A sleeper hit drifting out of the ether, Slow Gods by Claire North was phenomenal (and made our best of 2025 list). I had never read North before, which is somewhat surprising given her enormous body of work under multiple names. I believe she is mostly known for her historically inspired fantasy, which is why it was a bit of a surprise to see this right hook in the form of a standalone space opera. Slow Gods has hands, and it’s going to use them to punch you right in the heart.
Slow Gods is the story of the infinite might of the infinite void puppeting a corpse and taking a stroll around the known universe. Our initial protagonist is a somewhat unremarkable man with the ill stroke of luck to be born into a galactic empire predicated on being a capitalist hellscape. The man spends his somewhat brief life being horribly abused by the systems he was born into until he is finally conscripted to be a pilot for an extremely dangerous interdimensional ship. Piloting these ships is known to be a one-stop shop to insanity, as the pilots are essentially thrown into the void of time and space on every trip, often killing them. For this poor man, that is exactly what happened, with the void claiming his life on the trip. Except this time, the void came back into our world, hitchhiking on the corpse. The bulk of the narrative picks up here and details this nascent god of physics slowly taking in their surroundings and learning to understand the sentient species and cultures that exist in the universe. Humans have a strange and tense relationship with the being, and this neo-god seems to have some carryover of personality and memories of the original man who piloted the body. The result is a deliciously confusing and kaleidoscopic examination of the human spirit and an exploratory story that takes place over untold distances and times.
Ethereal weirdness that reflects on the human condition is always a big crowd pleaser as a central theme for the QTL team. It is very hard to tell stories about immortal godlike beings without having the book devolve into pandering self-insert slop, and Slow Gods is one of those exceptions. The god in our story occupies this brilliant position of having untold power to effect reality and feeling completely powerless to actually change the people who live in it. The result is a ballad about the cause and effect of places we inhabit, the circumstances of our births, and the people we become. North has created a wonderfully unique POV in our lead, and it results in an alien beauty in the way they move through worlds. I found myself drawn into whatever the God’s focus and fascinated by the ways the being chooses to spend its time. The immersion was so intense that I often forgot I was reading a narrative written by an author and wasn’t observing some incredible scientific marvel.
The antagonists, if you could call anyone in the story antagonists, play out like a galactic empire (the Shine) run by every shitty fascist that history recycles in every new age. They spoke to me like a space power run by American Republicans, but given that North is British, she may have had someone else in mind. The Shine loves to use the threat of nuclear annihilation to bludgeon the rest of the universal political entities into backing off from their inhumane and awful societies, which sounds pretty American to me.
Yet, despite all the awful promises by The Shine, this is a story ultimately driven by the power of love and the beauty of the universe. A tale of how, no matter how much greed and self-absorption some put into the world, the love, generosity, and passion of others are so interwoven into the fabric of the cosmos that even the void itself can see it like a beacon to guide it as it travels through the dark. It manages to combine the vibes of existential dread with a warm hug, and I am confused and delighted by the results.
Slow Gods is a powerful space opera that uses classic genre conventions well. A story that is great at showcasing cosmic horrors and makes them relatable without ever crossing over into knowable. It is a story that uses powerful juxtaposition to set the unfathomable beauty of the universe against the awful banality of today’s everyday evil, driving home the gut-punch message that cruelty is beyond stupid. Slow Gods is a book with a light touch but a heavy impact, and it seamlessly uses a far-flung future to illustrate today’s issues. And it does it all with great pacing, a strong voice, and character arcs that pay off.
Rating: Slow Gods – 9.0/10
-Andrew
An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.
