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Pathfinder: Godsrain

4.20/5 (based on 9 ratings)
Pathfinder: Godsrain

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The first Pathfinder novel in years promises a world-changing tale of epic scale set amidst the War of Immortals!

Gods are not meant to die. They're supposed to be immortal, too powerful to be struck down or wither to dust like the people of Golarion. It has been more than a century since Aroden, god of humanity, met his mysterious doom, and his death ushered in a new era of uncertain prophecy and turmoil—the Age of Lost Omens. Now another god has died, his death broadcast across the skies in a metaphysical projection of his murder reverberating over any world on which he was worshipped. And from his rent corpse falls the Godsrain, a torrent of the god's blood and divine essence. Those touched by this rain are blessed—some would say cursed—with a god-spark that imbues upon them mythic power.

Four veteran adventurers—the barbarian Amiri, the wizard Ezren, the cleric Kyra, and her wife, the elven rogue Merisiel—witness this calamity, and with their newfound mythic power find themselves on the trail of fell forces looking to capitalize on the chaos. Using their unique skills, nascent god-sparks, and even the firsthand blessings of one of Golarion's most potent deities, they must race against time and fate to prevent the greatest threat to Golarion and beyond from escaping an impenetrable prison. From fan-favorite author Liane Merciel (Hellknight, Nightglass, War of Immortals) comes a truly iconic adventure of high fantasy set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Follow the heroes from the desert bazaars of Osirion to the heart of the permanent hurricane known as the Eye of Abendego, as they come to terms with their own mortality, the tenuous powers of the immortal gods, and the new world that unfolds before them in the wake of the Godsrain.

Printed in hardcover with a handsome dust jacket illustrated by Mirco Paganessi. Audiobook runtime 11h56m, narrated by Samantha Moon.

Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-626-4

Audiobook ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-628-8

ePub ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-627-1

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A Godsrain Review - Really good Pathfinder Fiction

4/5 —

TLDR: It's quite good. If you're invested in the lore, and fantasy books are your jam, pick this up. While I would say this is a fairly standard fantasy novel, where it excels is being a PATHFINDER novel.

Godsrain, a Pathfinder Novel, tells the story of the Iconic Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, and Barbarian, as they embark on a divine quest to save the world, in the wake of the Godsrain, the downpour of magical blood and metal that occurred after the death of Gorum. But you could have gotten that from the back cover of the book. Now let me tell you why I like it.

Like I alluded to, the strength of this book isn't its setting exactly, but in how much this feels like the world that the Pathfinder adventures take place in. This novel feels like it was written with character sheets for the iconics on hand, and the "feel" of playing Pathfinder in mind. This is maybe my favorite aspect of the book, but also the hardest to articulate. To give some minor examples as spoilers, in the first chapter a character is noted to be moving with effortless grace for their bulk. I don’t know about you, but that rang true for every time I've rolled a knowledge check and my DM is trying to communicate that an enemy has high DEX and STR. Later, we see the elderly wizard struggling to climb some steps sized for giants, and they are wordlessly assisted by the Barbarian. No particular attention is drawn to this moment, but I remember thinking "Hey now, was that the Aid action?" The entire book is like this, ranging from "Was that the follow-the-expert skill action to stealth?" or "Was that us, the characters, breezing past an easy hazard?" or "Is this the party gaining access to an Uncommon spell?". I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with allocating characters' tasks based on who has the highest bonus in that skill, or the appropriate save, and this book is just dripping with that sort of delegation that just feels so much like playing the game.

I cannot praise Liane Merciel enough for this aspect of the novel. When looking up her writing credits, I was shocked to not see any writing credits for Adventure Paths, because this book read exactly how an AP is remembered. EDIT: never mind she has written for Season of Ghosts, I just misread during my research. Based on that alone I think I’ll have to run that adventure, or convince one of my GMs to run it, if this is the level of quality we can expect.

Another aspect of the book that shines is the Characters. As expected, we follow a cast of the four Iconics. Everyone gets the chance to shine, with a real emphasis on how they view each other compared to how they view themselves. This also feeds into the plot in ways I won’t get into here, Amri the Barbarian really shines in this role, and the relationship between the married couple Kyra and Merisel plays into this heavily. If you are a fan of these Iconic characters, maybe after encountering them in one of the Owlcat games, I think you will find a lot to love here.

Finally, I can't really dig through the lore without massive spoilers, but the lore here is good. It's accurate to what we know, and builds on it in interesting ways. Nothing groundbreaking, but I appreciate their work here. Lots of little bits for the lorehunters to chew on, which is always appreciated.

