Wyrd Gods

Timelessness, Book 1

By: Susana Imaginário

Narrated by: Sarah Kempton

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Chronos, god of Time, and creator of the Universe, wants to destroy Eternity.

A mysterious immortal seeks vengeance.

And a reclusive Olympian deity does what no god should ever do: She answers a prayer.

As punishment, she is stripped of her powers and trapped in a mortal's body. Now a Wyrd - a fated god - she is haunted by the memories and thoughts of her host and must hide her true identity in order to survive in Niflheim, the rival Norse Underworld.

There she discovers the afterlife is not quite what it used to be. Niflheim's new ruler threatens the precarious balance of a world overrun with outcast deities and mortals alike.

To save her own sanity and find her way back to the stars, she must help the other Wyrd overcome their grievances to defeat this enemy, but those who would be her allies appear to have motives as hidden as her fragmented consciousness.

And yet it seems the greatest threat to her freedom comes from within, and the prize it seeks is her immortal soul....

©2019 Susana Imaginário (P)2020 Susana Imaginário

Wyrd God's

This book will keep you entertained. Good world build with strong lead characters. Sometimes it felt a bit too tangled and would feel a bit lost for a moment. All around good book.

Mythological creatures and beings - well done!

This is a story about a goddess who has isolated herself by withdrawing from the world, staying away from the other gods content to dwell among the stars. Then one day, she does the unthinkable and answers a prayer only to discover there is a reason why no gods ever answer the prayers of humans! Caught in the body of Illena she discovers that the world is full of danger and intrigue as both the Norse gods and Greek gods are fighting. There is mystery, romance, and more in this well-thought-out story woven with mythological beings and creatures.

The author, Susana Imaginario builds each character skillfully allowing them to evolve into rich and complete beings. The story is well-told and invokes the desire to read more on the mythological beings mentioned – such as Chronos, Odin, and more. She manages to keep the suspense and deliver solid twists to the plot.

The narrator, Sarah Kempton, gives a solid performance. Her range of voices is rich and gives each character a personality that fits their role and the plot. Her cadence was smooth.

This is an interesting story that offers an opportunity to question motives, human nature, and more. I look forward to hearing the story evolve throughout the series.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook, it was clear and well produced.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Fantastic Mythological Mashup

If, like me, you enjoy stories where mythology is reimagined a bit you'll love this book. The combination of Norse and Greek gods was very well done and I enjoyed the conversations between the gods of the different pantheons. The goddess trapped inside of Ilena is one of my favorites so I was particularly pleased to get a story with her as the lead! If you know your mythology there's a lot of nice nods to the original stories, but I didn't feel it was necessary to know much about any of the myths going in, the things you need to know are explained in the book, and the rest is just extra great backdrop if you know where it's coming from.
Top to bottom I thought the book was very well done. The reveal at the end, well fleshed out characters, pacing, dialogue, all fantastic.

The book resolves nicely with closing out it's story arc while still leaving a lot of interest open for future books. I'm very excited to get to the next books in the series!

Sarah Kempton did a great job with the narration, with a huge range of voices for all the characters. There were a couple voices that annoyed me a bit but that's real life too, and they all seemed appropriate to their character. But the main characters in particular all had really fantastic character voices that were a joy to listen to.

In summary, if you like mythology, or even just a well told story in a fantasy setting, you'll enjoy this book.

really good book

this was a really good book. it is very original story. looking forward to book 2.

Absolutely refreshing!

It was an absolutely refreshing take on the pantheons of Mythology. the writing was great the narration what's perfect for this novel! I definitely recommended book!

Immediately Engaging!

Wyrd Gods is immediately engaging and a wonderfully imaginative journey to the last minute. I really enjoyed this book, especially how it pulls on some of the great myths of the world from a variety of pantheons. Our main character is an unnamed deity who has awakened in the body of dryad named Ilena (or Elena? Spelling?). Her memories are blurry and a bit tangled with Ilena’s. Obviously, she needs to do something and with that her quest begins.

Pulling on the Norse and Greek pantheons in the beginning, Ilena has several run-ins with other deities and those that worship them. Behind the scenes, there are those that want to use her for their own means. Ilena hears of the local big baddie, the Suzerain, and we all know their paths must cross at some point. Full of mythological characters and creatures, you never know what new obstacle Ilena will face next.

I really liked her attitude too. I immediately knew I would be cheering her on for the entire book. Sometimes her no-nonsense attitude gets her in trouble. Ha! She has been a deity for many, many years and it’s very hard to get used to just how easily damaged this mortal body is. For instance, shoes aren’t just a fashion statement; they are necessary for traveling many miles on foot. Towards the end of the book after much is revealed, she lets more of her deity-self out with plenty of cussing. Yep, I knew I was going to love this character!

A little over halfway through the book, some of the Egyptian pantheon is pulled into the story too. I certainly enjoyed trying to guess who some of these characters were, including our main character herself (as her deity identity isn’t revealed until near the end). There’s also these interludes where some upper-level deities are plotting, planning, and congratulating themselves on being oh so clever. Those where fun too.

If you’ve enjoyed other novels that treat the pantheons as real, then I think you’d enjoy this novel too. The interactions between the gods is sometimes humorous and sometimes deadly. Hades and Hel made me laugh with their exchanges. The tale ends with a solid ending for book 1 but with the door open for a possible sequel. 5/5 stars.

