What Monstrous Gods

In this complex fantasy loosely inspired by Sleeping Beauty, Hodge delivers a thoughtful meditation on the relationship between faith and obedience, as well as religious and secular power. Five centuries ago, the sorcerer Ruven cast a spell of eternal sleep upon the royal family of Runakhia, surrounding the castle with an impenetrable briar and ending the age of gods and saints. In the present, 17-year-old Lia Kurinava—who was raised by the nuns of Nin-Anna, the goddess of springtime and healing—ventures into the briar, intent on killing Ruven and freeing the royal family. As unwelcome reward upon her triumph, Lia will marry into the royal family and help them reawaken the long-dormant shrines of the gods, returning the deities and their dark miracles to the present. Haunted by Ruven’s ghost, rejected by Nin-Anna, and claimed by the death goddess Mor-Iva, Lia must carefully balance mundane politics, divine caprice, and her own developing magical skills to take charge of her destiny. Lia’s evolution and exploration of her beliefs is the beating heart of this lush tale, and her nuanced relationship with Ruven and Hodge’s unsettling and visceral rendering of the gods as remote and inhuman add grit. Main characters read as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Assoc. (Mar.)