Of The Prey Of The Gods: Review

When I finished reading The Wormood Trilogy by Tade Thompson and raved about it on Twitter, it was suggested that I also check out Prey Of The Gods by Nicky Drayden.

Getting to the end of a remarkable book series and saying goodbye to old friends.. To the characters and places you meet along the way:
Femi Alaagomeji, Kaaro, Aminat, Oyin Da, Lora Asiko, Dahun, Jack Jacques, Footholder, Wormwood,
I miss the world of Rosewater by @tadethompson pic.twitter.com/wx9AZKVX3m

— ~B 🇿🇼 (@Beatonm5) May 9, 2020

The Prey Of The Gods

Prey Of The Gods is a debut novel by Nicky Drayden published June 2017 and winner of the 2018 Compton Crook Award.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was not that it was an award winning book, but that it was set in a futuristic South Africa, an urban fantasy with robots, mind altering drugs, superhuman abilities and demigods….

Prey Of  The Gods is set in 2064, Port Elizabeth, South Africa and reads like a stroll around the neighbourhood where you suddenly find yourself in the future, some things are familiar, some not so much, a trip on a hallucinogenic drugs and suddenly you are in a world where humanity itself might be changed forever….

The story unfolds through the viewpoints of 5 main characters which consists of: A boy about to be a man; A politician with a secret; A pop diva with a secret; A girl with the power to save the world or destroy it and An ancient being who would prey on the whole world.

Its impossible to summarise this book which blurs the boundaries between genres; sci-fi, fantasy and magic exploring a wide scope of themes that range from coming of age and identity and of course rise of the machines as an AI robot gains an awareness of self at This Instance, amongst everything else that is going on.

Like with all stories with multiple viewpoints, switching from one story arc to the other may be a bit jarring but once you have the full picture its easy to race through this thrilling read.

You can check out a sample chapter on the author’s site: Read The Prey Of The Gods Chapter 1 Excerpt

~B