Godkiller
A girl discovers she possesses the rare, forbidden power to kill gods themselves. Choosing to use that power will reshape her world, topple empires, and cost everything she holds dear. She must decide whether the price is worth the freedom it promises.
Everything You Need to Know About Godkiller
Kissen is a godkiller, a veiga, someone who hunts and destroys gods for a living. In a world where gods are real, small, and feed on human devotion, Kissen's job is to free people from gods that have become parasitic or dangerous. She lost her family to a fire god as a child and has no patience for divine beings of any kind.
Then she meets Inara, a young noble girl who has a god literally stuck to her . Skediceth, a small white lie god bonded to Inara's shadow. Kissen cannot kill Skedi without killing Inara. Reluctantly, she agrees to escort them to a place where the bond can be safely broken. Along the way they pick up Elogast, a former knight with his own baggage and a connection to the king.
What starts as a road trip becomes something larger as they uncover a plot that threatens the fragile peace between humans and the remaining gods. The world is post-war, gods were recently culled en masse, and the survivors are scared, diminished, and angry.
The premise is fresh. A world where gods are small, petty, dependent on belief, and sometimes genuinely harmful, and someone whose job is to kill them. Kissen is a fantastic protagonist: angry, disabled (prosthetic leg), competent, and slowly softening without ever losing her edge.
Skedi the white lie god is delightful , genuinely funny, morally flexible, and more complex than he first appears. The found-family dynamic between the four travellers builds naturally. The world-building about how gods work (belief as currency, shrines as anchors) is one of the most interesting takes on divinity in recent fantasy.
Violence against both humans and gods. A protagonist dealing with childhood trauma (family killed by a god). Physical disability depicted honestly. Death. Themes of religious persecution and fanaticism. Brief gore.
The big reveal: the king is trying to become a god himself, absorbing the power of the gods that were destroyed in the war. The godkillings were not just about freeing people, they were about consolidating divine power. Elogast's past connection to the king gives this personal stakes.
Skedi is more powerful than anyone realises. His 'white lie' domain is actually connected to deeper truths about the nature of belief and reality. Kissen's arc brings her from 'all gods must die' to understanding that the relationship between humans and gods is more symbiotic than she wanted to admit. The ending sets up the sequel with the political reality fundamentally shifted.
If you liked The Jasmine Throne's political fantasy, Piranesi's weird divinity, or Sabriel's monster-hunting protagonist, Godkiller hits similar notes. It is also great for readers burned out on romantasy who want character-driven fantasy with romance as a subplot rather than the whole plot.
Not the best choice if you want a fast-paced action book. It is a slow build with a lot of walking and talking. The romance is a very slow burn and not the primary focus.
Godkiller is book 1 of The Fallen Gods trilogy by Hannah Kaner. Followed by Sunbringer and the concluding volume. The series should be read in order.
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