Today I will share a list of five books with mythology gods and goddesses as main characters in the story. A lot of people enjoy reading novels, or just books in general. And what is better than reading about different kinds of genres and subjects, like mythology?
Here are five books with gods as main characters:
- “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman
- “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan
- “The Gods’ Scion: Child of Tempus” by Winnifred Tataw
- “The Palace of Illusions” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- “The Gospel of Loki” by Joanne M. Harris
- “The Immortals of Meluha” by Amish Tripathi
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The gods are among us, and they’re not happy. In “American Gods,” a novel by Neil Gaiman, the gods have come to America to escape an advancing desert in their own world. They’ve come to America, too, to escape their worshippers who have abandoned them for other gods. Now they are fighting for their survival in a world that doesn’t understand them or care about them. The only person who does is Shadow Moon, a convict who gets out of prison early on account of his wife’s death, who becomes the bodyguard for Mr. Wednesday — one of these gods — as he travels around America recruiting his army.
The gods are not easy characters to write because they’re so powerful and so removed from our human concerns that it can be difficult to connect with them and make them sympathetic. But Gaiman manages it beautifully here by showing us how little we understand about our own lives and how dependent we are on events over which we have no control — like death or weather — but which seem so arbitrary at times that we assume there must be some higher power behind them all.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is a demigod and the son of Poseidon. He finds out that he has to go on a quest to find Zeus’ lightning bolt and return it to him. But there’s more than meets the eye in this quest as Percy discovers that there are other gods and monsters out there who want the same thing he does.
The Gods’ Scion: Child of Tempus by Winnifred Tataw
Child of Tempus is the first book by indie author Winnifred Tataw’s, YA fantasy book series, The Gods’ Scion. This book focuses on the life journey of the main character, Prince Rodrick Purcill, and how he deals with the consequences of the horrors of the world he was born into.
“The Palace of Illusions” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Set in ancient India, this is the story of two sisters, Shakuntala and Damayanti. They are princesses with magical powers that can shape the future of the kingdom. Both sisters fall for King Dushyanta. He marries Shakuntala but leaves her at night to return to his wife who lives in another country. When he returns to Shakuntala and finds out she is pregnant with his child, he has no choice but to marry her and raise their child together.
“The Gospel of Loki” by Joanne M. Harris
This book follows a Norse god who loses his place among other gods when humans begin to worship them less because they start believing in one god instead of many gods like before. Loki must find a way to regain his place among other gods as well as gain back the respect of humans once again or risk losing everything he has worked so hard for over centuries.
“The Immortals of Meluha” by Amish Tripathi
The main character Shiva is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu on earth who battles evil forces trying to take over his homeland. This is a trilogy that tells the story of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh as they try to stop an evil king from destroying all of India with his demon army (led by Ravana).
Several books have gods and goddesses as the main characters in the story. Whether they are great or terrible, there are many exciting stories about them that could be fascinating to read. If you love Greek mythology or any world mythology and want to know more about gods, then I hope this blog was helpful for you to find some new reads!
Thanks for reading and remember:
Live. Laugh. Love.
