The Book of Gold by Ruth Frances Long - Book review

Series: The Feral Gods #1

Publication Date: 28th Nov 2024

Genre: Historical Fantasy 

2.5 Stars (outliner) 

One Liner: Depends on how much you like the main character 

Lyta is a notorious thief but she’ll do anything for her little big brother, Kit. 

Kit wants nothing to do with his sister and leads a respectable life until he is arrested on sedition charges for printing a pamphlet in his press. 

Lyta makes a bargain with the king to save Kit. She will steal The Book (the one with mysterious magical powers) in exchange for Kit’s life.

Sylvain is a reformed pirate and the king’s bodyguard. He wants nothing to do with Lyta after what she did to him. However, he seems to have no choice but to be with her for this heist. 

Things will have to get dangerous before they are sorted. 

The story comes in the third-person POVs of Lyta, Kit, and Sylvain Chant. 

My Thoughts: 

Yep, it’s me, once again falling for a pretty cover and an intriguing premise. This is supposed to be adult fantasy romance even if the main characters act like teens. 

The book starts with a list of characters and their roles as well as the list of gods and their domains. Given how the characters are introduced in the first 20%, I’m glad to have this list in advance. 

The three POVs (thanks for the third-person narration) give us the story and backstories from different perspectives. This helps since I didn’t (almost) always like the FMC and the other two balanced it out well. 

Kit was a pretty decent character. Ben and Beatriz are intriguing (I wanted more of her). The king and queen are mysterious and mercurial. Sylvain was okay too. In fact, I empathized more with him as the plot progressed though I cannot figure out why he loves Lyta. Love is brainless, at least in this case! 

Now, what do I say about Lyta? In theory, she is a great character. However, in execution, she is 200% cocky and has 10% substance. I don’t understand why we are hyping the fantasy FMCs only to make them act as if all their brain cells have turned charcoal. She is supposed to be a great thief. Guess what? It’s the opposite. None of her plans and attempts go without a hitch. Worse still, she put herself and others in danger. Also, she is too reckless and impulsive to be a pro-thief. Can anyone tell me why it is such a bad thing to do as someone else says when it is a better plan? Quite a few times, I was reminded of Until We Shatter (and not in a good way). 

This is a plot-driven book, which means the characters don’t stay true to their arcs. That affected Lyta the worst. Even her love for her brother, Kit, doesn’t always show her in good light. 

However, the plot isn’t executed well either. It is all over the place. In fact, I assumed this was a debut author’s work only to realize the author has written more books in the same genre. Moreover, I read two of her books under the pen name Jessica Throne. I’m surprised! While those books weren’t perfect, they were much better written. Three possible reasons for this:  

• The author experimented with something here

• The other publisher had a much better editor 

• This is a very early draft 

It wasn’t until after 60% that the story started to be gripping. There were many gaps even then, but I could feel the tensions and danger rising. By the way, calling it a ‘heist for the ages’ is silly. It is not; nowhere close. 

The world-building is patchy too, though I don’t know if it’ll be better in the coming books. While I like the premise of old gods being targeted by the Church, I also feel authors are using this as a go-to trope but not doing justice to it. I cannot feel the indigenous flavor or the emotion, which rather defeats the purpose. After reading the author’s note at the end, I felt she should have stuck to the original bit instead of bringing in old gods. 

It seems fantasy authors like to ‘use’ old gods but have no real respect or understanding of them. Most of them look at it from the same western Abrahamic framework which does not help the cause. 

There’s an ending but it is a semi-cliffhanger. Plot-wise I’m tempted to know more, but unfortunately, I do not like Lyta. I mostly won’t continue with the series. 

To summarize, The Book of Gold has an intriguing premise but ends up underwhelming due to various reasons. It will work better for readers who like YA fantasy (even if this is an adult book). 

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton (Hodderscape), for eARC. 

#NetGalley #TheBookofGold