Note: This copy of The Hungry Gods was provided by NetGalley.

The Hungry Gods is a sci-fi dystopian novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky that is, I believe, a part of his Terrible Worlds: Innovations series of novellas. My first foray into the author’s works was with Dogs of War, and I absolutely loved that book. That said I haven’t found myself reading anymore of his work in the years since; until now.

The Hungry Gods starts off a bit confusing as we’re thrown into this dystopian world where there are rats, rabbits, seagulls etc. Are these anthropomorphic animals, or people (since I was coming with the background of Dogs of War in mind), but that is very quickly cleared up by the arrival of the ‘Hungry Gods’ so to speak. The book follows Amri, one of the last remaining survivors of the Rabbit tribe, as she finds herself the spokesperson of a God as he begins to rally support against his fellow gods out to destroy the planet.

A well-paced narrative with a prose that is addictive to read and hard to put down, we look at the dregs of humanity and how they deal with the appearance of Gods among them after having been abandoned for years. We also look at the question of what is a God if they have no followers.

This is a very interesting novella with such a good premise that I hope there are more novellas in this world. As mentioned earlier, this is to be part of a three part series called the Terrible Worlds: Innovations series. I also believe there are more trilogies in the Terrible World Series namely Revolutions, Destinations, and Transformations (only one book out in this series so far). Absolutely lovely read. Definitely recommended to anyone who would like to dip a toe in the author’s work before committing to his larger novels and series. Can’t wait to dive into the rest of his work.

Links:

• Goodreads: The Hungry Gods – Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Blog Post: Dogs of War – Adrian Tchaikovsky