Reviewer: storylover543 Signed
Date: May 13 2024
Title: Chapter 7: Divinity Displaced
Hey, thanks for the response :) Yeah, I like hypocritical power-hungry characters. Characters like Lex Luthor justify hating Superman because of some tripe about how he doesn't want mankind to be reliant on an alien god and that he'll stifle humanity. What he really means is that he hates that humanity isn't relying on LUTHOR and every time he gets a comparable level of power he quickly goes mad and makes it clear that all his resentment and rage boils down to Original Position Fallacy.
Isabelle is interesting because she has VERY good reason to dislike the gods, particularly Alexandra. They basically go 'Gods Work in Mysterious Ways', but unless I missed something, there actually is no reason given as to why they don't simply change things like world hunger, cancer, poverty etc etc. Melissa gets mad when the tv show host unintentionally calls her own it and Isabelle justifiably states that it's bullshit. Judging by Isabelle, the reason amounts to 'they'd rather just have fun and be the big dogs rather than actually solve longer lasting problems due to megalomania'.
Alexandra is the worst of the lot. I think you mentioned in another review that she was secretly a softy or that she has a kind heart underneath, but you can't really walk back casual mass murder. It's mentioned and shown that Alex uses cities as toys to get herself off and that she most definitely kills and injures hundreds to thousands of people every time she does this. I figured at first that maybe she needs mass fear to function, but we saw her getting off just fine with JUST Emma's fear in the previous chapter. The fact that she specifically targeted the corrupt CEO's makes me think that she COULD just target deserving victims like killers, rapists etc but chooses not to because terrorizing an innocent populace is quicker and easier. And as a god, she just doesn't care about massacring humans any more than humans care about massacring ants.
But yeah, here's hoping that Isaballe does NOT get powers. We've already got for four (now maybe two?) examples of power-hungry gods in the setting and a fifth one just wouldn't be as interesting as a powerless human with a lust for power that could rival any deity. Her absolute lack of self-reflection or sense of irony is fun and I wonder if she'd serve the gods she purports to hate so much if she thinks it gives her a chance to scrape some power or influence from them.
I also hope that Emma retains her morals. Her being the new most powerful god, but actually retaining most of her morals, would make her a good foil to Melissa. As another review pointed out, Melissa seems to understand that she knows what she's doing is wrong but her pride and status as a god refuses to let her accept it. She demands that her husband apologize to her rather than the other way around. Emma being the new power on the block who doesn't fall to megalomania kind of spits in Melissa's face about the idea that all humans, regardless of who they were, will inevitably decide that 'fuck you, got mine' is the only resolution they can come to.
On a side note, do you have a discord and/or patreon? I'd subscribe to get earlier chapters :)
Author's Response:
God work in mysterious ways™ -- pretty much the excuse gods give
to mortals when they don’t want to explain themselves, lol. I won’t expressly
share what the gods mean by this flat-out, but it will come out as the story
progresses. There’s a reason behind the madness.
You think Alexandra is the worst? Interesting. I suppose she
is. She’s selective with who she punishes, but she does leave a lot of
collateral damage in her wake. I guess when I compare her to other stories that
have super-powerful goddesses, Alexandra is pretty tame. Shoot, even the stuff
Isabel said makes Alex seem tame.
I have some creative ideas for Emma that have me really
excited about future chapters. Emma is going to be nothing like the other gods.
And her dealing with Isabel is going to be hella fun to watch.
I don’t do Patreon or early release. I have some beta-readers
that help me through some chapters, but even then, I don’t share everything.
You can hit me up on discord. My username there is MXP20.
