I am a little jealous of people who will get to read Hannah Kaner‘s Fallen Gods Trilogy consecutively. The three volumes are Godkiller (2023), Sunbringer (2024), and Faithbreaker (2025).
Bottom line here, they’re very good.
The trilogy is expansive, centering on a handful of characters involved in, what else, saving the world, in this case from a power-hungry empire that has harnessed the power of a marauding god of fire. Within Kaner’s world, deities prosper from worship, always one of my favorite mechanics, but this has, in the relatively recent history of the world, gotten out of control, leading to the rise of a class of itinerant warriors known as “godkillers.” They’ve earned that sobriquet due to their successful involvement in a prior war aimed at reducing the power of a wide range of deities (most of this success comes from their mastering weapons coated in a particular alloy that is damaging to the gods). Additionally, the central kingdom–the one being invaded–has essentially outlawed/abandoned pretty much all official forms of worship, making the invading force all the more intimidating.
There’s a lot of detail in those sentences, reflecting the nuance of how Kaner creates and explores the world. She also does a good job of making the immediate concerns of her character small enough–they are, in their day-to-day, less focused on saving the world than on surviving their current circumstances or figuring out if so-and-so really likes them.
Our godkiller protagonist is a foul-mouthed, sassy, tough as nails woman who relies on custom prosthetics designed by her wheelchair-bound, mastersmith sister to function in place of her missing leg. Our two other protagonists are a love-tormented, gay, warrior-baker and a young girl who is … well … something unusual within the world. And her pet minor god, to whom she is tethered.
So, wide and deep representation, and a ton of creativity in finding ways to embed our lead characters in a wider context.
There’s a lot going on, which is part of what maintains interest and momentum through the three books. In general, though, it’s a romp, full of fast-moving adventure, characters you care about, and an underlying message around found family (and even occasional biological family) that is connective and even uplifting.