Joint Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

by: Richelle Mead
published by:  Dutton Adult
publish date:  June 4, 2013

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.  When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger.

When I started this book, I was under the impression that it was a YA book.  It wasn't until afterwards, when I was discussing it with Kari that I realized, that duh, it wasn't.  So that changed my impression of it.  I kept thinking that the sex scenes were a little graphic for YA and that the language was a smidge on the coarse side, not that YA is shy about language, but it was just a little odd.  But for an adult book it was a a bit more acceptable.  I thought the story overall was interesting story.  I think it would have been a little better if it got more in depth about the religions that Justin was supposed to be investigating and less about the political atmosphere.  The caste system difficult to understand.   The relevance of a lot of the political information given was lost on me.  However, I liked the characters and their interaction with each other.  If it doesn't take too long for the next book to come out, I'll probably give it a read.

For the most part, I liked the overall story.  I just felt like it was longer than it needed to be.  Yet, for the length of the book, I am still not sure I understand the world that the author created.  It was a mix of dystopian and supernatural with a changed world, genetics and gods.  Yeah, it was a bit confusing at times.  I did like the characters.  I especially liked Mae.  I thought she was seriously kick-ass.  As for the love scenes, I thought they were pretty underwhelming and could have been left out.  If you are going to include a scene like that, then make it at least a bit interesting.  The one thing I liked was the twists in the end and the solution to the mystery.  The ending left things wide open for the sequel.  I just hope there is no love triangle in the next book!