To restate, TLDR: It's quite good. If you're invested in the lore, and fantasy books are your jam, pick this up. If you want to see how well the RPG experience can be captured in novel form, pick this one up. You'll find lore to chew on and characters to love, with only a small few things that diminished the experience.

Ring Side Report-Book Review-Pathfinder: Godsrain

4/5 —

Author- Liane Merciel
Book- ~$24.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq06j6k?Pathfinder-Godsrain
TL; DR- Solidly for the fans, maybe too much. 87%
Basics-Gods can’t die…except when they do! The god of war is murdered and it kicks off a series of events that might result in the death of them all! Can iconic Pathfinder characters stop the death of every god?
Characters– This book uses iconic pathfinder characters and follows them on a typical, world shattering adventure. This is the first book I’ve read featuring these characters. The iconics all feel like they should and are well written. The one issue I have is the book feels like it was written with only diehard Pathfinder fans as the audience. Readers who don’t know these characters from playing Pathfinder Society might be a bit lost. I enjoyed it, but some newer fans might be lost. 4.5/5
Setting– This book features a number of iconic Pathfinder Society locations, but has the same issues as the characters. This book is pretty world spanning as characters run from desert, to Pirate Cove, to Lost Island in an eternal hurricane. The places are well described, but are not as linked to a larger world or history as newer readers might need. It’s good but some readers might get lost if they don’t know these locations from the Pathfinder game. 4.5/5
Story-The story is good, but feels disjointed. The main event of the title is the death of a god, but then that is just kind of abandoned. I felt like that was important and might be the main threat in multiple novels after this one. The main story is more about the threat that a different god might have to all other gods. That’s intriguing, but a major event in the world happens, and then is just kind of abandoned. It’s a plot point, but not a major one. I felt like there was lost potential and that that main event was just abandoned. 4/5
Summary-This is a good book and a fun step back into the Pathfinder Tales. I want more books, so I’m glad this book exists. It’s not perfect; the novel might not have enough inroads for new readers to Pathfinder. Also, the title feels abandoned about a quarter of the way into the book. I want to know more about the Godsrain, but this book won’t tell you about it. If more novels focus on that and these characters, I’ll keep reading! 87%.

Lore abounds

5/5 —

Finished Godsrain yesterday and really enjoyed the lore and the dives into the characters. Meri had me crying several times, as did Kyra when they finally TALKED (yes, that in fact is useful in relationships y'all). The main nemesis is great, as was the final conclusion and sacrifice.

Godsrain is Mythic!!!

5/5 —

This is everything I wanted and needed in a Pathfinder novel focused kn the Godsrain and War of Immortals.

Liane Merciel was definitely blessed by The Radiant Prism inthe crafting this mythical tome.

Absolutely loved it, great character moments.

5/5 —

I was worried when I read the initial review and I can see that I do not agree with some of the characters being one dimensional, I felt they were very much developed in the time given.

All four of the characters had excellent moments, and at least one really good moment I swooned over. The writer Liane Merciel is a pure writing genius, as I noticed a number of small details pop up throughout the chapters and proper call backs to previous threads which came to fruition.

Very happy with what I paid for it. Her writing of the events, lore, characters, and new iconics was enjoyable. Please give this woman another book to write.

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Paizo Employee Sales & eCommerce Assistant
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Announced for November! Product images and descriptions are not final and are subject to change. :)
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So pumped for this
Sovereign Court

glad to see a new Novel
Scarab Sages
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Count me in. This whole event is going to be epic for the game world. Novel, Lost Omen, Adventures, and Adventure Paths, etc. Awesome stuff.
2 people marked this as a favorite.

My baby... Hope you had a good death at least...

But also pause... heart of the Eye of Abendego, you say?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
rimestocke wrote:

...

But also pause... heart of the Eye of Abendego, you say?

It makes sense to me. If you want bits of godstuff to rain down on large portions of Golarion, ripping a deity apart high up in a magically massive hurricane seems like a good mechanism.

I am curious as to how the Eye connects to Rovagug's prison, though. Perhaps the deity's death taking place there is significant.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Interesting word choice in that blurb...

Anyway, I absolutely cannot wait for this!!!
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
14 people marked this as a favorite.
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.

Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Finally doing something with your iconics (aside from the comics). :) Yeah, I'm gonna get this.
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Novels are back yay!

Liane is writing also yay!
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Woo! Novels are back, baby!
Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

Same day as the hardcover or later?

Is there any news about the two remaining novels as audiobooks?
"Through the Gate in the Sea" and "Gears of Faith" are still missing from the audiobook releases.
Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

Awesome, thanks Mark!

Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

Awesome, I was hoping audiobook would be an option!

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
8 people marked this as a favorite.
Starocotes wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

Same day as the hardcover or later?

