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Gods & Monsters #1
Unclean Spirits
The force of nature that is Chuck Wendig returns with an original urban fantasy novel, creating a brand new series for Abaddon Books.
Five years ago, it all went wrong for Cason Cole. He lost his wife and son, lost everything, and was bound into service to a man who chews up human lives and spits them out, a predator who holds nothing dear and respects no law. Now, as the man he both loves and hates lies dying at his feet, the sounds of the explosion still ringing in his ears, Cason is finally free. The gods and goddesses are real. A polytheistic pantheon—a tangle of divine hierarchies—once kept the world at an arm’s length, warring with one another for mankind’s belief and devotion. It was a grim and bloody balance, but a balance just the same. When one god triumphed, driving all other gods out of Heaven, it was back to the bad old days: cults and sycophants, and the terrible retribution the gods visit on those who spite them. None of which is going to stop Cason from getting back what’s his...
Five years ago, it all went wrong for Cason Cole. He lost his wife and son, lost everything, and was bound into service to a man who chews up human lives and spits them out, a predator who holds nothing dear and respects no law. Now, as the man he both loves and hates lies dying at his feet, the sounds of the explosion still ringing in his ears, Cason is finally free. The gods and goddesses are real. A polytheistic pantheon—a tangle of divine hierarchies—once kept the world at an arm’s length, warring with one another for mankind’s belief and devotion. It was a grim and bloody balance, but a balance just the same. When one god triumphed, driving all other gods out of Heaven, it was back to the bad old days: cults and sycophants, and the terrible retribution the gods visit on those who spite them. None of which is going to stop Cason from getting back what’s his...
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2013
123 people are currently reading
1,357 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Wendig
183Ìýbooks6,705ÌýfollowersChuck Wendig is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a freelance penmonkey.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 146 reviews
February 15, 2018
Let's be real here. This one is bare-bones wicked, amping up the horror elements, the noir mystery elements, and then, finally, a total American Gods vibe.
Only all the gods have been cast down and the one who cast them down is gone. As in gone, gone. What's left? All the b-listers with a fragment of their original abilities, from Sumerian, Greek... everything... working to maintain their little kingdoms in the modern world.
Fifty years of this, and even the gods are jaded, annoyed, and upset about their lot in life.
This isn't funny like Kevin Hearne's great Iron Druid series. It's not sly like a natural noir. It's gritty, bloody, and dense. It starts with great action and mystery and always just trying to keep one's head afloat, and it gets absolutely wild with absolutely enormous stakes. As in an empty hell and and empty heaven kind of stakes.
It's hardcore cool, but it's also tiring as hell.
Who should I recommend this to? Anyone who's a fan of old gumshoe tales, super-gritty and disturbing personal lives, and anyone who wants a world of mean streets full of all the most fantastic gods. Eros gets murdered, Psyche is a MC, and so is Aphrodite. Want more? Read the book. No spoilers, but it's wild. Shifting alliances, backstabbers, hidden gods and imprisoned ones, awesome parentages and bloodlines fill these pages while always remaining true to a hardcore thriller mode.
I'm super impressed. I'm really surprised that this isn't being read by everyone. Like, rabidly. Especially all you folks who love your mythologies and can trace all the bloodlines of all the gods and demigods.
It's important. :)
And thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! (Republished, I do believe.)
Only all the gods have been cast down and the one who cast them down is gone. As in gone, gone. What's left? All the b-listers with a fragment of their original abilities, from Sumerian, Greek... everything... working to maintain their little kingdoms in the modern world.
Fifty years of this, and even the gods are jaded, annoyed, and upset about their lot in life.
This isn't funny like Kevin Hearne's great Iron Druid series. It's not sly like a natural noir. It's gritty, bloody, and dense. It starts with great action and mystery and always just trying to keep one's head afloat, and it gets absolutely wild with absolutely enormous stakes. As in an empty hell and and empty heaven kind of stakes.
It's hardcore cool, but it's also tiring as hell.
Who should I recommend this to? Anyone who's a fan of old gumshoe tales, super-gritty and disturbing personal lives, and anyone who wants a world of mean streets full of all the most fantastic gods. Eros gets murdered, Psyche is a MC, and so is Aphrodite. Want more? Read the book. No spoilers, but it's wild. Shifting alliances, backstabbers, hidden gods and imprisoned ones, awesome parentages and bloodlines fill these pages while always remaining true to a hardcore thriller mode.
I'm super impressed. I'm really surprised that this isn't being read by everyone. Like, rabidly. Especially all you folks who love your mythologies and can trace all the bloodlines of all the gods and demigods.
It's important. :)
And thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! (Republished, I do believe.)
August 10, 2020
God & Monsters 1: Now this series would have been more appropriately and effectively called "Gods Are Monsters"! It's modern day Pennsylvania, and Cason Cole is just doing his job, you know, protecting his employer, who appears to have the ability to ravish anyone (man or woman) that he likes, until he wears them out, or gets bored with them.
Actually, no, not a playa, more a malignant, cold immortal being. And when he's killed, Cason's world unravels as he is hunted by immortals, as he himself has to hunt them to find out who he really is, and save his family. You can see 's computer role-playing creative past as the scope of this story is wide but the actuality of it is narrow, for example all this violence and death and little indication of police, FBI, public etc. presence or reaction - But, this is where I need to ask myself what I want from a read, and I just wanted to enjoy this, so I took it as it was, and enjoyed this tale of all the gods (and, I mean ALL the gods) being kicked out of their heavens and hells and placed on Earth. Sadly for Cason, and great for us readers, he gets caught up in a major conspiracy with the now Earth based immortals. There's some interesting ideas on the powers, sensibilities, look, feel and smells(!) of immortals. 7 out of 12 fun dark-ish urban fantasy read.
