A review by hyrulebalverine
Herald by Rob J. Hayes

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The "God Eater Saga" is a bit unique in it's execution as it is a trilogy of trilogies that are being written in three phases. Phase 1 is Herald (Book one in "Age of the God Eater"), Deathless (Book one in "Annals of the God Eater"), and Demon (Book one in "Archive of the Death Eater").

Age of the God Eater, the main series, takes place in the "current" time, and Herald is a great introduction to this world and it's lore. As the main character, Renira, experiences events in the story, we learn about this world and it's history along with her. A world where angels are real and have been hunted to near extinction by the King and his family so that they can feast upon their bodies and blood to gain their longevity, strength, and powers. Where the God was a real being until he was killed and devoured by the Godless Kings.

We also get to see this world through the perspective of Emrik Hostain, the Godless King himself, and through his perspective we discover that he and his family have killed the God and His angels not for selfish reasons, but because they fully believe that everything that the divine beings have told humanity about themselves and their shared history has been lies in order to control and enslave humanity. 

Through the Annals of the God Eater series, we will get the story of how and why the Hostain family besieged Heaven. This takes place roughly 1,000 years prior to the events of Herald. And through the Archive of the God Eater series, we will learn the truth of humanity's first interactions with the angels, roughly 3,000 years prior to the events of Herald.

While these three series can be read in any order, I would suggest reading each phase starting with Age of the God Eater and ending with Archive of the God Eater. This is because each book's story will affect how you view the characters and events of the others, and starting with the main series will allow you to read the story with the least amount of influence while reading it, and will allow for a different perspective on each series than you would get reading them in a different order.