He’s lived way more than nine lives.
Pursuing his stolen girlfriend may make this one the last.
Delphi, Greece. A magically trapped god. A stolen lover. And a mystical war on the verge of exploding.
Apollo wants to forget his past as an Olympian god. Trapped in a feline body with magically repressed memories should get him what he wants…
But when humans kidnap his lover from their temple grounds, he sets out on a journey to Athens to track her down, determined to rescue her from a horrible fate. However, little does he know that he’s on a collision course with two immortal-led gangs and another deity seeking an artefact that might resurrect the gods’ ancient power. Now, he’s in a race to find his girl—but can he save her without bringing down the entire pantheon in the process?
The Forgotten God is the captivating first book in the Reawakening contemporary fantasy series. If you like fast-paced plots, high stakes, and modern twists on mythology, then you’ll love Andrew Rylands’ inventive tale. Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Let The Forgotten God bring light to Mt. Olympus again!
He’s lived way more than nine lives.
Pursuing his stolen girlfriend may make this one the last.
Delphi, Greece. A magically trapped god. A stolen lover. And a mystical war on the verge of exploding.
Apollo wants to forget his past as an Olympian god. Trapped in a feline body with magically repressed memories should get him what he wants…
But when humans kidnap his lover from their temple grounds, he sets out on a journey to Athens to track her down, determined to rescue her from a horrible fate. However, little does he know that he’s on a collision course with two immortal-led gangs and another deity seeking an artefact that might resurrect the gods’ ancient power. Now, he’s in a race to find his girl—but can he save her without bringing down the entire pantheon in the process?
The Forgotten God is the captivating first book in the Reawakening contemporary fantasy series. If you like fast-paced plots, high stakes, and modern twists on mythology, then you’ll love Andrew Rylands’ inventive tale. Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Let The Forgotten God bring light to Mt. Olympus again!
The cat was older than the rocks on which he sat. Apart from the crossed paws, he resembled a misplaced sphinx, carved from the landscape, immobile and unchanging. Nobody lives forever, they say. Yet this small sphinx, though still, was very much alive. The rays of the setting sun illuminated a handsome ginger face, his fur streaked with darker stripes above the eyes; a tiger in miniature. Below his chin, his chest and belly were white, as were his paws. He lay beneath a cypress tree enjoying the late summer heat. With thoughts lost on paths far away, he gazed toward the horizon. Golden irises reflected the glow of the setting sun, his pupils narrowed to a slit.Â
He had long come to accept this small body; it no longer concerned him—it was what it was. Once, he bestrode the heavens, manipulated matter, shaped the world. He helped mould its inhabitants, and wielded a power he could no longer imagine. Once, by thought alone, he could change the course of history. Now, in this state of blissful selective amnesia, he barely knew his name. He’d been like this so long it no longer mattered. These days, he was just a cat, nothing more. Relinquishing responsibility was liberating, after a fashion; let humans carry the burden for a change; it’s what they’d always wanted. As felines, he and his kind were safely out of the mainstream, inconspicuous and retired. At least he could no longer do them any harm, as he used to…
His seclusion was deliberate, here at the former epicentre of his cult and the source of his fame. It was an appropriate place to retire to once he had finally mastered the turmoil in his soul; the anguish that threatened to tear his mind apart. Carefully over time, he wove spells of forgetfulness, creating a web of amnesia and indifference, layer after layer, strand upon strand, to seal off the world outside. Behind his invisible wall he lived a simple life with others of his new kind, among the ancient stones. Cut off from their former home, several of his family accompanied him, spending their days on the slopes of Parnassos in tranquil retirement. But for Apollo, deep in his soul, at the core of his being, the uneasy restlessness remained.Â
The days blended into one another while he mingled with his companions and ceased to care. Time didn’t flow there like elsewhere. In their temporal bubble, out of sight and out of mind, playing their little games and scheming their little schemes, they forgot and were forgotten by everyone. Everyone that mattered. Out there, beyond those self-imposed boundaries, things happened. Events took place, attitudes changed, bold plans were hatched, and men of ambition pursued their place in history. They dreamed of tomorrow.
On this hillside, they strove to stay the same. Nothing changed. They were slaves to the slow-turning wheel of the seasons, nothing more; a pride of feral cats, keeping watch over the ancient dream of Delphi. Animals were born and animals died, but for the others among them, nothing much happened. With one exception. A ghost from the past sent to haunt him, or test him; unfinished business from the time of legend. Blissfully unaware of their past life, just as he had forgotten the ancient barb in his heart, the shot that pierced his soul. Suddenly restless, it stirred once more. Someone didn’t want him to rest easy.
He amused himself by showing humans around the site in return for something to his liking from the cafe where he ended his tours. Few could resist; it was one of his few remaining powers. They came to discover their past; he escorted them around while forgetting his own. His impulsive need to tell visitors about this place slammed into a growing frustration as his recollections faded. When he walked the Sacred Way, he was certain he could once read the inscriptions on the stones. Now they were just meaningless scratchings.
Across this landscape, beautiful and ancient, a strange torpor had settled long ago. Memory seeped into the stones. Delphi was just another dream of a distant and opaque past. Waiting. Sleeping. Apollo settled into a daily routine of guiding, sleeping, and eating, then socialising with his friends or hunting in the dusk. The days streamed past, and the seasons came and went. Throughout this long drowse little changed other than his companions, and all those comings and goings wrapped yet more layers of sadness around his soul; more than he could count. It was better to forget. Forgetfulness helped him stay sane. Behind meticulously constructed fog banks of amnesia, he screened off the horrors of his past. In doing so he also lost much more, but, thankfully, the past became a lost continent, never to be explored. It was better that way.
There, on the mountainside, he was safe. Ambition was abandoned, life was uncomplicated. This day was the same as the one before, and no doubt would be the same as the one after. He didn’t care; the pain had gone.
Until the car ate his friend, and everything changed.
CW: This book contains mentions of animal violence, confinement, and death.
Apollo lives a peaceful life in Delphi with his fellow cats, enjoying complete freedom and treats from tourists. Until one day his lover disappears, kidnapped by humans right on their temple grounds. In a desperate effort to save her, Apollo and his friends will have to brave the big city, Athens, facing countless dangers in the process. As the city's feline leadership starts to slip and tensions between rival gangs threaten to turn into a full-on war, Apollo will also find himself contending with the gradual return of long-suppressed memories and his own, forgotten true nature. But the question remains: will he reach his lover in time, and will any of them make it out of Athens alive?
The Forgotten God starts from a highly fascinating and original premise, as the gods of the Greek pantheon live in the modern world, in a way that reminded me of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Only this time, they have taken the form of cats. Greek mythology lovers will have a wonderful time meeting all the big players again, as Zeus, Hera, Athena, Hermes and more all make an appearance in this, while leaving enough space for lesser-known gods and titans to shine.
The narrative is extremely rich, even too much so at times. What starts out as a compelling quest with elements of mythological retellings ends up as a slightly confusing and overly complicated story. The cast of characters is almost too big, with several making short appearances which end up either confusing the reader or excessively prolonging certain scenes. I also found certain passages to be quite repetitive and the narrative to be drawn out more than it needed to be. It didn't help that my advance copy was riddled with spelling, grammar and coherence mistakes, which will likely be addressed in the final version but made it much harder for me to fully enjoy this book.
Nevertheless, The Forgotten God delivers an interesting modern take on Greek mythology, leaving the door open for further developments in future books which I would be curious to explore.