Actually, no, not a playa, more a malignant, cold immortal being. And when he's killed, Cason's world unravels as he is hunted by immortals, as he himself has to hunt them to find out who he really is, and save his family. You can see 's computer role-playing creative past as the scope of this story is wide but the actuality of it is narrow, for example all this violence and death and little indication of police, FBI, public etc. presence or reaction - But, this is where I need to ask myself what I want from a read, and I just wanted to enjoy this, so I took it as it was, and enjoyed this tale of all the gods (and, I mean ALL the gods) being kicked out of their heavens and hells and placed on Earth. Sadly for Cason, and great for us readers, he gets caught up in a major conspiracy with the now Earth based immortals. There's some interesting ideas on the powers, sensibilities, look, feel and smells(!) of immortals. 7 out of 12 fun dark-ish urban fantasy read.
October 21, 2019
Unclean Spirits is really two books - Unclean Spirits, by Chuck Wendig, and Drag Hunt, by Pat Kelleher. It's the start of a collaborative series, judging by the next two. The Gods have been cast out of their heavens, and now they're all here - and these are absolutely the cruel gods of ancient stories, those who meddle with mortals simply because they're bored.
Unclean Spirits, to start at the start, is the story of Cason Cole, one such mortal who attracted the attention of the gods, and is paying for it as the story begins. In grand Chuck Wendig style we begin in the middle; thrown into the action and left to sink or swim, much as he does to his characters. It's not long before we join Cason on his mission to reunite himself with his own life - a narrative that's going to invite comparisons with American Gods, though if you care to hear the wife's side of the story, I suspect you'll like this book better. It's a hard hitting, gritty take on an old story, and I absolutely loved it.
Drag Hunt, meanwhile, takes up the last third or so of the book, and follows Coyote as he searches for his missing... younger brother. I felt bad for not liking this as much as Unclean Spirits - I think Chuck Wendig managed Coyote's voice better - but it's still absolutely worth the read.
Unclean Spirits, to start at the start, is the story of Cason Cole, one such mortal who attracted the attention of the gods, and is paying for it as the story begins. In grand Chuck Wendig style we begin in the middle; thrown into the action and left to sink or swim, much as he does to his characters. It's not long before we join Cason on his mission to reunite himself with his own life - a narrative that's going to invite comparisons with American Gods, though if you care to hear the wife's side of the story, I suspect you'll like this book better. It's a hard hitting, gritty take on an old story, and I absolutely loved it.
Drag Hunt, meanwhile, takes up the last third or so of the book, and follows Coyote as he searches for his missing... younger brother. I felt bad for not liking this as much as Unclean Spirits - I think Chuck Wendig managed Coyote's voice better - but it's still absolutely worth the read.
March 11, 2021
The only things I’ve read by Chuck Wendig before this novel were some Marvel comicbooks he did and I have to say that I didn’t think much of them. I only read this because the second book in the series is by an author I really like and I’m far too anal to even consider starting a series anywhere other than book one.
This being said, I really, really liked this book and am totally a Wendig convert... I just might stick to his novels from now on and give his comics a miss.
It would be tempting to write this book off as a poor man’s American Gods as it does cover a lot of the same ground but the story is so much fun and the characters are so engaging and Wendig’s prose style is so enjoyable that it ends up being a totally different reading experience.
American Gods left me breathless at Gaiman’s cleverness and originality, like I’d just been on a life affirming journey of epic proportions.
Unclean Spirits left me breathless like I’d just fought Wolverine in a cage match. This book is down and dirty and delicious.
I’m now sad Wendig didn’t write this whole series...
My next book: Seven Poems and a Fragment
This being said, I really, really liked this book and am totally a Wendig convert... I just might stick to his novels from now on and give his comics a miss.
It would be tempting to write this book off as a poor man’s American Gods as it does cover a lot of the same ground but the story is so much fun and the characters are so engaging and Wendig’s prose style is so enjoyable that it ends up being a totally different reading experience.
American Gods left me breathless at Gaiman’s cleverness and originality, like I’d just been on a life affirming journey of epic proportions.
Unclean Spirits left me breathless like I’d just fought Wolverine in a cage match. This book is down and dirty and delicious.
I’m now sad Wendig didn’t write this whole series...
My next book: Seven Poems and a Fragment
January 26, 2018
Revisiting American Gods for the first time since its publication via Starz tv show adaptation can put one in a nostalgic mood or maybe in a mood to read something in similar vein. Unclean Spirits fit the bill and I was interested in trying out a new author. Interestingly enough though, while this one is a beginning of a series (of course it is), it’s a series for Abaddon Publishing, not for Wendig. He departs this book just over two thirds of the way in (and quite abruptly actually) and the rest is taken up by a different story set in the same fictionverse. Kind of a dizzying turn there. So really these are two different stories in one book and should be reviewed accordingly. Does one get any kudos for originality when the plot has essentially and famously been done before and spectacularly? It’s a tricky business. It’s nearly impossible not to compare, but it frames an opinion and informs the review nicely. There are nuances here, various attempts to create a fresh spin on the premise. These Gods and Monsters have been expelled from the pantheon quite recently, for one thing, 50 and 30 years ago only respectively in both stories. There are new names, lesser knowns, old folklore revisited, some fun characters, that’s my favorite part probably, the pantheons, the mythologies. There’s a lot more graphic action and violence, Wendig does a sort of tough guy narration, you know, the one with short sentences, fast paced, limited ruminations. Less navel gazing, more gut ripping, etc. The second story is more subtle in that respect, just a rascally Trickster trying to locate some of his anatomy while possibly saving the world from a global domination scheme dreamt up by some old disgruntled deities. Both stories do feature innovative plotlines, both are well written, both are very entertaining. The main difference between American Gods and this version of it really is that the former is a proper (and gorgeous) allegory about immigration, striking, original, epic, positively one of a kind. And the rest…are just fun. Which is perfectly good in itself, especially if you know what to expect. Strange though, when it isn’t a single author, seems like quality might be affected. The again American Gods is changing up showmakers for the second season and that sounds ominous. Must be difficult to maintain the standards that way. Anyway…genre fans will find much to enjoy with these fantasies and as far as new author introductions go, this was pretty decent too. Thanks Netgalley.
