The book starts out strong -- interesting world with interesting characters, well told. But then the middle grinds to a halt as the author really focuses one aspect of the world and main character. The end picks up, but almost too late, and then is rushed and ends very abruptly, with many of the main characters not even getting a 'final scene' of any kind.

I really wish Cynthia had shortened the middle angsty stuff to make more room to flesh out the ending and let it breathe.

I also thought it might be a bad idea that this was a first person story that never leaves the one character's POV. I can understand near the beginning as we are introduced to the world in a certain way. But, with such an interesting world that Cynthia created we are then limited our view of it. Not to mention the main character often comes off as unlikable, and since it is first person you are stuck with her view and can only infer others feelings of her and the world situation.

I still enjoyed it even though I was rolling my eyes and some of the quick-developing plot points near the end.

I feel like this was a 4-5 star book that fell flat in its delivery. ( )

I read this book on a whim because there was a meme being circulated using the original paperback cover of this book out there. I saw the picture, thought it must be an old sci-fi cover, and spent a few minutes in google images looking for it. I would not be me if I wasn't at least a little curious about a cover like that. This went into my tbr as soon as I found it.
Onward, to the review. I give this book a 4 star rating for my interest in the world built, though the plot without that world might have only gotten a 3. I have a few problems. One of them is that the author left a huge gap of time in the middle unwritten. I like the characters enough that I would have preferred a short chapter that covers that time period in the same sort of way movies pass time in montages. I don't like hard time skips. I also don't like that the author gave me this great world with an alien culture, but often did not take the time to explain things to me. Explaining simple world concepts to readers might be an unrealistic way to write, and very over-done, but there's a reason for it. I know that there is a glossary in the back to explain the new words, but I didn't find out about it until I had read the whole book, and by then it was too late. If you prefer to do a glossary like that then place it in the front of the book, please. I also wanted more than the ending I was given. That wasn't really the end, it was only a pause when one of the plots was resolved but others were still waiting for their turn. For all that criticism, I still really enjoyed the book. I know that those things would not have bothered me if I had not enjoyed the book. Not to mention, when I was reading the conclusion my husband got a bit annoyed with me for ignoring him. If you are looking for tropes in this book I'm sure that you could point some out to be annoyed by, but I felt like the book trod some new ground. What would it be like if there were aliens like this and they discovered people wandering their wildlands? What if we were just different enough from them that they didn't consider us people, but animals? If aliens that resembled cats existed, would they be offended about us saying they looked like cats when they saw what a cat is? What would it be like if you lived somewhere where the sun was always under cloud cover and you had never seen it? I tried to explain the interesting concepts in this book in more detail to my husband and failed miserably, so I won't open up any spoilers attempting it here. Overall, for a book that I decided to read because the cover art was being used as a meme, it was really good. It was one of those stories that you know had potential to be great, but hadn't quite made it. The e-book has a new cover that is just as tacky, but not nearly as magnificent as the old paperback cover. I really wish amazon had not tried to give it a new cover. Overall, I recommend this to anyone who isn't freaked out by furries. ( )

Reviewed on SF Mistressworks: https://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/godsfire-cynthia-felice/ ( )