This book is batshit insane, with so many things thrown together that made me clap my hands in delight. It’s the type of story that I can’t quite begin to talk about, because where the fuck do you begin? This is a good option for people who enjoy serious stories with humor mixed in, lots of unusual choices, and a book that feels deeply embedded in the genre fiction traditions whilst also reading like no book I’ve ever picked up.
I liked the first half a lot more than the back half, but the first half had a mountain of things that I loved. I want to read more Drayden, just because this was such a funky book, and I could see a version of this book that would’ve threatened some of my longstanding favorites for their place in my Top 10 list.
The Premise:
In a near-future South Africa, a new drug called Godsent is unlocking the limits of human potential. Several characters
(some not even teenagers and others hundreds of years old) chase their own dreams and agendas. This is a horrible description of the book, but I’m struggling to write a better one.
Read if You Like: vividly imagined characters, tonal mishsmash done well, creative settings, love not taking over the plot
Avoid if You Dislike: plot holes and dropped storylines, inconsistent prose, villain POVs, occasional crude humor
What Worked For Me:
I love it when authors make me feel less creative than a pile of sticks. I mean this as the highest compliment. The Prey of Gods mashes together a bunch of elements that I would have never thought to pair together. Drugs that make you think you’re a porpoise and give you magic powers, AI rebellions going through schisms, demigods are real, trips to the afterlife where you realize you are destined to become a tree. With relatively short chapters, this story could have become disjointed very quickly. Instead Drayden brings all these elements together into a collage that is greater than the sum of its parts, and the parts were already high-quality to begin with.
On the emotional front, Drayden showcases a remarkable range in her ability to evoke reactions from me. Take our opening chapter: we start with Muzi freaking out about getting circumcised as part of an adulthood ritual to appease his traditional grandfather. He runs away to his best friend, they take drugs causing them to see their bodies as a crab and porpoise respectively, and they have sex. Drayden captures the humor and absurdity of these moments spectacularly. When we return to Muzi a few chapters later (after seeing a nail tech plot the sacrificial murder of her client’s iguana/whippet hybrid), we are treated to a heartfelt conversation between him and his grandfather that had me tearing up, despite barely knowing either character that well. Drayden’s prose is sharp, her tone always matched to the needs of the scene, and her characterization clear and decisive.
Our core cast of POV characters are excellent. Muzi is the gay teenager fumbling through a crush on his best friend and the new powers he discovers. Sydney is a nail tech trying to gain back the power and worshipers she had centuries ago. Nomvula is a young girl brimming with power and on a path for terrible things to follow in her wake. Stoker is a politician who cross dresses as Felicity – and maybe discovers he is more at peace as a woman than a man – auditioning to open for the irritable pop superstar POV character who hides her Multiple Sclerosis behind a snarky affect. And then there’s Clever 4-1, Muzi’s robotic companion that is gaining sentience. Each has a distinct voice, interesting mannerisms, and play off each other in delightful and interesting ways. I spent the whole first half of the book cackling in delight.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
Unfortunately, I liked the setup in The Prey of Gods more than the payoff. Once Drayden began weaving the individual plotlines together, I started to lose interest. I think her sense of character is much stronger than her handling of conflict and tension. There were so many interesting dominoes set up that she couldn’t give them all adequate room to resolve in interesting and satisfying ways. Take Felicity, whose mother is pushing a political agenda on her and preventing her from realizing that she’s trans; lots of good mounting tension, but the shift to ‘I’m so proud of you’ is so sudden that I felt cheated out of a complex and interesting family drama that had been promised. Sydney shapes up to be the villain of the story, but she gets thwarted enough that her coming back again to try and ascend into her old power felt played out.
I can’t remember the last time I had such powerful feelings about the beginning vs ending of a book. It truly went from me staying up at night to read when I should’ve gone to bed, into forcing myself into reading 50 pages per day and not DNFing because I was so close to the end that I might as well push through. I was so hopeful this was going to be a late contender for book of the year, but it wasn’t quite meant to be.
Also the cover is misleading. It’s a great and evocative piece of art, but not really representative of the story. Not only are most of the robots dog-sized companions, but it also feels much more sinister than the story ended up being? Yes we see Sydney torture some people, turning their fear into power, but that’s not Sydney on the cover! Give me sequin dresses and eagle wings, walking peacocks with microphones and backup dancers, or a crab and porpoise trying to kiss. So much opportunity to do something that matches the more offbeat vibes of the book.
Conclusion: absolutely brilliant setup, but Drayden lost control of the story by its end.
- Characters: 4
- Setting: 5
- Craft: 5 (first half) 2 (second half)
- Themes: 3
- Enjoyment: Probably a 4, just on the strength of the first half?