July 13, 2024
I’m not sure why but this didn’t grip me the way that most Chuck Wendig novels do. I think I want to love the gods being alive in America premise but maybe I got over saturated with it from watching Supernatural 500 times when I was younger
3.5 rounded up because I’m the problem
3.5 rounded up because I’m the problem
July 22, 2024
This played out like an action movie in my mind.
June 26, 2013
Firstly published on my blog at
I am a huge fan of Chuck Wendig's, having devoured his Miriam Black books with relish. I'm also a faithful follower of his blog and the writing advice he dishes out on there are entertaining and quite brilliant in it's own right. I must admit my Urban Fantasy reading shelf leaves a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of Dresden running around doing what he does best. This book proves that there are some damn good ones out there that I miss and I'll work to rectify this.
Onto Unclean Spirits. The main character here is Cason Cole, a retired MMA fighter who faced an easy choice. Serve a monster in order to save his family. It was a no brainer and of course he accepted. You save those you love and screw the strings attached. There were some bastard strings attached to this deal, but at least his family was safe.
Cason gets a lucky break when someone blows up his boss, which he thinks allows him to go back to his family. He thought that the deal was done, the strings cut. Far from it for the poor man, his torture was only starting.
The gods has been evicted from their respective pantheons and are living with us normal people on earth. Some of them just get on with life as it were, while others manipulate humans to their own ends. I'd like to think that humanity has rubbed off on them after their time here, since the petty squabbles and mistakes they make are quite human at the end of the day. They aren't omni-cognisant or omnipresent, but they are still the scariest thing you'll ever meet by a country mile. A pissed off god is not to be trifled with.
Unclean Spirits is definitely not for the YA crowd, seeing as language use is quite, shall we say spicy? The violence present in the novel is also pretty graphic, but done in typical Wendig style. It's dirty, desperate and hilarious in equal measure. It fits in with the story damn well, seeing if this ever happened to me I would be running around cursing, screaming and peeing myself for the majority of the story. And whimpering. Lots of curling into a ball and whimpering.
Most of the gods are bastards, manipulating events and Cason to their own ends. Many a time he thinks he's doing the right thing, only to realise later on that he was being lead around by the nose. Cason isn't a quitter and he bulldozes his way through most of the problems he faces. He takes some hits along the way and as the plot around him becomes clearer, he's still his own man. For someone who has been put through the meat grinder by damn gods, this is admirable and you cannot help but cheer the man on.
Is this book the same as Gaiman's American Gods? No. The premise is the same with gods running around all over the place, but that's about it. Wendig's gods are foul mouthed, meaner and petty for the most part. Infected with humanity if it makes sense. It makes them more fun to read seeing as they scheme to cheat each other more than they try cheating humanity.
Unclean Spirits was a fun novel to read. The pacing is fast and never lets up. The action is wall to wall awesome and there were enough humorous parts to lighten it up and lift the story. As a quick jaunt into urban fantasy filled with gods and drama, this was awesome.
I am a huge fan of Chuck Wendig's, having devoured his Miriam Black books with relish. I'm also a faithful follower of his blog and the writing advice he dishes out on there are entertaining and quite brilliant in it's own right. I must admit my Urban Fantasy reading shelf leaves a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of Dresden running around doing what he does best. This book proves that there are some damn good ones out there that I miss and I'll work to rectify this.
Onto Unclean Spirits. The main character here is Cason Cole, a retired MMA fighter who faced an easy choice. Serve a monster in order to save his family. It was a no brainer and of course he accepted. You save those you love and screw the strings attached. There were some bastard strings attached to this deal, but at least his family was safe.
Cason gets a lucky break when someone blows up his boss, which he thinks allows him to go back to his family. He thought that the deal was done, the strings cut. Far from it for the poor man, his torture was only starting.
The gods has been evicted from their respective pantheons and are living with us normal people on earth. Some of them just get on with life as it were, while others manipulate humans to their own ends. I'd like to think that humanity has rubbed off on them after their time here, since the petty squabbles and mistakes they make are quite human at the end of the day. They aren't omni-cognisant or omnipresent, but they are still the scariest thing you'll ever meet by a country mile. A pissed off god is not to be trifled with.
Unclean Spirits is definitely not for the YA crowd, seeing as language use is quite, shall we say spicy? The violence present in the novel is also pretty graphic, but done in typical Wendig style. It's dirty, desperate and hilarious in equal measure. It fits in with the story damn well, seeing if this ever happened to me I would be running around cursing, screaming and peeing myself for the majority of the story. And whimpering. Lots of curling into a ball and whimpering.
Most of the gods are bastards, manipulating events and Cason to their own ends. Many a time he thinks he's doing the right thing, only to realise later on that he was being lead around by the nose. Cason isn't a quitter and he bulldozes his way through most of the problems he faces. He takes some hits along the way and as the plot around him becomes clearer, he's still his own man. For someone who has been put through the meat grinder by damn gods, this is admirable and you cannot help but cheer the man on.
