Tough Traveling is a weekly feature, created and hosted by Nathan at the Fantasy Review Barn, in which participants come up with a list of books that follow the fantasy tropes that can be found in Diana Wynne Jones’ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Each week, Nathan picks a new subject. This week the top is:
Dead Gods: Fantasyland had gods, right? And now they are dead. Dead Gods are not forgotten though, often they are still just influential to the land as they were when living.
My memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe I was the one who came up with this idea (so you can all blame me later!), and at the time I had a bunch of books in mind that I could use. Now that I’m trying to put a post together, I’m like “What was I thinking???” Much harder than I expected, or maybe I’m just forgetting all the examples I thought of a couple of months ago. But here are the books that come to mind (and sorry for the repeats, I think I’ve used all these examples before):
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. You’ve seen this book on Tough Traveling lists everywhere, because it’s one of those stories that seems to have a little of everything, including dead gods. In this case, the gods were killed during an event called the Blink, along with the city of Bolikov itself.
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. The story begins with the death of a god named Kos, the fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. But is he really dead? Or is he just hiding? That’s what lawyer Tara must figure out, before the city crumbles in the wake of his disappearance. Gladstone’s amazing series features gods in just about all the books, including:
Full Fathom Five, in which a girl named Kai creates idols for people to worship. However, what happens when those idols start dying? Is it a conspiracy? It’s up to Kai and her friends to get to the bottom of the mystery. OK, so idols aren’t technically the same as gods, but for today they are:-D
Dark Star by Oliver Langmead. This book was such an unusual story, and so beautifully written, and I wish more people would take a chance on it. On a planet with no sun, people live in virtual darkness, praying to the dead god Phos, the god of light. They worship statues of him hoping for some spark of illumination in their lives.
The Godless by Ben Peek. I feel bad that this book was a DNF for me—it just never got off the ground, and after fifty pages or so I gave up. BUT it is a great example of dead gods, because hey, it’s right there in the title! In a land where the gods went to war, many of their bodies have become part of the landscape, in the form of mountains and lakes. I loved this idea, I just wish it had worked better for me.
I know there must be lots I’ve forgotten. As is always the case:-D
City of Stairs made my list as well (I’ve already seen it crop up a few times this morning), and I thought about Three Parts Dead, but it’s still on my TBR pile so I don’t know it well enough to really comment.
Oh you need to get to Three Parts Dead right away!
City of Stairs usually makes the rounds on these lists, but I’m guessing it’s going to be the ‘favourite’ pick this week! Your blurb on Dark Star definitely has me intrigued…who doesn’t like beautiful writing, right?
Danya @ Fine Print recently posted…Tough Traveling: Dead Gods
I’m glad you’re thinking about reading Dark Star! I just loved it, and it isn’t very long.
I haven’t read any of these books! It is a hard topic. I can’t think of any right now. It’s a good topic though. I was interested in Godless so I’m glad to know I wasn’t missing anything.
Molly Mortensen recently posted…Uprooted By Naomi Novik
I know some readers who actually enjoyed The Godless, so it may have been me just being impatient:-)
Ready to take that chance with “Dark Star”: your brief synopsis was more than intriguing and I will certainly try it out. Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…Tough Traveling: DEAD GODS
Yay, I hope I get lots of new readers of Dark Star from this post!
Yeah, beautiful writing – that’s always a winner for me. Will take a look at Dark Star.
Cheers
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…Smite me, O mighty smighter!
OK, if nothing else, I have successfully promoted DARK STAR in this post!
Wow, I just picked up “Dark Star” this week from Netgalley, glad to see it has some dead gods, at least. Fine list , by the way. 🙂
Wendell recently posted…THE ROAD TO CIVIL WAR (MARVEL COMICS)
Yay Wendell! Let me know what you think of it:-)
This is one of the most consistent weeks in terms of lists that I’ve seen since I started… I really need to pick up The City of Stairs, The Godless, Full Fathom Five, and Three Parts Dead – so many people seem to have chosen them, which bodes well! And I love the sound of Dark Star, will be adding it to my TBR for sure.
Jenn recently posted…Tough Traveling: Dead Gods
All those books you mention are AMAZING. Hope you can get to some of them:-)
Dead and dying gods make for such excellent stories. I love the concept of belief and devotion acting as life forces. (Almost how fairies work in Peter Pan and old legends.) Do you think American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman would count?
Dark Star sounds fascinating… will certainly check it out soon.
Sarah @ The Bookshelf Pirate recently posted…Book Review: The Story of Owen, Dragonslayer of Trondheim
I am SO embarrassed to say I haven’t read either American Gods or Anansi Boys (although I have copies of them!!) I agree, dead gods are great story fodder:-D
I agree, Godless was a tough read for me too, but hey, it was perfect for this week’s theme 🙂
You and I had several more in common this week including City of Stairs and Three Parts Dead, yay!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Book Review: The Buried Life by Carrie Patel
I read all but Dark Star. And if this was your topic I am sorry I missed the credit. Not been good at remember all these important details lately.
Oh I certainly didn’t want credit! I was just worried that maybe it was a hard topic, and I would have felt bad. But everyone seemed to come up with lots of books, so I don’t feel bad anymore:-)
These sound interesting, particularly Full Fathom Five with the dead gods and Dark Star with the darkness. I mean I swear people can’t physically do that lol!
Jeann @ Happy Indulgence recently posted…Indulgence Insider #29 – My Library Book Haul