The Younger Gods

A solid 3.5 star book. It's one of the few New York-based paranormal stories I've seen with a cast that actually reflects the ethnic makeup of the city, a bonus for which I can forgive some weakness in the denouement. I would have liked more in-depth world building and solid characterization, but this was some frothy fun.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this from netgally.com in exchange for a review.

The Younger Gods is a great book. It blends the urban fantasy genre with HP Lovecraftian vibes. This book tells the tale of Jacob Greene, ex-cultist, as he tries to save the world from the evils of his family. Jacob led a sheltered life, learning magic and prophesies of how his family would release The Younger Gods from their slumber. He escapes their grasp and flees to NYC in hopes he could start a new, normal life. However, his older sister follows and soon Jacob finds himself defending the city against the dark magics of his family.

A quick read, The Younger Gods sticks true to the urban fantasy genre. New York City plays an important part in this story, not just as a setting but as a character. Underwood really understands the importance of place in a story and the characters move in and around the city like dancers in an intricate play. Jacob's archaic voice lends to his ackwardness in a fun and playful way. The baddies in this book, bear names similar to those in HP Lovecraftian stories.

If you love Lovecraft tales and cities who have power all of their own, then you'll love The Younger Gods.

An expanded version appears on my blog, The Irresponsible Reader.
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One of Michael R. Underwood's most impressive traits is his versatility. We've got the fun Urban Fantasy adventures of Ree Reyes, the strange superheroes of Audec-Hal, and now, this darker UF about a cult's white sheep trying to stop the apocalypse.

Jacob Greene – of those Greenes (apparently) – has come to New York to attend university – and get away from his family and their demon-worshiping apocalyptic cultish practices that will usher in The End of the World as We Know It. He's had enough of all of it, and is trying to get beyond their teachings, their practices, their . . . murderous ways. It's more difficult than he expects, especially when his sister comes to town in order to usher in Doomsday.

Jacob finds himself surrounded with a motley crew of allies – mostly in the mold of the-enemy-of-my-enemy – trying to keep his sister from accomplishing her Ultimate To-Do list. Let me tell you, this particular UF version of NYC is full of quite the assortment of magical cultures/subcultures. The rules governing them, the way they interact with each other are one of the strengths of this novel – a nice little bit of world-building that was revealed, not dumped on the reader.

Jacob, understandably, spends a good deal of the book sorting out his identity in light of his family – as well as his feelings for/about them. There are no easy answers waiting for him. It's here, not his running away from his family, not his attempts to stop his sister, that Jacob finds that bit of humanity that he's been missing.

Jacob's ending gambit had me groaning, “Underwood's not going to do that, is he?” Turns out 1. He did; and 2. It totally worked. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting a cheesy car wreck, but he nailed it.

My biggest gripe was Jacob's language. He starts off with the most formal, stilted dialogue this side of an Austen novel; slang was a foreign language he was trying to adopt. By the end of the novel, however, a lot of that was gone. Now, it's possible, I just got used to his language – but I don't think so. Mostly, it was his use of slang that improved dramatically. Now, if it had happened slower – over a book or two, I wouldn't have noticed – or, more likely, I'd have given Underwood props for it. But . . .this book covers events of a few days, far too quickly for Jacob to pull that off. Still, as far as gripes go . . . that's pretty small.

It's not Underwood's best – but it's a good start, and I can eventually see me saying something different about the series as a whole. Great magic system, a situation I've never encountered in any of the UF I've read, a solid group of characters to build from – I can honestly say that I have almost no idea what's up next for Jacob Greene et al. But I'm looking forward to finding out.