Is this book the same as Gaiman's American Gods? No. The premise is the same with gods running around all over the place, but that's about it. Wendig's gods are foul mouthed, meaner and petty for the most part. Infected with humanity if it makes sense. It makes them more fun to read seeing as they scheme to cheat each other more than they try cheating humanity.
Unclean Spirits was a fun novel to read. The pacing is fast and never lets up. The action is wall to wall awesome and there were enough humorous parts to lighten it up and lift the story. As a quick jaunt into urban fantasy filled with gods and drama, this was awesome.
October 28, 2019
2019 was the year I became a Chuck Wendig fan. I've read two of the Miriam Black books and I'm looking forward to more in that series. Then came this summer's Wanderers, his epic attempt at a 21st Century take on The Stand and Swan Song, two of my favorite novels of all time. The guy's ambitious, I'll give him that. His books are for readers who love a good story that takes unexpected turns when you least expect them. He's brash and vulgar and sarcastic -- all good things, in this reader's opinion.
So why not take on a tale of the gods? Which gods? You name 'em! Wendig mines all cultures and tells a story of revenge about an unhappy mortal, freed from servitude to his earthbound god after the god dies (violently, of course). He must win back his family and that won't be easy. It's a fun read that takes about 60 pages to hit its stride and then it's nonstop action from there on. If you're thinking American Gods, you're on the right track. But it's American Gods Wendig-style, which means it's familiar terrain yet somehow it's entirely different.
So why not take on a tale of the gods? Which gods? You name 'em! Wendig mines all cultures and tells a story of revenge about an unhappy mortal, freed from servitude to his earthbound god after the god dies (violently, of course). He must win back his family and that won't be easy. It's a fun read that takes about 60 pages to hit its stride and then it's nonstop action from there on. If you're thinking American Gods, you're on the right track. But it's American Gods Wendig-style, which means it's familiar terrain yet somehow it's entirely different.
February 1, 2018
I received this copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Demonic, murderous unicorns. Every god of every pantheon is real and banished to Earth. Despite living among humans, they still see themselves as better and play with human lives like toys. Mostly people don't know it, but some sell their lives in order to save the ones they love from certain death. Like Cason Cole, his wife and son were stuck inside a burning vehicle after being hit by a drunk driver when time stopped itself and a being who was clearly not human offered to save them if Cason gave himself to a life of servitude.
Cason serves as bodyguard to the god for years, never getting to see his wife and child. Until one day, a bomb blows up the god and kills him permanently. Cason races to his family only for them to not know who he is. Meanwhile, the other gods are very angry. Humans should not be able to kill them. Cason must be found and punished, for they think he is the one who killed the god.
As they hunt Cason, he learns that there may have been a larger conspiracy against him. A conspiracy that took his family away. If one god can be killed, so can others. It's just a trick of finding their weakness and then vengeance will be his.
An interesting concept. The writing outside of the dialogue could be tweaked a bit. Sometimes descriptions went on for too long or were repeated from a few chapters earlier. Otherwise it was a fast, different story.
Demonic, murderous unicorns. Every god of every pantheon is real and banished to Earth. Despite living among humans, they still see themselves as better and play with human lives like toys. Mostly people don't know it, but some sell their lives in order to save the ones they love from certain death. Like Cason Cole, his wife and son were stuck inside a burning vehicle after being hit by a drunk driver when time stopped itself and a being who was clearly not human offered to save them if Cason gave himself to a life of servitude.
Cason serves as bodyguard to the god for years, never getting to see his wife and child. Until one day, a bomb blows up the god and kills him permanently. Cason races to his family only for them to not know who he is. Meanwhile, the other gods are very angry. Humans should not be able to kill them. Cason must be found and punished, for they think he is the one who killed the god.
As they hunt Cason, he learns that there may have been a larger conspiracy against him. A conspiracy that took his family away. If one god can be killed, so can others. It's just a trick of finding their weakness and then vengeance will be his.
An interesting concept. The writing outside of the dialogue could be tweaked a bit. Sometimes descriptions went on for too long or were repeated from a few chapters earlier. Otherwise it was a fast, different story.
December 15, 2020
Sure, this has been done before and is still a trope that’s in play. However, reading it in Chuck Wendig’s voice and with his choice of words, made the whole thing even better. If you haven’t yet subscribed to his email newsletter, you should!
Back to the book: The gods have been kicked out of the heavens. They’re here on Earth and still doing what they do best, i.e., play with human lives. But someone’s killing them and then there’s our protagonist, Cason, who was serving a deity and sees them being slain. As things like why his wife and son hate his guts and just how many gods there are running around, Cason, is dragged into the fracas, albeit unwillingly. Every god has a plan and they all hunger for power.
The story only became funnier when the gods of chaos and mischief, Loki and Coyote, decided to step in. All in all, a really fun read!
February 9, 2018
DNF at 20%. Wasn’t for me at all unfortunately and recommend reading for yourself to develop your own opinion.
March 17, 2018
Actual Rating: 3.75
Received from NetGalley
Received from NetGalley
January 22, 2018
From the very first page of Unclean Spirits I found myself constantly going back over paragraphs, genuinely wondering what the HELL I had just read. RC car bombs, walking lumps of scar tissue with a fondness for blowing things up, and unicorns that looked like they were made of every burning and angry thing that hell ever spat out.
Even halfway through, I found myself being shocked back into a state of "wait- WHAT?" in all the best ways. Every crazy thing got topped by another crazier thing.
But really, what else should I have expected from a book about a man who is attempting to seek revenge on just about every god that has ever prowled the earth?
