**The Vibe and Atmosphere of Ruthless Gods**

The imagery and mood of this book, like the first book, **Wicked Saints**, stick with you long after finishing it. Even though I was disappointed by certain elements, I still can't shake off the feeling that this series has a certain charm to it. The author's ability to paint vivid scenes and emotions is undeniable, but what leaves me wanting more is the way these individual moments are strung together. In my opinion, Emily Duncan does an excellent job of crafting unique scenes with her characters, almost like fan fiction one-shots in terms of their interactions. However, this style of writing raises questions about character development and plot progression.

**Character Development: A Lacking Aspect**

One of the biggest issues I have with both books is the lack of showing instead of telling when it comes to character relationships and interactions. While I appreciate the emotional connections between characters, especially Nadia's relationship with Malaki Ash, I still don't fully understand their bond. Even in this book, where we get more scenes with them, they don't quite make sense to me. This is not just a matter of personal preference; it's also due to the fact that character choices and decisions seem arbitrary at times. The lack of cohesion between plot points and character interactions makes it difficult for me to fully invest in their storylines.

**The Fandom's Disappointment**

My expectations were high, especially after seeing Emily Duncan discuss her intentions regarding the representation of LGBTQ+ characters on Twitter. However, upon reading **Ruthless Gods**, I was disappointed to find that there wasn't as much gay content as I had hoped for. While there are some side relationships present, they're not given enough attention or development to satisfy my expectations. This made me feel like my enthusiasm for the series was being let down.

**The Plot: Disjointed and Lacking Answers**

Speaking of plot, I'm extremely disappointed by the lack of coherence between character interactions and story progression. The author seems to be more interested in creating a visually appealing narrative than in providing a clear and engaging storyline. There are simply too many unanswered questions, especially considering how much was left unresolved at the end of **Wicked Saints**. As I continue through the series, I'm left wondering if these plot threads will ever be resolved.

The writing style itself is often beautiful, but it's not enough to make up for the narrative shortcomings. The author has a great understanding of atmosphere and mood, which is undoubtedly one of the strengths of this series. However, when it comes to character development and plot progression, I feel that **Ruthless Gods** falls short.

**Conclusion**

Overall, my experience with **Ruthless Gods** was similar to my review of **Wicked Saints**. While I enjoyed the writing style and atmosphere, I felt let down by the lack of coherence in character interactions and plot progression. The series has a lot of potential, but it doesn't quite live up to its full potential. Despite this, I will still continue with the series as I'm invested in the world and characters.

**Rating**

I'm giving **Ruthless Gods** 3 out of 5 stars. While it's not without its flaws, I appreciate the author's effort to create a captivating narrative. However, more attention should be paid to character development and plot progression to make this series truly shine.

**Discussion Invitation**

In our next discussion, we'll dive deeper into some of the topics that left me disappointed in **Ruthless Gods**, such as unanswered questions and disjointed plot points. If you have any thoughts on these issues or would like to share your own experiences with the series, please leave a comment below.

