The Prey of Gods

Written by Nicky Drayden

Narrated by Prentice Onayemi

From a new voice in the tradition of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor comes The Prey of Gods, a fantastic, boundary-challenging tale, set in a South African locale both familiar and yet utterly new, which braids elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dark humor.

In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes—the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:

A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .

An emerging AI uprising . . .

And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.

It’s up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there’s a future left to worry about.

Fun and fantastic, Nicky Drayden takes her brilliance as a short story writer and weaves together an elaborate tale that will capture your heart . . . even as one particular demigoddess threatens to rip it out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Dec 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062850270

Nicky Drayden

Nicky Drayden is a Systems Analyst who dabbles in prose when she's not buried in code. She resides in Austin, Texas where being weird is highly encouraged, if not required. Her recent short story publications include Space and Time Magazine, Shimmer Magazine, and Daily Science Fiction. You can see more of her work at www.nickydrayden.com.

Reviews for The Prey of Gods

[jzacsh-533759 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Super fun read.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel, set in South Africa, blends together science fiction and fantasy into something that's just... nuts. There's demigods, superpowers, weird mythology, drugs, pop music, genetic engineering, and robots achieving sentience. There's also a lot of darkness, too: the main villain is disturbingly violent, and even the notionally good guys do some pretty horrible things.It's a pretty cool kind of nuts, though, overall, with lots of energy and imagination. I'll admit, I did lose the momentum of the story for a bit before it got to the (entertainingly over-the-top) climax, but I think that was my fault, really, not the novel's, as I've been annoyingly distractable lately. So I'm no going to hold that against it.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Demi-gods, robots gaining sentience and borders being transcended/transgressed. Enjoyable and page turning Afro-punk novel.

[sprainedbrain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had never even heard of this book until it arrived as a selection for my postal book club, and I will admit that when I first saw it, I was skeptical. There is so much going on here: future South Africa, personal robots, genetic engineering, ancient gods and awakening demigods... seriously, it's bonkers, but also unputdownable and so fun. 3 1/2 stars

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is BANANAS in about 1000 awesome ways and I was 100% in for the crazy the whole darn time. What a unique and interesting spin on the fantasy and sci-fi genres. I hope Nicky Drayden writes more books soon, because I need more of this kind of crazy in my life!

[kingrat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For 75% of the book, there's a lot of crazy stuff that is just awesome! But toward the end everything just got too crazy for me. All rules got thrown out and that made the final part uninteresting. This is why i don't like stories about gods. They always just god their way out.

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In near future South Africa, demigods, the robot revolution, and dik diks all come together in this highly original, wild ride of a book. It was very dark, especially at the start--trigger warning for discussion of rape and a matter of child abuse--but leans toward hope as the five central characters come together. I love the diversity involved, too--I couldn't help but adore Feilicity Lyon in particular. This book deserved all the buzz.

[shrike58 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though this book has its charms it's something of a hot mess in terms of bouncing around its numerous POV characters and oscillating back and forth between science fiction and urban fantasy in a South African milieu; it takes a little too long for the main plot line to crystallize out of the agglomeration of subsidiary character arcs for my tastes. While I give Drayden credit for freshness I do wonder if this book was written on a self-dare to write the book that would most wind up those of the Sad Puppy persuasion!

[pwaites_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Prey of Gods combines futuristic South Africa with hallucinogenic drugs, ancient demi-goddesses, and AI revolts. It’s an eclectic collection that makes for a truly unique science fiction story. The best comparison I can think of is Neil Gaiman crossed with Lauren Beukes.Sydney’s a demi-goddess who thrives off of fear. What’s a demi-goddess to do when there’s not a lot of fear around? Obviously, she’s got to make some. Mostly this has meant murdering individual people, but then she gets an idea for how to level up big time. Standing in her way are a young Zulu demi-goddess, a queer teenage boy trying to figure out what it means to be a man, a pop singer who uses the facade of a bitchy diva to cover up the pain of her MS, a robot just gaining self awareness, and a politician who moonlights as a drag queen.As you can probably tell from that line up, The Prey of Gods has a wonderfully diverse cast. These six different characters come from wildly different backgrounds and occupy different positions in society. I also didn’t know this going in, but two of the six POV characters are queer. Muzi’s fallen in love with his (male) best friend, Ellkin, and is generally dealing with a lot of coming of age type stuff. Felicity realizes over the course of the story that she’s not a drag queen — she’s a trans woman. If anyone knows of reviews of The Prey of Gods by trans women, please send them my way. I’m cis and can’t really talk about Felicity’s portrayal in terms of trans representation. Also, a spoiler regarding the queer characters: none of them die.Felicity and Riya (the pop star) were my favorite characters, although the main focus was on Muzi, Sydney, and Nomvula. Honestly, I never cared as much about those three. Sydney’s the villain of the story, so in her case it’s not that surprising. With Nomvula, it is a surprise. She’s an abused and neglected little girl who suddenly discovers that she’s a demigoddess with immense power. I think I will grow to like her more if I read the sequel — I have the feeling she’ll be gaining agency as she gains in self confidence and knowledge. As for Muzi, I think my main problem is that I hate his love interest. Ellkin is so annoying! He throws a fit when a celebrity refuses to sign his bong. Urgh. I knew that sort of guy in high school, and I’m still not impressed.I do like how The Prey of Gods mixes genres together. It takes a science fiction setting and throws in paranormal and urban fantasy aspects. I could almost describe it as an urban fantasy novel set in the future, but there is some science fiction story tropes happening too, especially the potential robotic uprising. As unusual as it is, Drayden makes it work, and her futuristic South Africa is easy to visualize. For whatever reason I loved how pesky dik-diks played a role in the plot.On the negative side, I struggled with the pacing. I ended up wandering away from the book for an entire day, reading other things instead. I had trouble keeping my focus on it. I especially had trouble with the last third of the book. When the narrative should have been getting even more riveting, it instead felt like it was slowing down. In particular, I had trouble with the after life sequence. I could also feel like there was just a bit too many things going on in the last third, some of it really bizarre. For instance, Felicity’s penis turning into a snake. Did this ever get an explanation? It also felt sort of strange that it happened to the only trans character.I don’t know if I’ll read the sequel to The Prey of Gods, but I know I’ll read more by Nicky Drayden. In particular, I think I should check out some of the short stories she’s already written. After seeing how imaginative The Prey of Gods is, I’ll bet she has some impressive ideas. I also look forward to seeing what she writes in the future. While my experience with The Prey of Gods was mixed, I still think it’s a relatively strong debut novel.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.