Gameboard Of The Gods (Age of X) by Richelle Mead

THE TRUTH IS, WHEN YOU BANISH THE GODS FROM THE WORLD, THEY EVENTUALLY COME BACK- WITH A VENGEANCE.

In the near future, Justin March lives in exile from the Republic of United North America. After failing his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims, Justin is surprised when he is sent back with a peculiar assignment-to solve a string of ritualistic murders stepped in seemingly unexplainable phenomena.

Justin's return comes with an even bigger shock: His new partner and bodyguard, Mae Koskinen, is a praetorian, one of the Republics technologically enhanced supersoldiers. Mae's inexplicable beauty and aristocratic upbringing attract Justin's curiosity and desire, but her true nature holds more danger than anyone realizes.

As their investigation unfolds, Justin and Mae find themselves in the crosshairs of mysterious enemies. powers greater than they can imagine have started to assemble in the shadows, preparing to reclaim a world that as renounced religion and where humans are merely game pieces on their board.

I'm going to start off first with saying that this is a pretty complex storyline, and a lot of world building takes place in the beginning so although it may seem relatively slow, IT IS CRUCIAL IT BE THERE. So please, give it a chance!

Now there are a lot of things I like about this book, and there a few things that I don't particularly like...

First things first I think Mae is a badass and I wish I was awesome like her. She is a crazy supersoldier who is enhanced with chemicals to be a better fighter so she has speed and agility and overall skill on her side and she can kick ass and take names like nobodies business. What's super great is that you get to see her in action almost immediately, and it's her practically killing another soldier! It works great because although she has this power, she is not at all partial to her skill, and even her abilities scare her because she knows that no one should be able to do the things that she can do. It keeps her vulnerable and likable, and allows for us as the reader to better get inside her head and the circumstances surrounding her entire being because hey, she ain't 100%.

I think Mae as a character is also great against Justin as a character. Justin....is hilarious. I think he is every woman's dream. You love to love him and you absolutely love to hate him! He's an arrogant prick who can be a complete jackass but with good reason, so as much as you want to slap him across the face, you can side with him in WHYYYYY he is doing the things that he does. Dammit, Justin!

But here is where a slight problem I have comes into play...the way Justin talks at times...and the way Mae can be so self-centered at times. As people, they both speak as regular normal freaking human beings speak. Which is GREAT. But at times Justin will just get these moments where he starts to speak as though in prose or poetry, where its so eloquent and beautiful and super sexy but then you're just like HEY. WAIT A SECOND....why is he talking like this? He is literally speaking it as if it's his natural language but against what he normally says it kind of put me off...but damn was it nice sounding.

And then with Mae...always the soldier always the composed person who shuts down her emotions and shows nothing on the outside....sure as hell can take things pretty personally. At moments if she would just pay attention to the details she would understand why things are happening the way they are, particularly to her, but then it just goes over her head and I can't believe how dense she can be...I MEAN COME ON.

But what I also liked about this book was how it ties in mythology and religion. It's pretty cool considering that Gods and Goddesses are REALLY there messing with the world and with the people on Earth. Justin and Mae being examples. Literally, any God or Goddess from any religion can come into play here in this world and in this storyline, and I think that the potential for this series doubles exponentially when it opens its doors like that. I'm so reaadddyyy.

Regardless though there is a LOT going on in this book....tons of small subplots and side stories going on that you just know are going to mean something later on, so it's a lot to take in..and it may distract you as a reader. I know it distracted me at the most crucial time....the climax. The author slipped in this little moment...this little exchange which completely changes everything about a certain character...that shouldn't really matter and really doesn't have anything to do with the big moment BUT IT'S THERE!! And it will mean something later...and I completely focused on that introduction of a separate plotline that I lost that intensity of the moment. That big caboozle of a climax...was lost on me. ;(

It just means there's going to be a crap ton of stuff happening in the next book and all throughout this series it's fantastical. So the world is really cool, the idea of Gods and Goddesses actually existing and messing around with people in real time makes for interesting exchanges and overall plot development, and the characters that have been established in this first book are great. It's filled with good stuff, and although I have read some bad reviews on this novel, I really do have to disagree with a lot of them because it's a really big setup for whats going to happen. If you give it a chance, you'll see the potential, even if you may feel gypped at the end.

So keeping all this in mind, I gave it a 4/5 because it's just a cool concept. Plus when it came to the actual gods/goddesses at play, I couldn't figure them out on my own, so I was nice and surprised!

Check out the video review I did for this book on my youtube channel =]