Against All Gods: The Age of Bronze: Book 1

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I just liked reading about them being flawed, vain and rude schemers with weaknesses to exploit, as opposed to them being omnipotent beings of ageless wisdom. Zos’ combination of charisma, world-weary skepticism, and bravado, made for a really dynamic character as well. However, for some reason, I came into this story expecting Mesopotamian mythology (yes I know that's not Bronze Age and I'm stupid) and then saw some reviews mention Greek mythology. The combination of ambitious, politicking gods with their plans within plans, and mortals learning to imagine a world without gods, makes for an engaging plot that, once it gets up to speed, delivers action and excitement aplenty along with some great questions around the mortals/gods dynamic. Yet the missing a in Sanskrit is a privative prefix and so himsha literally sounds like the word for violence.

Actually, despite Gamash’s role in the beginning, the book has an assorted cast; there is no particular hero. The author has any number of classical and near eastern sources to draw from: Gilgamesh against the bull of heaven; Diomedes vs Ares in Iliad 5 (which I suspect Cameron of drawing upon directly); Hercules vs Ares in the Aspis etc etc and it is interesting to see what he does with this literary heritage.

Sadly, for Enkul-Anu, quite a bit, as it turns out that old wizard, Gammash, has a new ally -- one of the older race of gods (aka: Titans), overthrown by Enkul-Anu and his brood, who is only more than happy to reveal that the rulers of 'heaven' are more mortal than they let on, and terribly, terribly afraid of iron, for a very good reason.Victims of vicious whims, trapped by their circumstances or pushed beyond what the mortal frame can bear, a handful of god-touched mortals - a scribe, a warlord, a dancer and a child - are about to be brought together in a conspiracy of their own. Pollon, a scribe and Atosa, a Chief jeweller whose honourable nature led to their imprisonment and punishment. But some parts of world-building were so epic and interesting: like, Zos was a slave trained to be a bull-leaper- it's a type of gladiators who are supposed to jump at a charging bull and there is a whole legend about this and references to their fearlessness. As expected with a writing master such as Cameron, these themes are handled with aplomb, dark humour, and a glimmer of real hope.