Ah yes, today we will be reviewing a book that I have read too many times: How To Kill Gods & Make Friends by B. Berry. It’s quite a brick of a novel, but with so many characters and subplots, it doesn’t feel dreadfully long. Just regularly long.
Listen folks, it’s a long book. No way to cut it. It weighs a hefty 1.44 pounds and has nearly an inch-thick spine. And I created this baby, yes I did. Through blood, sweat, tears, sensitivity readers, very weird and incriminating research, and a lot of volleyball anime. I moved during the late-game publishing steps. There were more mishaps on the technical side of things than I could count. Hell, there were more mishaps during the editing phase than I want to ever admit and I’m sure I’ll have nightmares about yet.
(All those jokes about how big it is? I REWROTE THE DAMN THING THREE TIMES.)
Personally, my favorite character in this book was either Mirai or Sam. Both bring such fresh perspectives to the narrative, given that they’re two nonhuman characters fending for themselves in the human realm. Even in a joke post, however, I’m not allowed to have a least favorite, so we’ll keep mum at that. And I’ll just quietly note that Isaac had some of the most difficult and frustrating scenes to rewrite. (But his gaming references make him fun to write, so…)
I don’t really know how to write a review of my own book, even in humor, if you haven’t noticed. I’ve spent longer on this project than I have most others, and it’s given me a very weary familiarity that I don’t often feel for my stories. I don’t feel as if I have anything interesting or new to say about it!
Which is patently untrue, as I’ve posted lists of fun facts and trivia bits on my social media, and have released three deleted scenes for my mailing list to touch fondly. Also, I can’t even be unbiased for a joke. Too soon after the release date for me to pick apart its mistakes.
So let’s have one of those ten fun facts instead to wrap up this odd little faux review post!
1. The main cast are all named after horror characters or authors. (Extra fact: yes Dana is named for the x-files and while the meme does not use her given name it’s very canon to their dynamic that Viv would burst in and go DANA YOU’RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS)
2. Following that logic, technically one character’s name is a spoiler because of their namesake/reference.
3. I am terrified of enraging kpop fans somehow for the one iota of Korean and somehow romanizing the terms wrong (I waffled a LOT between gumiho and kumiho…).
4. There are 38 chapters* only after I gave up on the character name chapter naming scheme that almost killed me. That said, I miss it, because it was a good way to work in some characterization that didn’t need a scene to back it up.
(*There are chapter interstitials though! So more…?)
5. Me having fun with crossovers, I’ve used Viv, Dana, Thomas, and one other spoiler character in some of my fanfic, a coven leader is borrowed from another original yet-to-be-published high fantasy series of mine, and I’m pretty sure Tuesday from The Rook & The Ram will be making an appearance in book 2, too.
6. Mark insists the best Evangelion girl is Rei. Viv insists it’s Asuka. They fight damn near bloody over this but what really is the point of this is that they each have a LOT in common with the other’s favorite.
7. Viv would canonically use the term eeby deeby. But I’m not letting myself print memes that will date the book within it. I’m very normal about not being able to use it. (Spoiler alert: I’m not normal and am very upset.)
8. I’d adore doing an audiobook for many reasons, but I genuinely have no clue how I could find a narrator who could accurately read this book, given that there is: Russian, Korean, Japanese, Old Norse, Lakota, French, and of course the R’LYEHIAN. Later books will also add Spanish, Irish Gaelic, Inuit, Sanskrit, and probably Latin. This is not a read aloud bedtime book.
9. There are 2 characters in book 1 who are technically introduced in two separate roles, but with the “reveal” of who they are in book 2. Weird that that happened twice.
10. There aren’t enough nosebleeds in the book. This will be rectified moving forward with the series.
Correct.
I’m only planning on reading how to kill gods and make friends along with any others in the series but you mentioned cross overs and a character Tuesday from rook and ram do I need to read that for book 2 to make sense
Also where can I read the fanfic
Also will there be a second book if so do you have a release date
Also great book I loved it
You won’t need to read any other series of mine to make sense of the series you’re reading, promise! I just like small cameos/references.
There will absolutely be a second book – I’m thinking it will be a 4 or 5 book series, depending on a couple of plot choices. There is no release date yet, though I’m hoping sometime this fall. I’ll be posting about it here and on my social media when I do have a date finalized!
Thank you for the comment – I’m so glad you read and enjoyed the book!
There you are!! Hope you had a safe trip and are adjusting to your new environment. So glad I finally found y0u. couldn’t remember your email for the life of me. Got fired from DH&D, lol. check out my website at ateliersawyer.com. Signed up for the email so you should have my email addess. or you can use ateliersawyer@gmail.com. Can’t wait to hear from you!