The Narration: Sarah Kempton was the perfect narrator for this book. I loved her voice for Ilena, especially her no-nonsense voice when dealing with the bad guys (or idiots). Kempton had a variety of voices for both male and female voices, and at least 1 hermaphrodite deity. Her variety of accents were also well done too. Kempton sounded engaged in the story as well and therefore had the perfect pacing. She also pulled off a range of emotions for the various characters too. There were no technical issues for this recording. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of a Kickstarter project rewards. My opinions are honest & 100% my own.

Excellent audiobook for an excellent story

Wyrd Gods is the initial book in the Timelessness series, by the Portuguese author Susana Imaginário. As a lover of mythologies, and seeing a book this ambitious, trying to mix different ones in the same story, this book bumped into the top of my TBR. Add to the mix that I got the audiobook, which is fantastically narrated by Sarah Kempton, and that makes a perfect combination.

And before diving into reviewing the content, I want to give big props to the narrator of the audiobook. It's a format that I don't usually consume, but as the own author said it was the best version of the book, I decided to give it a try. Kempton did an excellent job, voicing differently each character, making clear the changes in the narrator, and helping to follow the different POVs. I greatly enjoyed listening to the audiobook, and I will probably give more opportunities to this format. By itself, just by quality, this audiobook should be 5 stars.

The story begins with Kronos, the god of time, trying to destroy eternity, combining the Norse underworld (Niflheim) with the Greek pantheon, something that may cause a war between deities; to add into the mix, we don't really know which kind of alliances are being made. A goddess did something a god shouldn't do: answered a prayer; as a punishment, she's trapped in a mortal's body, becoming a wyrd god, and losing her powers. Our goddess gets up into this new body, with all the chaos ongoing, in the Niflheim, having to survive while not unveiling her real identity. To add another layer of difficulty for her, she has to fight with her own host, having to collaborate with other wyrds to be able to find her way back to her own identity.

The narrative structure of the novel is quite interesting, mixing first-person POV chapters of the wyrd god, where our goddess learns about the memories of her host and is able to see the results of the gods' tyranny in the world; and third-person chapters, called interludes, where the spotlight is given to another characters/creatures, depicting them, and also used to give us more information about what is happening in different parts of the world and the intentions, thoughts, and motivations of the different actors in this drama. Our main character is really interesting, as she was a mortal once who became a deity by drinking ambrosia, and who gets punished just for having a sake of compassion for mortals; her story is a redemption one. I appreciate also the duality of how sometimes the host takes control of the body, establishing a fight of wills to be able to direct the actions.

Worldbuilding is especially interesting, mixing two different mythologies, and taking advantage of the Greek pantheon characters, throwing them into the richer Norse locations, creating one of my favourite universes. It is true that the number of different names and locations might become a little bit difficult to follow if you are not a mythology lover, but even with that detail in mind, I think it's an excellent craft by the author.

In summary, Wyrd Gods is a great mix between mythology and fantasy, using the best aspects of different pantheons, and throwing them to create an engaging story, with several noticeable characters. Personally, I would recommend also listening to the audiobook, as I felt this story gains in the spoken format. Said that Timelessness has become one of the series I want to read until the end because it has so much potential.

A fun mix of mythologies

Stories like this are my absolute favorite category-I love mythology, and I love hearing the many ways that authors interpret the tales of old and make them into something new-so I’ve heard quite a few retellings for the stories and characters involved. I was quite excited at the opportunity to receive this book in a complementary audio format, because had the author not been looking for readers I would not have learned of this wonderful novel.

In Wyrd Gods, Imaginário deftly wove the words in such a way so as to give the novel the vibe of a classic story. She was able to create an entire system for how her stories worked that fit with the skills and personalities of the characters involved, giving each person their own life while extrapolating out with her own details and concepts, and the narrator did a lovely job bringing them to life with a number of choices in voice style and accent for the different characters. It does end on a cliffhanger which sets the scene for the next book in the series. I look forward to reading the continuation of the Timelessness series.

Long, but wonderful story

I really enjoyed listening to this story. Thank you to Sarah Kempton for having such a dynamic range for all the character's voices, or I'm sure I would've been lost. It's a wonderful story, but there are quite a few characters, and I loved the depth and uniqueness in each of them. Various mythos are blended in this book, but done so skillfully that it didn't bother me (and was a pleasant surprise in that respect). At first, I wasn't sure I would be able to get into it. The opening was interesting, but seemed to promise a lot, and Imaginário more than delivered. I cannot wait for book 2!!!

An Unknown Goddess Has to Save the Universe

A mysterious Olympian god has found herself trapped in a dryad’s body. It seems that she answered a prayer and wound up there. She has no idea where or when she is, all she wants to do is go back to her place among the stars.

What she finds is that Niflheim and Haddes has been joined together and the world tree cut down. The new ruler is bent on making this a place of punishment. The god has to hide her identity for safety as she travels the world. She has to be there for a reason but it’s unknown to her.

At the same time the other gods in this world are being punished in their own way but are scheming like normal. It’s up to the unknown god to stop the new ruler and save the other Wyrd. But how can she do this when she has no memories that can help.

This was an interesting read. I liked the variety of gods, not just from one culture. I admit that I did get frustrated with the unknown goddess. I understand she doesn’t know where she is but she sure was selfish and just wanted to go back to hiding in the stars.

I loved Sarah Kempton’s narration. I was drawn into the story and enjoyed how each character had their own voice. It was a good story and had a perfect twist ending. I am curious to read the next book to see where we end up next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to listen to and post an honest review.