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Rate: 4/5

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Medium: Audiobook

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Overview (No Spoilers): 

All Cathan desires is an isolated life on his farm to hide from his traumatic and painful past. Despite Cathan’s best attempts, he keeps finding himself pulled further and further from his quiet existence and into a fight he wants nothing to do with. As he repeatedly is put in positions to do the greater good or what is best for his own survival, we find Cathan deciding the person he truly is, one tough decision at a time. 

From the very first page, Barker dives head first into this complex world of gods, clans, and Cowl-Rais. There are so many moving pieces, along with a significant jump in time that leaves the reader constantly trying to piece together what happened and along with navigating a drastic change in power. If I’m completely honest, I don’t fully understand the dynamics with the many gods and the shift in leadership to the Tarl-an-Gig. Another factor I didn’t fully grasp is what makes the trion standout to where people realize they’re distinguished at a glance. I’m sure a reread would bring more of these details into focus as I was continually working on this puzzle right up until the last page. 

Typically I love when an author layers details, upon details into a story, but Barker fills The Gods of the Wyrdwood with so many minute, day to day descriptions, especially early on in this novel that I often found myself getting pulled out of this story with the dense worldbuilding. Barker eventually finds his rhythm, with this world and characters taking on a life of their own. Cathan remains a mystery throughout large swaths of this novel, jealously guarding his backstory until the very end. His prickly demeanor makes him rather unlikable, though you see his true character shining through, often resulting in him finding himself in impossibly tight situations when trying to do the right thing. Character depth in The Gods of the Wyrdwood is not as developed as the world and magical system, though Undinny and Venn are bright spots in the dark and dangerous setting. The second key point of view follows the High Lyric, Kirven, who is deep within the ranks of the Tarl-an-Gig political system. Kirven is a ruthless woman, who despite the odds stacked against her, has risen through the ranks, endlessly fighting to maintain her coveted position. As with Cathan, she is thoroughly dislikable, but Barker highlights her underdog struggle for maintaining power in a way to elicit sympathy. 

Overall, The Gods of the Wyrdwood is a story bogged down in details, before gathering a rhythm that will draw the reader into the plight of Cathan and the people of Harn against impossible odds. 

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Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound): 

• The worldbuilding was so fascinating. From the float weeds to the gasmaws, I loved how Baker brought this world to life. Also who doesn’t love a companion creature!
• What happened to Cahan’s parents? 
• The twist at the end revealing the Tarl-an-Gig Cawl-Rai is actually Cathan’s sister and the second command of this religion is the Zorir priestess Saradis of who found Cahan was a huge surprise!
• Will Furin and Cahan start a relationship?
• Is Udinny actually dead?
• Is the goddess Ranya actually real?
• With the little remote village going up against impossible odds I couldn’t help but draw correlations to Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle novel.
• How will Harn be different now that a forest surrounds it. 
• When will Cahan make the correlation between the forest slime and his blocked cowl? It will be such a good weapon against the Rai.
• Will we see more of the forestals or the boughry?

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