Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead (Melissa’s review)

Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1)
written by Richelle Mead
published by Signet/Penguin

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I was asked to review the second book in the Age of X series by Penguin Publishing, and because I hadn’t read the first book yet I purchased and reviewed it without being asked to do so.  

Did I enjoy this book: It intrigued me.  Mead’s characters are addictingly complex; I’d have kept reading even if the story didn’t keep up. Luckily, the world of RUNA is just as exciting as its population, and I found myself in one of my favorite situations – way too attached to a group of fictional characters to stop reading for any reason (which is why, friends, my family had cereal for dinner last night).

Gameboard of the Gods is dark and delicious, and I can’t wait to read the next book.

Would I recommend it: Yes.  Do it!

About the book – from Goodreads: In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.