are also an adorable and bada** gay couple. A non-binary magical medic that’s a delight and takes not excuses. A shifter on the run who has broken into their mind-reading psychic’s bathroom and taken up residence in his bathtub. (That’s a weird one even for this bunch.)

THE CHARACTER WRITING:

The characters were so well drawn that I didn’t have any problems keeping the characters and names straight. (Even though I usually have trouble mixing up the characters' names in books with big casts and lots of parallel plots). The characters all steal your heart. Some right off the bat and some slowly bit by bit. The more you get to know them, the more you love them.

A huge cast of characters. Each one was complex, loveable, unique, and so so real. It felt like the author knew all the characters to their bones. While it felt like the author knew the past and present of the characters to their very core, their futures still felt open and unpredictable. These characters are always changing, growing, adapting, and changing each other. Their relationships are always evolving. It doesn’t feel like any of the characters’ futures are predetermined. (An impressive feat for a book that has a major character with precognitive abilities.)

You are shown (not told) why the main characters are how they are. They’re so clearly shaped by their pasts. You get to understand them and yet, they’re always changing. They can still surprise you.

Most of the characters are a bit morally gray (and pretty bada** too). But, deep down they’re all kinda big softies. They’re all lovably imperfect in understandable, relatable, and different ways. They’re all well rounded and so very odd. They each have their own unique style and form of brilliance. They’ve each got their own brand of snark and sense of humor. The cast of characters is diverse in more ways than one. Diversity of personality, background, history, sexual orientation, gender identity, and race.

There’s great, non-rushed development of interpersonal relationships. These relationships are all constantly evolving, shaping the characters as they change. There’s old friendships, new friendships, tentative new allies, old romances, and burgeoning romances. All of these relationships are so well developed and dynamic. These relationships push the main characters to grow, learn from each other, open up, step out of their comfort zones, see themselves more clearly, face their demons, consider who they want to be, and reexamine how they look at the world.

There’s lots of found family feelings and all of the relationships have tons of room to grow. It’s so much fun to see the characters win each other over and make each other better people.

THE WORLDBUILDING:

It feels like the author knows the universe inside and out. It feels massive and teaming with possibilities. It also feels like the universe existed long before the start of the book, like it had plenty of history before you were dropped into it at the start of the book.

This universe has rules, order, and a well-drawn magic system. The magic system has rules, but is realistic enough to have believable exceptions and anomalies. Every rule of this world has exceptions. Every good universe like this one has yet-to-be discovered complexities, unsolved mysteries, and new discoveries just waiting to be found. Every good universe like this one is dynamic and ever-changing. Like the best fictional worlds around, it felt like the characters had a chance to affect the shape of its future.

The universe feels so big and realized. The characters are so independently developed. There’s endless potential for mysteries, plotlines, relationships, and character arcs. I could easily see any of these main characters (and many of the minor characters) getting a book or series of their own.

THE PLOT:

There’s a web of parallel plot lines involving seemingly unconnected supernatural mayhem, disasters, and shenanigans that eventually converged and drew the large cast of main characters together to stop an apocalypse. In the end, the odd bunch of characters had to figure out how to work together to save the world.

The pacing was pretty fast, but there were a few slow bits in the middle. Although, even the slower bits were never boring. It’s a long book, but it never once felt like it dragged on too long. The action and fight scenes were very well done. Easy to visualize, fast paced, action packed, and suspenseful.

Despite the initially scattered plotlines, the story wasn’t confusing. Each plotline was compelling on its own. Eventually the plotlines and characters come together when these eclectic characters somehow end up with the job of averting an apocalypse. (Really, none of them get paid enough for this.)

The plotlines include: a demon summoning gone awry, a ghost messing with luck, a woman (that may or not be a selkie and is definitely on the run) commandeering their mind reader’s bathtub, a stolen Tengu egg, and a dragon hunt.

THE LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION:

The LGBTQ+ rep is done with emotion and nuance, but also in a way that’s nice and simple. At least half of the main characters are queer. It doesn’t define any of the characters or reduce them into stereotypes. Nor are their LGBTQ+ identities reduced to casual insignificance. It’s treated as a part of who they are without being all they are. (As it should be.)

There’s a trans male main character (I won’t say who for the sake of spoilers) and a non-binary character. Trans and nonbinary rep is rare in main characters, even more rarely is it done well and meaningfully and without eclipsing the rest of such characters’ identity and personality. This book did it right.

There’s lots of healthy and inclusive attitudes seamlessly woven into this story. Like a character dropping the casual wisdom that your junk doesn’t determine or define your gender identity. Gender neutral pronouns are used casually and consistently by all the main characters (and the third-person narration) for each nonbinary character. This is done without any fuss and manages to never be confusing to the reader.

At least one entire species in this universe seems to go by gender neutral pronouns, which is pretty cool because it makes sense that not every species would put emphasis on gender, care about gender, differentiate by gender the way humans do.

THE ENDING:

This book is part of a series, but it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. The immediate threat is thwarted for now, but a major threat remains and the path forward for many of the characters is uncertain. They’ve grown and saved the world together, but clearly a lot more story left to tell. I can’t wait to see these characters take on the world again.

WARNINGS: profanity/cursing, death, violence, alcohol

I received a free eARC via BookSirens. I am writing this review completely honestly and voluntarily.… (more)

Title: Clothesline Blues
Author: B. Berry
Publisher: B.B.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"Clothesline Blues" by B. Berry

My Rationalization:

This is definitely one of those reads that will keep you turning the pages to see what was going to happen next in this salty town. Now, I will say up front that this story speaks upon the 'Civil Rights Movement, the Jim Crow Era, that leads up to Bloody Sunday' that leads up to horrible tensions of the Black struggle that was going on at that time in the 1950s - 1960s. Yes, it is how many people were treated and yes, in our world as even today a lot of this still is going on. I definitely saw this as so very sad. This was quite an intriguing story of how this author was able to interweave this story together. Yes, this story is about 'love and war between black and whites in the South during the Jim Crow Era.' I will say this was a hard read for me but I am glad I was given the opportunity to read this novel even though it was a fictional read I know a lots of it was true in one form or another.

The story brings in two people Hilda and Pearl who just happened to be the best of friends who bonded well together as they trusted each other. It was really something in what these two went through in this story that incorporated 'friendship, love, hate, abusive husbands, secrets, sadness, domestic violence, rape, passion, pain, anger, murder, revenge, sorrow, survival, romance and yes even more.

Now as the story continues there will be a lot of mystery, suspense with some history as the story will take on its form of twist and turns to form its own with some very interesting well-developed characters that will add to this interesting read that was so very 'realistic, and captivating.' To get it all you will have to pick up "Clothesline Blues" to see how it all comes out in the end. Definitely, the title tells a part of the story.… (more)