Book Review: Deathless Gods by P.C. Hodgell

Deathless Gods by P.C. Hodgell is the tenth book in The Chronicles of the Kencyrath. It features a great deal of politicking, difficulties with the mercenary contracts the Kencyrath need to keep their people fed over winter, and a slowly building sense of dread. Torisen attempts to navigate the increasingly murky waters of a society under siege and possibly losing. Kindrie gets kidnapped (isn’t this the third time? Fourth?) Jame, as usual, gets tangled up in a combination of Rathilien’s metaphysics and the local politics while being in command of troops in High Bashti.

This book was a difficult read in the sense that it takes several dark turns, which makes sense given the recurring presence of Gerridon of Knorth (our series baddy and frontman for the Final Boss) and a slow reveal of the absolutely epic generational trauma caused by literally thousands of years of a crumbling infrastructure and societal dysfunction. There are a few moments of Hodgell’s dark humor but then you get hit with another horror that is the absolute opposite of funny.

Things that particularly stood out for me:

• Kindrie’s struggles to figure out how to take action when most of his life has been spent in captivity/passively surviving abuse at the hands of those who had authority of one kind or another over him.
• Kindrie and Kirien’s entire Thing. You will know when you get there. It was so sad for both of them. And of course, it immediately leads to him getting kidnapped.
• Torisen becoming stronger as a High Lord, and maybe, possibly, perhaps starting to overcome his phobia about Shanir. (My man, you are allergic to yourself, you realize that, right?)
• Torisen screwing up and sending someone to work with Jame at Tagmeth, who could not work with Jame because he was a) an idiot b) the exact kind of person who gets on Jame’s last nerve BECAUSE HE’S AN IDIOT.
• Jame tumbling into High Bashti’s politics and metaphysics in her usual reckless fashion.
• High Bashti and its culture and the way the religion there is a reflection of similar ritual formats we’ve seen in other cultures in the Riverlands, while being its own distinct thing. It’s clear that the metaphysics is similar with variations, and Hodgell is always great at this kind of worldbuilding, where everything gets built on and backed up, or removed and corrected depending on what the characters learn.
• Randiroc. I love Randiroc. He doesn’t talk much/at all but he’s such a distinct character. I wish all good things for him and success in his endeavors.
• The absolutely batshit things going on with the Randir. Followed by the WTF as Gerridon seems to be attempting to get reinstated as High Lord. To make matters more horrifying, some of the highborn seem to be willing to accept him as High Lord despite the entire “he murdered and ate the souls of most of the Host and the arrin-ken kicked him out.”

Again, this book was a difficult read. This book deals with generational trauma, abuse, and various kinds of mental illness and how people react to it. This book was particularly heavy in my opinion, but worth it if you’re a fan of the series. (And I am a fan of the series.) The only real problem I had is that my electronic book copy had so many proofing errors. So. Many.