Leah’s ARC Review of “Gods of the Wyrdwood” by R.J. Barker

By: Leah

Originally posted on Leah’s Books.

Gods of the Wyrdwood

• Author: R.J. Barker
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: June 27, 2023
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: Forsaken #1

Thank you to Orbit Books and Angela Man for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: violence, blood, prejudice, death, grief, torture, gore, domestic violence

Plot Summary

Ours is a land of many gods, and we are a people with the ability to pick the worst of them.

Cahan Du-Nahere is known as the forester—a man who can navigate the dangerous Woodedge like no one else. But once he was more. Once he belonged to the god of fire.

Udinny serves the goddess of the lost, a keeper of the small and helpless. When Udinny needs to venture into Woodedge to find a lost child, she asks Cahan to be her guide.

But in a land where territory is yom and lost for uncaring gods, where the woods are teeming with monsters—Cahan will need to choose the forest or the fire … and his choice will have consequences for his entire world.

Overall Impression

Despite being nearly 2 months late to reading this one, I’ve managed to hear from all my mutuals about how great this book was, while successfully avoiding any spoilers. So I went into this knowing that it was going to be a good read, and having complete faith in that. And while I have another Barker book on my TBR, this is the first time that I’ve read a book by this author.

A lot of times I complain about authors who info-dump, especially early on in the book, or provide a lot of description about the world in which the story is set. This isn’t the kind of book where you’ll hear that from me: Barker just kind of drops us into the world and allows us to meander around blindly until we kind of gather up enough information to figure things out. I’ll admit that I had to read through the beginning part multiple times before I really felt like I understood what was happening, but I’m also an easily distracted reader (and person in general).

That being said, Barker also moves rather slowly on the plot in the beginning, which allows the reader to adjust to the world and the characters. I liked that I got to know the characters and become invested in their stories so that when major things started happening, I was so caught up. And things start moving much quicker around the 25-30% point.

The main character, Cahan Du-Nahere, was taken from his parents and raised to be the Cowl-Rai, savior of his people, by ruling in his god’s name and taking the warmth back from the South. But when another Cowl-Rai rises in service to another god, all of Cahan’s years of brutal physical and mental training have amounted to nothing. Twenty years later, he lives anonymously, known only as the forester, working a farm on the edges of the forest. Most of the people are afraid of the forest and don’t venture into it (we find out exactly why later on), but Cahan is able to travel through the forest safely.

Cahan is an unwilling hero—getting him to agree to these tasks is like pulling teeth, and then on top of all of that, every time he does something nice, he gets nothing but trouble for it. He lives a solitary existence, although he does keep company with a sort-of pet. Suddenly, he’s thrust into contact with more people, and while not all of the interactions were positive, I did love the grumpy/sunshine dynamic between Cahan and Udinny, who are forced into proximity on their journey to find a missing child. The fact that Cahan had a soft spot for children and animals made me even more prone to liking him.

This book will take you on a wild and trippy journey through sentient forests full of magical and dangerous beings, where trouble lurks around every corner, and it’s impossible to predict what will happen next. It’s about the transformative power of friendship, and the healing power of having someone who believes in you. Most importantly, it’s a fantastic and wondrous story that I loved and can’t wait to get the next installment in the series!