I absolutely should have picked this book up sooner. A brief overview: Goblind is a grimdark (very grim and dark) fantasy, with a multiple point-of-view narrative. It's a warring nations kind of fantasy, with gods pulling the strings from behind the scenes; lots of back stabbing, betrayals, prophecies, priestesses.  Yawn. Again? Oh yes but this time it's done so well.  It's a plot-driven kind of book, fast paced and plenty of action, twists and turns that I didn't see coming, moments that I actually gasped aloud at. Trigger warning, within the first character's narrative there is an attempted rape; there is gory fighting, and extremely violent scenes. So as far as grimdark goes, Stephens sells it hard. She really hammers it home. The next time someone pipes up with the misguided opinion that "women can't write grimdark", I'll relish reading them a particular excerpt as a bedtime story. And I can hear your eyes rolling; yet another gratuitous rape scene in a grimdark.  But I would not accuse Stephens of being gratuitous; rather, it serves as a brutal introduction to what will become a major theme throughout the book, that of gender inequality. It's not a point she drives home, I never felt that Stephens was trying to teach me any lessons per say; but it's certainly something she attacks with sensitivity and aplomb that really struck me. Particularly one character's story arc, her coming to terms with her experiences and her difficulty in learning to trust again. Absolutely fantastic character portrayal and growth, utterly believable and compelling. "free women can accept drinks from free men without it requiring payment of any sort" There are a lot of characters; if you're not a fan of multiple POV then you may dislike just how many characters we experience the narrative through. Stephens flickers through these characters, never resting on one for too long; and yet she packs so much into these brief glimpses. It gives you a sense that you're godlike, that you have an omnipresence over this world in which you flit in and out of perspectives, regardless of rhyme or reason or sides. You don't quite get a chance to know the characters well enough; it's harder to trust them and get a sense of who they are, making it harder to second guess them. Their actions are then all the more surprising because you don't see it coming. It's an absolutely fantastic use of multiple POV; I'm biased, I'm rather a fan of it on a good day, but to see it done so well with such affect is wonderful. Now on top of these intricate character relationships and interactions, there's the actual plot. Sometimes in fantasy you get either or; either great characters but not much happens, or loads happens but the characters lack depth. Stephens somehow manages to skip blithely over this pitfall with complicated characters and a driving, intricate plot balanced perfectly in her clearly capable hands. It's astounding that this is a debut. The numerous battle scenes are well planned, exciting, quickly paced and flowing and yet you get the sense that you're there with the characters. It's visceral and real and you're equally knackered by the end.  I didn't want to put this book down. There were moments where I had to put it down because, wait, did that just actually happen? And oh god I'm so scared of what I suspect will happen next... So you pick it back up again and your heart wrenches all over again.  Stephens manipulates your expectations; she tells her story expertly and guides you through so many emotions. Whilst at the same time delivering one of the most brutal, gritty books I've ever read and after three days I am still not ok.  I really hope they're ok.  Darksoul can't come soon enough.

I'll admit it took me a while to get into this one, I am not great with names and thus sometimes struggle with amount of characters. Nonetheless, I got there and so glad I stuck with it as I ended up loving this book! It is so so dark, so gruesome and gory, full of blood and death of Gods. Perhaps you have to be in the right mood for it, but I was and I gorged on this hungry to see the fates of the Gods enemies! Each chapter is led by a distinct character, which has to be done well to be successful and it was. It didn't feel bloated or over descriptive like fantasy books can, it kept a good adventurous pace. I am very much looking forward to the second instalment of the trilogy. It also has a map, love a fantasy map.

The Red Gods are returning and their armies are closing in on the city of Rilpor, King Rastoth is stricken with grief by the loss of his wife and has left the kingdom vulnerable. It's down to a vessel of the gods, a former slave of the Red Gods and a rebellious soldier to try and stop them. So I absolutely loved this book, to start with, the amount of characters that were introduced (all having their own chapter POVs) initially meant it took me a while to get into, but after a certain scene (people who have read it know the one.), I was hooked. I felt so connected to the main characters, (especially Dom, Rillirin and Crys) that by the end I just had to move onto the sequel to know what had happened! Anna Stephens also writes some of the best battle sequences I have ever read, she somehow manages to make the descriptions so vivid that I was able to picture each full scale conflict as if it were a movie or tv series playing in my head, there were multiple times where I had chills just from how amazing they were!This book, and its sequels, are incredibly violent, there were multiple times where I audibly gasped by some of the horrific acts committed by some of the characters, so if you are squeamish, you have been warned.I really loved this book and its sequels, if you like Grimdark Fantasy that stands out from the rest of the genre, definitely give this one a read!

For some reason the 'Grimdark' label this seems to have acquired escaped my notice and I wasn't quite expecting that particularly horrific scene that will now haunt me for some time... I really appreciated the cast of very different characters (including a good ratio of male/female characters experiencing an equal share of the violence). I'm undecided as to whether the short chapters jumping between different viewpoint characters helped or hindered. It kept the pace quick and exciting and meant I was never tempted to skip chapters but it resulted in less character depth - I felt they were all well drawn secondary characters but not main characters. So when nasty things happened I didn't always care quite as much as I felt I should have, and the two main relationships that developed (whilst welcome for a bit of light relief!) seemed too rushed and almost out of place. The tension throughout, especially towards the end, is unrelenting, and I'll definitely be wanting to read the next book after that rather bleak open ending...