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The Deer and the Dragon (No Other Gods #1) by Piper CJ

"I think the lesson of this book is "think before you speak." Other than that, I felt like it was the author trying to show off her knowledge of different religions but Marlowe, the protagonist, wasn't smart enough to realize how to interact with these different Pantheons. And she never, ever learned. This was just a poorly written, badly edited, underwhelming book and I just wasn't impressed. "

2 Stars. 

Pros: The book itself was beautiful, the pages were bound with blue edges but the story was severely lacking. 

Cons: Dial back on the melodrama can we please? Marlowe's first reaction of, pitching a fit and telling Caliban to go away, that she never wants to see him again, leads to him disappearing, DUH. You have to think before you speak when dealing with humans and deities.  

Full Review

Marlowe grew up dirt poor, never had any friends and was raised by an overbearing, abusive, religious zealot of a Mother. The only comfort she finds is in the form of a small, arctic fox that follows her around. As the years pass, the fox changes into a man, white hair, silver eyes, the most beautiful man Marlowe has ever seen. 

The fox was her protector, her safe space and now the man is the same. Marlowe has convinced herself that Caliban, as she's named him, is simply a figment of her imagination. He's some sort of psychosis that helps her get through the train wreck of her life. He's with her through everything, even as she manages to leave her hometown, decides to become an escort, makes boatloads of money in sex-work and then, of course, becomes an international best selling author with her "Pantheon" series. 

Her family disowns her for her radical abandonment of the Catholic Faith and Marlowe is fine with that. She has Caliban and that's all that matters. Of course, one night when she runs into a former "John" and he tries to kill her, well, everything literally goes to Hell. Marlowe is saved by the intervention of an Angel, Silas. Caliban explains that since she had once, expressly stated that he couldn't appear to her, that he wasn't real (since she's convinced she's schizophrenic and is hallucinating when she is with Caliban) well, he couldn't intervene. He couldn't save her from the "John" that was trying to kill her. 

She, of course, pitches a fit and says she never wants to see Caliban again and that's Marlowe's first lesson into verbal contracts and how seriously the Fae or, other supernatural creatures, take peoples words and wishes. Of course, once she's saved, her eyes are opened to a whole new world she always wanted to exist but never had the courage to accept. The story quickly devolves into Marlowe becoming enmeshed in a war between Heaven and Hell and meeting all different Pantheons, deities, demi-Gods et al. And of course, Marlowe is the air-headed, unthinking, blithering fool along for the ride. 

There was really nothing redeeming about this book. Marlowe never listened, she never learned. People were always coming to her rescue and even then, she continued to make stupid agreements etc. Honestly, I was just glad to be done with the book. I highly doubt I'll be reading the rest of this series. 

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