Read Time: 2 Minutes
I’m not sure what compelled me to pick up Lost Gods, written by Brom, but I am rather glad that I did. I soon realised that I hadn’t even read the blurb that closely, as I thought “A young man descends into purgatory to save his wife and unborn child” meant (main character) Chet’s wife and unborn child had died and were sent to purgatory… but no. Chet winds up there on a mission where he must succeed, or his wife and child will surely end up dead.
Brom’s vision of purgatory is thoroughly imaginative. Everything that ever was, gods and people alike, all end up there. Some ancient gods cling on with what faithful worshippers they have. But of course, there are those who want to screw everything up for everyone. They’re not keen on being ruled by gods, so they have a mission to kill them all.
Chet finds himself immediately at odds with these people. So just in case his life after death wasn’t difficult enough, he has people trying to kill him in purgatory too. Meanwhile, back on the surface, a voodoo-type witch queen has designs on his unborn daughter.
Slightly longer than an average book at almost 15 hours, yet the story flowed well, and I didn’t feel like I was getting bogged down at any point. Plenty is going on for the dearly departed, and all of described in such fantastic detail that it’s easy to see the author’s imagination of purgatory.
This was my first outing with narrator RC Bray, which given how prolific a narrator he is, seems like somehow I’ve been missing out. A great performance that I found easy to listen to with decent pacing.
So yes, whatever gods or spirits prompted me to pick this one up and give it a go, I must thank you. PS – check out that cover art!