Chuck Wendig's voice in this is like stale cigarette smoke, motor oil, and gravel. Its heavy and raw and does not fail, even once, to dish out the gory details. Every character fails, missteps, makes impulse choices, at times even the gods do as well. It makes it easy to melt into the story and the world he has created.
My only two grievances with this book are somewhat trivial. The story is written in present tense, which always takes me a while to acclimate myself to and can make the initial chapters a little tedious to settle into. The other is the end. Not story wise- the ending is a massive cliffhanger that means I will be waiting like a madman for the next installment, but with the pacing. I came to the end and had no idea that I had. The buildup seemed to be missing just a few beats there at the end and it's left me feeling a very very mild dissatisfaction. Mild enough that it in no way mars my opinion of this book.
Its freaking great. I would happily suggest this to anyone with an interest in ancient gods, unfettered violence, or even just huge taxi drivers named Tundu.
Even halfway through, I found myself being shocked back into a state of "wait- WHAT?" in all the best ways. Every crazy thing got topped by another crazier thing.
But really, what else should I have expected from a book about a man who is attempting to seek revenge on just about every god that has ever prowled the earth?
Chuck Wendig's voice in this is like stale cigarette smoke, motor oil, and gravel. Its heavy and raw and does not fail, even once, to dish out the gory details. Every character fails, missteps, makes impulse choices, at times even the gods do as well. It makes it easy to melt into the story and the world he has created.
My only two grievances with this book are somewhat trivial. The story is written in present tense, which always takes me a while to acclimate myself to and can make the initial chapters a little tedious to settle into. The other is the end. Not story wise- the ending is a massive cliffhanger that means I will be waiting like a madman for the next installment, but with the pacing. I came to the end and had no idea that I had. The buildup seemed to be missing just a few beats there at the end and it's left me feeling a very very mild dissatisfaction. Mild enough that it in no way mars my opinion of this book.
Its freaking great. I would happily suggest this to anyone with an interest in ancient gods, unfettered violence, or even just huge taxi drivers named Tundu.
December 13, 2017
Took me a while get into this one which is weird for me as Wendig’s books normally grab me from the get go. I think it’s due to me going in blind it sometimes works in my favour this time reading the synopsis would have helped.
Here we have Carson a bodyguard who finds that the stories of the gods are not made up fairy tales after all and now he needs to find out what they want with him and try and get his family back.
This is not your average gods/mythology story, for a start it’s Wendig so obviously this is full of action and blood and a whole cast of badass fuckery. In this one the gods are the ones pulling the strings for a change, which was also interesting.
I’ve seen people say that this has American God vibes, I didn’t feel that whilst reading it but looking back I do see similarities between Cason and Shadow Moon Although Cason gives less fucks and takes more of a beating but if you like your mythology fiction then i recommend this one.
The ending is a bit odd as it just stops, I mean it all gets wrapped up and makes sense maybe it’s because I wanted more, I can’t put my finger on it. not my favourite Wendig but a great read nonetheless.
February 9, 2018
Hahahahahaha I have to write a review for this? Are you serious? I have no idea how to do that. It's like Wendig went, "Okay, so you know American Gods? Like that, but dial up the weirdness."
So, uh, review to come, I guess.
-- Full review -- Will also be posted on --
This is an extremely difficult book to review, mostly because this is an extremely weird book.
I've described this as American Gods but weirder, and I think that's relatively accurate. Essentially Wendig has created a world where gods of all pantheons are hanging out on earth after being cast out of their various heavens and otherworlds by 'the Usurper', and now they're causing trouble and manipulating mortals (or at least, people who think they're mortals).
Caught up in all of this is Cason. He first encountered the gods after a man told him he could save his wife and child from burning to death in a car. They're alive, but they've been enchanted so that whenever he comes near them they try to kill him, which isn't ideal. Then he spent several years working for Eros, whom he hated. Eros is murdered in the first chapter, and several other vengeful gods (including Psyche) come after him, thinking he did the deed. And it spirals from there.
This isn't a book you'll enjoy if you don't like Chuck Wendig's writing style, because it's a very Wendig book. I've only read a handful of his other novels, but I read his blog regularly, and this had many of the same linguistic hallmarks. There are choppy sentences. Bizarre descriptions and metaphors that make you choke-laugh with surprise. A good dollop of profanity.
For the most part, I enjoyed the writing style. I like descriptions that are unexpected, because they blow the cobwebs off language and get rid of cliches. I felt like Chuck Wendig's similes were somehow more honest than more conventional descriptions. That said, it took me a while to settle into the choppy sentence structures, and there were also a few things I didn't like -- such as the apparent need to describe every female character's nipples and what direction they were pointing in. I mean, really? Does anyone care that much about nipples?
(Throughout the book as a whole I was definitely less keen on Wendig's portrayal of female characters here compared to some of his other books. This is a reprint of a book that's a few years old, so maybe that's a sign that he's matured as a writer, or maybe this one just happens to be told from the perspectives of sex-obsessed male characters, I'm not sure.)
I've said that this book was weird and it's hard to explain exactly what I mean by that, but... look. One of the major plotlines is that a trickster god's detachable semi-autonomous penis gets stolen, and he's trying to get it back. That's the kind of level of strange we're dealing with. And I have to say, that part wasn't my favourite; I'm not a fan of disembodied genitalia, or indeed, any other kind of genitalia.
Generally speaking, I liked the first half of the book better than the second. The first half was weird and full of random pagan gods turning up and I liked trying to guess who they were before their names were revealed and I was enjoying the weird metaphors. Then, in the second half, the focus became a little bit more on Coyote's obsession with finding his penis (and indeed, his dick obsession in general). And that was also when the Celtic gods came into it.
