Goddess In The Machine by Lora Beth Johnson

*Spoiler free*

When Andra wakes up, she’s drowning. Not only that, but she’s in a hot, dirty cave, it’s the year 3102, and everyone keeps calling her Goddess. When Andra went into a cryonic sleep for a trip across the galaxy, she expected to wake up in a hundred years, not a thousand. Worst of all, the rest of the colonists–including her family and friends–are dead. They died centuries ago, and for some reason, their descendants think Andra’s a deity. She knows she’s nothing special, but she’ll play along if it means she can figure out why she was left in stasis and how to get back to Earth. Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Eerensed, has other plans. Four years ago, the sleeping Goddess’s glass coffin disappeared from the palace, and Zhade devoted himself to finding it. Now he’s hoping the Goddess will be the key to taking his rightful place on the throne–if he can get her to play her part, that is. Because if his people realize she doesn’t actually have the power to save their dying planet, they’ll kill her. With a vicious monarch on the throne and a city tearing apart at the seams, Zhade and Andra might never be able to unlock the mystery of her fate, let alone find a way to unseat the king, especially since Zhade hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with Andra. And a thousand years from home, is there any way of knowing that Earth is better than the planet she’s woken to?

When I heard about a book where a girl wakes up 1,000 years late and she’s considered a goddess by the civilization around her. Technology is now considered magic and she’s be killed if the vicious ruler finds out she’s not actually a goddess. I sounded like a fantastic sci-fi book and I couldn’t wait to read it!

I could honestly write “so good” over and over again for hours and fine with it because that’s how good this book is. Like, it’s everything the synopsis promises it’s going to be and more. There’s technology, a goddess who’s not really a goddess, a bastard prince, a dying world, and a vicious ruler. It’s so good and it’s hard to pick a place to start screaming about.

I guess I’ll start at the technology, since that’s as good a place as any! Let me tell you, it was fascinating. The way it’s described, it’s easy to imagine that it came from the technology that we have today. It was also incredibly complex. But, it was completely understandable. I was able to understand what everything was and how it worked. Johnson writes it in such a way that makes it understandable, fascinating, and slightly terrifying. Also the way it works with the world and how it evolved over time. Bots that could do hard labor and other things in that realm were moved to opening doors. A tablet that could do a tremendous amount of things was used as a flashlight. It was so cool to see how it evolved as people evolved.

The world was also amazing. I have to be very careful with what I say because I don’t want to spoil anything. The fragility of it was amazingly done. Everything about it was amazingly done. It’s mostly desert and a whole lot sand.

Alright alright, I’m talking about the plot twists now because THE PLOT TWISTS. When I got to the first one I was thinking, “Wow, this would have been cool to end the book on”, because it was that big. BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE. There is plot twist after plot twist and I was left reeling after every single one. And they are all so well executed. They all fit perfectly into the story and made complete sense. And the sheer number of them is an incredible feat. Just, wow.

I fell in love with every single character. Even the ones that had the smallest parts, like a guard who seems stoic, but is actually incredible sweet and a maid who never stops talking. The best friend who’s adorable and his twelve year old sister who’s incredibly badass. Just, all of them. They all have their own place in the story and I loved them all. Andra was stubborn and smart and she felt so human. SHE’S ALSO FAT. THERE WAS A FAT MAIN CHARACTER IN A SCI-FI BOOK. I was just a hodgepodge of emotions. I also really liked Zhade. I was surprised at how much he grew on me. He’s snarky and his secrets are buried well. But, he’s also incredibly smart. He’s a bit of a jerk, but wow, the things he planned and the things he did.

JOHNSON ALSO CREATED A NEW LANGUAGE FOR THIS BOOK. She’s a genius. It’s beyond amazing. It’s also amazing how I wasn’t sure of it in the beginning, but came to be completely in love with it in the end. It’s like English, but not quite. It’s mostly new slang used in this new time. It truly feels like what English would become as it evolved alongside the people. Plus, Zhade’s chapters were written in this new language, which I thought was amazing. It was also pretty easy to catch on to and understand. All around, it was incredible.

There’s so much I want to talk about with this book, but I can’t because of spoilers. Halfway through the book, everything changes. Then within the last 20ish pages, there’s two huge plot twists. This book is constantly changing and evolving the best ways possible. I don’t want to ruin any of it. So, this book is brutal. Johnson isn’t afraid to rip your heart out again and again while leaving your reeling from reveals. It’s bloody and filled with technology. I could honestly scream about this book for an incredible long time. It’s so good.

Goddess In The Machine comes out June 30, 2020! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy of your own!

Thank you for reading!