Book of Souls (Gods of Egypt, #1) Review

**Thank you to the author and NetGalley for sending me an eARC in return for an honest review. 1 star!!! Where do I even begin with this book? For starters, I would say the blurb was way more interesting than the actual novel. Everything was just bad. I can't even find one redeeming quality about it. When I started reading, I was pretty excited to get into the story. I love YA fantasy novels and especially mythology inspired ones. Plus, the fact that it was about Egypt had me even more psyched. However, what I got was a book that was just dull and boring with absolutely irritating characters. Firstly, this novel has no worldbuilding or plot. All we know is that it takes place in a town somewhere in America. There were no fantastical descriptions of otherworldly realms or dreams. The mythological background was a mess and utterly confusing. All we get is a story about a girl who is an outcast in her town, with a bunch of friends and she apparently is considered the "Angel of Death" as accidents happen around her. Plus, she has hallucinations which make her appear crazier. The story revolves more around high school incidents. Not once do we actually get to what the story is about which is "The Book of Souls". I would have preferred if the fantasy aspect was more integrated into the novel because that was a major plotline. Secondly, the MC Nisha is so infuriating. When she is not moping around with "her woe is me" act. She is constantly describing how hot Blaze is and how he would never fall for her. Moreover, she is constantly saying how loved up her cousin Izzy is. To top this all off, the number of pop culture references just did my head in. Also, the minor characters weren't fleshed out well enough either, there are no backstories or other interactions. There's no raw emotion, motives, conflict, drama - nothing. Everyone was so one dimensional and Nisha especially behaves like a zombie. She makes the silliest decisions ever and when she does get her act together in the later chapters, her character still falls flat. Thirdly, the romance was just awful. It was all insta-love and so cliched. The bad boy image given to Blaze wasn't at all endearing. Plus, their relationship lacks conflict and tension. Everything is just accepted so easily. Even though Nisha does try to put some distance between them initially, she caves just too easily. I guess I am a fan of more realistic relationships and this one was even worse than Twilightwhich was also alluded to a lot in this book. Fourth but not the least, the writing style was just too amateurish for me. I didn't feel as though the author was making enough of an effort to actually weave a story. It was clunky and lacking detail. There was no context and research done in Ancient Egypt to make for an authentic story. The characters need a lot more work and there was no development. In addition, the dialogues felt forced and the scenarios were very unrealistic. There were no plot devices or if there were, they were placed haphazardly. I think the story was just drawn out. I would have also liked to have seen more plot reveals. That might have made the book more interesting. I don't think I will be reading the sequel. I am neither invested in the characters nor the storyline. I would suggest giving this book a miss. If you are into YA mythological fantasies, there are way better options out there.

#youngadult #urbanfantasy #romance #mythology #NadineNightingale