I know what you're thinking. That should've been the part I liked! I like Celtic stuff! But here's the thing: I am extremely wary of any portrayals of Celtic 'mythology' because the truth is, you cannot reconstruct a pre-Christian pantheon from the evidence we have, because they're all written in a Christian context. Folks like Cernunnos, who we know virtually nothing about barring, like, one inscription and a handful of carvings... sure, do whatever you want. But the use of literary characters to represent mythological figures tends to get my hackles up.
So that's where I'm coming from with any book that involves Celtic gods in any sense, and I also strongly disagreed with some of Wendig's characterisation choices there, so there was that. Plus I wasn't comfortable with his decision to have a single 'Celtic' pantheon that included both Irish and Welsh figures, because the two aren't actually the same thing. But I liked Cernunnos. He was badass. Now, obviously, many of the other gods featured were probably drastic oversimplifications that people who know about those gods would have disagreed with; I just only really have opinions on the Celtic ones.
Anyway, I began to enjoy the book significantly less once its key focuses were (a) dicks, which I'm not interested in, and (b) Celtic gods, whose characterisation I disagreed with. It also took a slightly weird theological turn.
I think the difference between this and American Gods -- not that it's really fair to compare them -- is that American Gods has a built-in reason for why you might disagree with the characterisation of gods: because they're only one version of those figures, created by the beliefs of those who brought them to America. That gives plenty of wiggle room to disagree, and makes the book more enjoyable as a result. This, though, has the gods as singular representations, which is less flexible.
Anyway, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it; like I said, I found the writing style really refreshing, and I felt like Wendig's use of language was one of the book's strengths. It also wasn't a short book, and yet I found myself racing through it (even when I was supposed to be doing other things) -- definitely a compelling read.
But I enjoyed the first half considerably more than the second, and that shift is why it's only getting three stars instead of four.
So, uh, review to come, I guess.
-- Full review -- Will also be posted on --
This is an extremely difficult book to review, mostly because this is an extremely weird book.
I've described this as American Gods but weirder, and I think that's relatively accurate. Essentially Wendig has created a world where gods of all pantheons are hanging out on earth after being cast out of their various heavens and otherworlds by 'the Usurper', and now they're causing trouble and manipulating mortals (or at least, people who think they're mortals).
Caught up in all of this is Cason. He first encountered the gods after a man told him he could save his wife and child from burning to death in a car. They're alive, but they've been enchanted so that whenever he comes near them they try to kill him, which isn't ideal. Then he spent several years working for Eros, whom he hated. Eros is murdered in the first chapter, and several other vengeful gods (including Psyche) come after him, thinking he did the deed. And it spirals from there.
This isn't a book you'll enjoy if you don't like Chuck Wendig's writing style, because it's a very Wendig book. I've only read a handful of his other novels, but I read his blog regularly, and this had many of the same linguistic hallmarks. There are choppy sentences. Bizarre descriptions and metaphors that make you choke-laugh with surprise. A good dollop of profanity.
For the most part, I enjoyed the writing style. I like descriptions that are unexpected, because they blow the cobwebs off language and get rid of cliches. I felt like Chuck Wendig's similes were somehow more honest than more conventional descriptions. That said, it took me a while to settle into the choppy sentence structures, and there were also a few things I didn't like -- such as the apparent need to describe every female character's nipples and what direction they were pointing in. I mean, really? Does anyone care that much about nipples?
(Throughout the book as a whole I was definitely less keen on Wendig's portrayal of female characters here compared to some of his other books. This is a reprint of a book that's a few years old, so maybe that's a sign that he's matured as a writer, or maybe this one just happens to be told from the perspectives of sex-obsessed male characters, I'm not sure.)
I've said that this book was weird and it's hard to explain exactly what I mean by that, but... look. One of the major plotlines is that a trickster god's detachable semi-autonomous penis gets stolen, and he's trying to get it back. That's the kind of level of strange we're dealing with. And I have to say, that part wasn't my favourite; I'm not a fan of disembodied genitalia, or indeed, any other kind of genitalia.
Generally speaking, I liked the first half of the book better than the second. The first half was weird and full of random pagan gods turning up and I liked trying to guess who they were before their names were revealed and I was enjoying the weird metaphors. Then, in the second half, the focus became a little bit more on Coyote's obsession with finding his penis (and indeed, his dick obsession in general). And that was also when the Celtic gods came into it.
I know what you're thinking. That should've been the part I liked! I like Celtic stuff! But here's the thing: I am extremely wary of any portrayals of Celtic 'mythology' because the truth is, you cannot reconstruct a pre-Christian pantheon from the evidence we have, because they're all written in a Christian context. Folks like Cernunnos, who we know virtually nothing about barring, like, one inscription and a handful of carvings... sure, do whatever you want. But the use of literary characters to represent mythological figures tends to get my hackles up.
So that's where I'm coming from with any book that involves Celtic gods in any sense, and I also strongly disagreed with some of Wendig's characterisation choices there, so there was that. Plus I wasn't comfortable with his decision to have a single 'Celtic' pantheon that included both Irish and Welsh figures, because the two aren't actually the same thing. But I liked Cernunnos. He was badass. Now, obviously, many of the other gods featured were probably drastic oversimplifications that people who know about those gods would have disagreed with; I just only really have opinions on the Celtic ones.
Anyway, I began to enjoy the book significantly less once its key focuses were (a) dicks, which I'm not interested in, and (b) Celtic gods, whose characterisation I disagreed with. It also took a slightly weird theological turn.