**Additional Resources**

For those interested in discussing this further, I've linked to my previous review of **Wicked Saints** and our discussion on character development. You can find these resources by clicking on the link below.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's sam and this is my spoiler free review of ruthless gods by emily a duncan this is the second book in the something dark and holy series the first book is wicked saints i'll link that review on the screen if you haven't read that first book this was my patreon vip pick so whenever i finish one vip pick i pick another one and that is that everybody's name as a patron gets put into a poll and one person gets picked to actually pick like any book for me to read off my tbr also just books that they want me to read whatever they get to pick they have the ultimate power so in addition to picking off of like the polls that i post they also just get to like pick whatever so this is my most recent vip pick so this jumps in a few months after the events of the first book seraphin and nadia are kind of teamed up ish together in trinavia and then malakash is like elsewhere after his villain breakdown so if you haven't seen my wicked saints review um spoiler alert it's gonna be a lot like this review because things that i hope to improve in this book like kind of did not in my opinion so first let's talk about the world building this world building is very similar to high felt but wicked saints this aesthetic of the whole series top-notch peak goth having said that there are trigger warnings in here for lots and lots of body horror a lot of like gore but more so i would say blood but like if you are at all like about like anything body horror blood gore there's also like a self harm element here because there is blood magic that some people use in here so there is regular self-harm then i would steer clear of this particularly if you're at all squicked out by eyes there's a lot of eye stuff in here so the goth aesthetic of this series is like peak there is a lot of just like eldritchness eldritch horrorness um like i said a lot of body horror just bones and blood and dark and goth and yeah so the imagery and the mood and the atmosphere peak sticks with you like even as disappointed as i was in elements of wicked saints i still like felt that book months after i read it and i will with this too like you can picture this book and the feeling of the series so clearly but next we talk about our character so very similar to how i felt in the first book honestly with everybody so the thing about the characters and about the writing in general is that i feel emily duncan does individual scenes with characters so well it's almost like fan fiction one shots in that way she does those beautifully these individual scenes but there's nothing really to string them together in my opinion like we will get these wonderful scenes but you're like well what led to that what are all these moments you'll have characters like describing each other and you're like where did you form that bond how do you know that about each other where did this friendship come from like you don't get to see it you're just told a lot and that's just part of the writing style throughout plot-wise and character-wise and i said this in wicked saints as well there's a lot of telling instead of showing so there are these moments these like wonderful scenes that i really like in theory and the mood that they bring and everything but the actual like content of it it just feels lacking i have most of the same complaints about this book as i had about the first book with the characters and the descriptions of each other nadia's pull towards malaki ash is like i don't i still don't get it we get more scenes in here with them but even those like don't quite make a ton of sense to me a lot of the plot is really forming around their relationship and things like that and you just don't get to see a ton of it you get these individual scenes but you don't feel the impact of time character choices don't make a lot of sense to me not just because of like me not agreeing with their choices necessarily but just because like i don't see how they're coming to certain conclusions i don't see how they make their decisions like things just aren't cohesively strung together in a way that makes a lot of sense also i will say i expected this book to be gayer um i follow emily duncan on twitter and she was talking about how most of the characters in here are gay true however like i i just i wanted like more from that like there there are some side relationships there that i'm like okay yes that doesn't have to be a main plot point by any means but what was being talked about like in sort of like the fandom and twitter i'm like your your fandom reaction to this is making me think that there's more gay content in here than there actually is so then now you're disappointing me because i thought there was gonna be way more so last let me talk about the plot like i've already kind of mentioned like there's a lot of things that just aren't they don't make sense there's a lot of things that are like not strung together in a way that makes a lot of sense as far as character interactions there's a lot of things that like we don't get answers to and at this point in the story i feel like we should have some more answers than we did like i have more questions than i have answers i don't know if i got anything answered in the second book and like some things should have been answered in the second book you know like i don't need everything left for the third book and at this point i'm like am i gonna get answers in the third book so yeah there's just a lot of things that i'm like is this is this gonna get answered or is this just for aesthetics like there's a lot of things that i'm like are we just doing this for how this looks like it doesn't doesn't make sense to me so this was sadly not really disappointing because i went into this with lowered expectations that i did wicked saints because of how i felt about wicked saves but i'm still just like boo i wanted more out of you than i got again sadly but i will still finish this series like i do like the vibes of it and i'm like interested enough to continue but i'm still like mad at it for not giving me more because it has such potential and i don't feel like it lives up to it so i gave this 3 out of 5 stars similar to my review for the first book i will be doing a spoilery discussion of this to kind of be like what are your thoughts about these things we don't get answers to so i will link that