A series of sometimes NSFW stories about a bunch of gods who are not gods doing godly things.
Warnings: Violence, Dubcon, Incest
Category: M/M
The New Pantheon is a collection of stories about a pantheon of people trying to be deities after they killed their old deities. Its a very esoteric little book, full of kinky dynamics and strange relationships, and I found it thoroughly charming.
WRITING
This is written is a rather disjointed kind of way. There isn’t a major introduction to its world and characters, instead you jump right in and have to roll with who these strange people are and what they are doing. It a way its very much more vibes than story or plot, which works really well with this as a kind of new mythos. Each story in this collection gives us a small piece of the world and its characters and the events that comprise its mythology and the way that this pantheon of deities functions. Its timeline is not linear either, following different events and leaving the reader to piece together the fuller story from those bits of the puzzle that is the world and narrative of The New Patheon.
EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT
I did find it difficult to connect to the individual characters here on an emotional level since the stories are short enough that we don’t really have a through line here that lets us get to know who they are as individuals. That said, there was a fascinating amount of intimacy to them as people and to how the narrative treats them that made this collection feel like I was getting very private glimpses into their lives. These glimpses are perhaps not enough to form a picture of the whole person, but are deeply personal nonetheless, like accidentally seeing a stranger changing in their window. Seeing only the private pieces of a person is a fascinating approach to writing a character and I really felt immersed in them even if I did not feel as though I knew them.
WORLDBUILDING
The world of these stories is, much like the characters, shown in passing glimpses and snapshots. It does no exposition whatsoever, and at times is confusing to follow. But, much like the way it shows us intimate pieces of its characters, the book shows us small pieces of its world, pieces that are integral to its mythos but lack the context to let the reader make sense of the pieces. There are old gods here that have fallen, there are new gods that are replacing them or at the very least attempting to, there is carnage and violence that feels detached, and there are demons that are associated with colours. All of these details form a picture but what the picture actually is remains hard to grasp, and perhaps thats intentional- we aren’t meant to see the picture so much as feel it.
STEAMINESS
This collection of pictures and people contains some absolutely beautifully written sex and kink. Intimate moments of these would-be gods coming together, connecting with each other, dominating each other. There’s some beautiful BDSM type stuff, some dubcon power plays, some quasi-incest of the mythological variety. It’s all swirled together with its world and its aesthetic quality, dreamlike at times, and engaging with the readers emotions. It’s hard to accurately describe what this made me feel because it made me feel so many kinds of ways at once, and that is a rare feat. Definitely some of the most unique smut I’ve ever read, and well worth the time spent in contemplating it.
Although this isn’t an easy story to really sink into, I found that I really enjoyed my time it. It’s one of the most fascinating pieces of niche fiction I have stumbled across, and it feels very much like a “new pantheon” and also a bit like a sexy dreamscape. If you’re looking for something unique to read, give this one a try!
Have you read The New Pantheon? Let me know what YOU thought by leaving me a comment!
Roses And Thorns 