I think the difference between this and American Gods -- not that it's really fair to compare them -- is that American Gods has a built-in reason for why you might disagree with the characterisation of gods: because they're only one version of those figures, created by the beliefs of those who brought them to America. That gives plenty of wiggle room to disagree, and makes the book more enjoyable as a result. This, though, has the gods as singular representations, which is less flexible.
Anyway, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it; like I said, I found the writing style really refreshing, and I felt like Wendig's use of language was one of the book's strengths. It also wasn't a short book, and yet I found myself racing through it (even when I was supposed to be doing other things) -- definitely a compelling read.
But I enjoyed the first half considerably more than the second, and that shift is why it's only getting three stars instead of four.
February 1, 2018
Finished reading: January 30th 2018
"Hope, a mirage in the desert, a curtain of vapor forming for us an image of that which we most sincerly desire. Hope is not an oasis but rather, a trap."
*** A copy of this bookÌýwas kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
P.S. Find more of my reviews .
February 11, 2018
If you're a fan of mythology, be it Greek, Norse, Hindu, Native American, etc, I have a heads-up for you. All of those gods are real, and mostly they're a**holes. When the Christian God kicked them all out of Heaven, the gods were all exiled to Earth, where they use humans as their toys to manipulate as they choose.
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Cason Cole is a former MMA fighter with a beautiful wife and young son he adores. In the aftermath of a car accident that burned his wife and son alive, time is stopped and a figure offers Cason a deal;; your family will survive with no injury if you serve me. Guess what? Cason took the deal. That's what love is all about.
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When his family's savior is killed after enslaving Cason for five years, Cason learns that gods can be killed. This leads him yup try and find out who has been manipulating his life.
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This was my first Wendig novel, but definitely won't be my last. His writing is raw and powerful, with a savage sense of humor behind the language and violence pervasive in this book. The pace of action was almost non-stop, and the characters were very well fleshed out. I'm now a Chuck Wendig fan.
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Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review one of the most fun novels I've read in a while.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
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Cason Cole is a former MMA fighter with a beautiful wife and young son he adores. In the aftermath of a car accident that burned his wife and son alive, time is stopped and a figure offers Cason a deal;; your family will survive with no injury if you serve me. Guess what? Cason took the deal. That's what love is all about.
.
When his family's savior is killed after enslaving Cason for five years, Cason learns that gods can be killed. This leads him yup try and find out who has been manipulating his life.
.
This was my first Wendig novel, but definitely won't be my last. His writing is raw and powerful, with a savage sense of humor behind the language and violence pervasive in this book. The pace of action was almost non-stop, and the characters were very well fleshed out. I'm now a Chuck Wendig fan.
.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review one of the most fun novels I've read in a while.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
June 27, 2018
I could not put this book down. It’s as if A. Lee Martinez and Tom Holt had a lovechild who grew up with cigarettes and alcohol as the main staple in the family’s diet. That’s how I would described the author’s writing style. I plan to read more from him and hope they are all as funny and fun to read.
June 12, 2020
Unclean Spirits is a fast paced, fun and gory urban fantasy, it’s kinda like American gods with added horror. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, the main focus of the book is to entertain and it certainly does that. It's the start of a series of books penned by different writers and I’m definitely on board to see where it goes from here.
February 12, 2018
Gritty urban fantasy where ALL the gods are down on earth and they’re not happy! Worth a read
Full review at
Full review at
August 10, 2018
Not for me, sorry
July 13, 2023
I think it needs 3.5 stars. It had so much potential and then completely fell flat like the ending was rushed.
November 22, 2018
American Gods is one of my favorite books. This is a similar world, with pantheons of gods among the humans, but bawdy, violent, funny, without the lyrical immigration stories. There are two separate stories in this book. The second one reads like a modern telling of a trickster god fable, one of my favorite kinds of stories.
January 12, 2025
The edition of the book I read was really two books in one, Chuck Wendig's Unclean Spirits and Pat Kelleher's Drag Hunt. I really enjoyed Unclean Spirits (which feels a lot like if you took Neil Gaiman's American Gods and put in a lot more sex, violence, and action), but wasn't at all a fan of the attached novella. Four stars for Unclean Spirits, and one star for Drag Hunt.
April 14, 2018
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It sounded like a book that would be right up my alley, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. I did not finish.
It sounded like a book that would be right up my alley, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. I did not finish.
January 29, 2019
Great story, gripping writing.
What would the ancient gods be like if cast down to Earth in the modern age? I imagine they'd be just like this.
So, the other books in this series were written by other authors? What an interesting idea. Can't wait to read them.
What would the ancient gods be like if cast down to Earth in the modern age? I imagine they'd be just like this.
So, the other books in this series were written by other authors? What an interesting idea. Can't wait to read them.
June 12, 2018
Cason Cole was a successful MMA fighter, but grew soft and complacent as a bodyguard for E. Rose, a magnetic, hedonistic man. One fateful day, a bomb kills his boss, releasing him from E. Rose's influence and making him aware of his past for the first time in years. Cason is then drawn into a world of mythology, gods, and magic and those who oppose all of it. He has to decide how hard he will fight to get his family back.
Unclean Spirits is story that satisfies my mythology obsession, takes me on an insane adventure, and adds a healthy dash of horror. In this world, all mythological gods are real, ranging from the well known gods of Greece and Egypt to the more obscure ones of Sumeria to even local legends and fables. I was particularly happy to see Erishkagal. They have been kicked out of their realm and forced to live in the human one, most attempting to avoid general human attention. Because of their disparate natures, the gods aren't a monolithic whole, but all very opinionated and arrogant about their past accomplishments and state. E. Rose turns out to be Eros and of course Cason is blamed for his death with Aphrodite, Eros' mother, wanting vengeance. These supernatural creatures are just as they are portrayed in myth: petty, jealous, coompletely consumed with their own drama, practically immortal, and extremely powerful.
