Babel Clash

Not sure I agree there – that gods can’t be used without creating overly significant flaws or rendering other characters useless. It’s a concern certainly, I remember reading a trilogy a few years back where the lead set of characters were near enough to immortal and powerful to make them effectively gods. They were flawed people but my issue with it was exactly something Joel predicted – rendering everyone else throughout history unimportant and the greatest of mortal heroes ended up simply hanging on their coat tails.

But was this an issue with the concept, or execution? Poor execution will ruin any good idea and I think that was the issue rather than a flawed concept. I disagree that gods/superheroes (while agreeing with Joel’s idea that the old ideas of pagan gods and innate desire for a personification of the world around us fuels the interest in superheroes) should be steered clear of. They can play a part in a world and add an important element for me, but the key in any ecosystem is balance and to have an internally consistent story, balance is just as important to a fantasy world. Without balance, no amount of good writing will make the reader believe what you’re on about and belief is what the fantasy writer needs every bit as much as gods do.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. There are more gods and daemons in the Twilight Reign than you can safely shake a stick at – and in the Grave Thief you’ll see them on an increasingly equal footing with the mortals, making deals and being manipulated, or worse. Go read it for yourself and form your own conclusions, then compare and contrast with Joel’s Trial of Blood and Steel.

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