on the screen so comment below let me know your thoughts on ruthless gods thank you all for watching and i'll see you guys soon bye youhey guys it's sam and this is my spoiler free review of ruthless gods by emily a duncan this is the second book in the something dark and holy series the first book is wicked saints i'll link that review on the screen if you haven't read that first book this was my patreon vip pick so whenever i finish one vip pick i pick another one and that is that everybody's name as a patron gets put into a poll and one person gets picked to actually pick like any book for me to read off my tbr also just books that they want me to read whatever they get to pick they have the ultimate power so in addition to picking off of like the polls that i post they also just get to like pick whatever so this is my most recent vip pick so this jumps in a few months after the events of the first book seraphin and nadia are kind of teamed up ish together in trinavia and then malakash is like elsewhere after his villain breakdown so if you haven't seen my wicked saints review um spoiler alert it's gonna be a lot like this review because things that i hope to improve in this book like kind of did not in my opinion so first let's talk about the world building this world building is very similar to high felt but wicked saints this aesthetic of the whole series top-notch peak goth having said that there are trigger warnings in here for lots and lots of body horror a lot of like gore but more so i would say blood but like if you are at all like about like anything body horror blood gore there's also like a self harm element here because there is blood magic that some people use in here so there is regular self-harm then i would steer clear of this particularly if you're at all squicked out by eyes there's a lot of eye stuff in here so the goth aesthetic of this series is like peak there is a lot of just like eldritchness eldritch horrorness um like i said a lot of body horror just bones and blood and dark and goth and yeah so the imagery and the mood and the atmosphere peak sticks with you like even as disappointed as i was in elements of wicked saints i still like felt that book months after i read it and i will with this too like you can picture this book and the feeling of the series so clearly but next we talk about our character so very similar to how i felt in the first book honestly with everybody so the thing about the characters and about the writing in general is that i feel emily duncan does individual scenes with characters so well it's almost like fan fiction one shots in that way she does those beautifully these individual scenes but there's nothing really to string them together in my opinion like we will get these wonderful scenes but you're like well what led to that what are all these moments you'll have characters like describing each other and you're like where did you form that bond how do you know that about each other where did this friendship come from like you don't get to see it you're just told a lot and that's just part of the writing style throughout plot-wise and character-wise and i said this in wicked saints as well there's a lot of telling instead of showing so there are these moments these like wonderful scenes that i really like in theory and the mood that they bring and everything but the actual like content of it it just feels lacking i have most of the same complaints about this book as i had about the first book with the characters and the descriptions of each other nadia's pull towards malaki ash is like i don't i still don't get it we get more scenes in here with them but even those like don't quite make a ton of sense to me a lot of the plot is really forming around their relationship and things like that and you just don't get to see a ton of it you get these individual scenes but you don't feel the impact of time character choices don't make a lot of sense to me not just because of like me not agreeing with their choices necessarily but just because like i don't see how they're coming to certain conclusions i don't see how they make their decisions like things just aren't cohesively strung together in a way that makes a lot of sense also i will say i expected this book to be gayer um i follow emily duncan on twitter and she was talking about how most of the characters in here are gay true however like i i just i wanted like more from that like there there are some side relationships there that i'm like okay yes that doesn't have to be a main plot point by any means but what was being talked about like in sort of like the fandom and twitter i'm like your your fandom reaction to this is making me think that there's more gay content in here than there actually is so then now you're disappointing me because i thought there was gonna be way more so last let me talk about the plot like i've already kind of mentioned like there's a lot of things that just aren't they don't make sense there's a lot of things that are like not strung together in a way that makes a lot of sense as far as character interactions there's a lot of things that like we don't get answers to and at this point in the story i feel like we should have some more answers than we did like i have more questions than i have answers i don't know if i got anything answered in the second book and like some things should have been answered in the second book you know like i don't need everything left for the third book and at this point i'm like am i gonna get answers in the third book so yeah there's just a lot of things that i'm like is this is this gonna get answered or is this just for aesthetics like there's a lot of things that i'm like are we just doing this for how this looks like it doesn't doesn't make sense to me so this was sadly not really disappointing because i went into this with lowered expectations that i did wicked saints because of how i felt about wicked saves but i'm still just like boo i wanted more out of you than i got again sadly but i will still finish this series like i do like the vibes of it and i'm like interested enough to continue but i'm still like mad at it for not giving me more because it has such potential and i don't feel like it lives up to it so i gave this 3 out of 5 stars similar to my review for the first book i will be doing a spoilery discussion of this to kind of be like what are your thoughts about these things we don't get answers to so i will link that on the screen so comment below let me know your thoughts on ruthless gods thank you all for watching and i'll see you guys soon bye you\n"