Poor Cason just wants his family back. He has been kept for them for years in what he finds out is a manufactured plot to do so. When he tries to return to his family, his wife and young son try to kill him with knives. He's lost in the real world since he's been lost in a fog, let alone in this newfound world of gods and monsters. Cason is the grounding force of the book because he's as bewildered as we are. His goal isn't to kill all the gods or anything crazy; he simply wants his family back. He meets the bomber that killed E. Rose and helps him kill other gods because he has no idea how else to fight back. Through this allyship, he sees how gods have survived all these years, either in a commune out in the country or inflitrated within the abandoned nooks and crannies of human societies.
Unclean Spirits is an amazing ride with twists and turns I didn't see coming. The ending did seem a bit abrupt pacing wise, but everything that needed to be resolved was. I would love to see this world as a series even though Cason's story is over because there are endless possibilities to stories in these gods experiences and the people they affect.
Unclean Spirits is story that satisfies my mythology obsession, takes me on an insane adventure, and adds a healthy dash of horror. In this world, all mythological gods are real, ranging from the well known gods of Greece and Egypt to the more obscure ones of Sumeria to even local legends and fables. I was particularly happy to see Erishkagal. They have been kicked out of their realm and forced to live in the human one, most attempting to avoid general human attention. Because of their disparate natures, the gods aren't a monolithic whole, but all very opinionated and arrogant about their past accomplishments and state. E. Rose turns out to be Eros and of course Cason is blamed for his death with Aphrodite, Eros' mother, wanting vengeance. These supernatural creatures are just as they are portrayed in myth: petty, jealous, coompletely consumed with their own drama, practically immortal, and extremely powerful.
Poor Cason just wants his family back. He has been kept for them for years in what he finds out is a manufactured plot to do so. When he tries to return to his family, his wife and young son try to kill him with knives. He's lost in the real world since he's been lost in a fog, let alone in this newfound world of gods and monsters. Cason is the grounding force of the book because he's as bewildered as we are. His goal isn't to kill all the gods or anything crazy; he simply wants his family back. He meets the bomber that killed E. Rose and helps him kill other gods because he has no idea how else to fight back. Through this allyship, he sees how gods have survived all these years, either in a commune out in the country or inflitrated within the abandoned nooks and crannies of human societies.
Unclean Spirits is an amazing ride with twists and turns I didn't see coming. The ending did seem a bit abrupt pacing wise, but everything that needed to be resolved was. I would love to see this world as a series even though Cason's story is over because there are endless possibilities to stories in these gods experiences and the people they affect.
May 28, 2013
I have to admit it took me a few chapters to actually warm up to this novel, the writing style was 'different' to say the least, but that is why I like he pushes the envelope of Urban Fantasy. I first became introduced to him via his novel and since then I am on the look out for his work.
Gods and Monsters was a good time, action, adventure, friendship and love. Goddesses and Gods playing a long game and Cason Cole is a human caught in the middle. Cason placed himself in indentured servitude to save the lives of his wife and child, he's seen some really weird stuff but nothing so far compares to his boss being blown up and turning into feathers.
The Gods and Goddesses of myth and legend are finding out Cason Cole will do anything to get his wife and son back, even kill them if he has too.
All in all a good book. Like many have noted already the ending seemed abrupt. I thought about it and decided it was a good place to end, all the old myths and legends ended somewhat abruptly why not the newest one too?
Gods and Monsters was a good time, action, adventure, friendship and love. Goddesses and Gods playing a long game and Cason Cole is a human caught in the middle. Cason placed himself in indentured servitude to save the lives of his wife and child, he's seen some really weird stuff but nothing so far compares to his boss being blown up and turning into feathers.
The Gods and Goddesses of myth and legend are finding out Cason Cole will do anything to get his wife and son back, even kill them if he has too.
All in all a good book. Like many have noted already the ending seemed abrupt. I thought about it and decided it was a good place to end, all the old myths and legends ended somewhat abruptly why not the newest one too?
June 10, 2013
A meaner, dirtier American Gods. Wendig's past writing for the gaming industry shows: lots of fight scenes and snappy dialog. I have not read a lot of urban fantasy, so it's hard to judge it against its own genre. I also tend not to read books written in the present tense, so that was jarring as well.
The beginning was a bit of a slog, but once the story picked up the novel really grew on me. I would have gladly read more, and the ending does leave things a bit unresolved. An ad in the last pages of the book gave the name of another book in the same "world" to be released via eBook only. Again, it's like a video game giving you some additional, downloadable side adventure.
My only other complaint is that I think Wendig could have trusted his readers to be a bit more perceptive/knowledgeable. The narration/characters spelled things out a bit too much, and some of the hints as to characters' identities were so big (and repetitive) that the reveals felt predictable. Otherwise, however, a quick, entertaining read.
The beginning was a bit of a slog, but once the story picked up the novel really grew on me. I would have gladly read more, and the ending does leave things a bit unresolved. An ad in the last pages of the book gave the name of another book in the same "world" to be released via eBook only. Again, it's like a video game giving you some additional, downloadable side adventure.
My only other complaint is that I think Wendig could have trusted his readers to be a bit more perceptive/knowledgeable. The narration/characters spelled things out a bit too much, and some of the hints as to characters' identities were so big (and repetitive) that the reveals felt predictable. Otherwise, however, a quick, entertaining read.
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