Is there any news about the two remaining novels as audiobooks?
"Through the Gate in the Sea" and "Gears of Faith" are still missing from the audiobook releases.

Should be same day across all formats.

As for the two missing audiobooks you mention, MacMillan Audio has the rights to publish those (or not) still, and when TOR didn't renew the Pathfinder Tales license in 2017, the audiobooks for these were cancelled.

When the rights to those novels reverts to Paizo, we will explore making audiobooks of them, because I certainly don't like there being this gap in our catalogue, but there are costs associated with producing those, and the return on that investment for books that are otherwise out of print and years old is much less than the potential return on new material, so we'll have to strike a balance.
Sovereign Court
1 person marked this as a favorite.

So is fiction coming back coming back, or is this a special release only?
Scarab Sages Design Manager
13 people marked this as a favorite.
Runnetib wrote:

So is fiction coming back coming back, or is this a special release only?

If you would like to see more novels, it would likely behoove you to buy this and encourage all your friends to do the same.

Scarab Sages
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Ordered!
Mark Moreland wrote:


Should be same day across all formats.

As for the two missing audiobooks you mention, MacMillan Audio has the rights to publish those (or not) still, and when TOR didn't renew the Pathfinder Tales license in 2017, the audiobooks for these were cancelled.

When the rights to those novels reverts to Paizo, we will explore making audiobooks of them, because I certainly don't like there being this gap in our catalogue, but there are costs associated with producing those, and the return on that investment for books that are otherwise out of print and years old is much less than the potential return on new material, so we'll have to strike a balance.

Thanks for the info. That is perfectly understandable.

But that Godsrain will be at the same day will help me tremendously.

I hope that using Audible will help the decision for more novels as well.
Sovereign Court
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Michael Sayre wrote:
Runnetib wrote:

So is fiction coming back coming back, or is this a special release only?

If you would like to see more novels, it would likely behoove you to buy this and encourage all your friends to do the same.

I would love to see more novels, but a cheaper paperback option would be appreciated.

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

HOLUP

Paizo is gonna give me audiobooks!?

Desna smiles on me TvT
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Cylerist wrote:
Michael Sayre wrote:
Runnetib wrote:

So is fiction coming back coming back, or is this a special release only?

If you would like to see more novels, it would likely behoove you to buy this and encourage all your friends to do the same.
I would love to see more novels, but a cheaper paperback option would be appreciated.

Problem is the cheap paperbacks don't make money.

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Yeah the E-Book has pretty much eaten the paperback's lunch.
Community and Social Media Specialist
4 people marked this as a favorite.
McMoogle wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

HOLUP

Paizo is gonna give me audiobooks!?

Desna smiles on me TvT

Audible does have the audiobooks of the other novels we have released (and the audio dramas too if you like full cast with sound effects)

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Jonathan Morgantini wrote:
McMoogle wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
AJCarrington wrote:
Was anything mentioned re an .epub version as well? This will likely be the first hardback I’ve picked up in quite some time, but love the flexibility of digital.
Godsrain will be available as an e-book and audiobook as well.

HOLUP

Paizo is gonna give me audiobooks!?

Desna smiles on me TvT

Audible does have the audiobooks of the other novels we have released (and the audio dramas too if you like full cast with sound effects)

The audiobook for Shy Knives is quite good!

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
8 people marked this as a favorite.
Cylerist wrote:
I would love to see more novels, but a cheaper paperback option would be appreciated.

If the hardcover sells well enough, trade paperback and maybe eventually mass market paperback are distinct possibilities. Purchasing it as an ebook or audiobook in the meantime will also help us determine how viable other formats are.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Starocotes wrote:
I hope that using Audible will help the decision for more novels as well.

It certainly will! While we'll make more money off of audiobook sales directly on paizo.com (assuming we go with a digital distribution partner that allows such), we will be looking at sales numbers overall, not just raw revenue, to see how successful this experiment is. So buy the novel in whatever format works best for you, on whatever marketplace is most convenient, and we'll count that as a win!

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Okay, gotta ask this, but is this "in continuity" or "out of continuity" for those characters? By this, I mean are we getting some sort of canon story which will affect them and be remembered by them in the future (as far as their personality and character growth goes... of course Amiri is going to have to deal with the death of her god) or is this just as much of a "okay, we set this particular set of iconics in this situation, next time we use them they won't remember that this happened and will be across the world in a different story" thing, like with adventure paths? By this I mean, is this the Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine approach?

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, but since the iconics are, well, the iconics, of course it has more meaning to me if they experience permanent character growth or remain in their character stasis they've been in for the last decade and a half.
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
4 people marked this as a favorite.
magnuskn wrote:
is this the Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine approach?

Probably more TNG than DS9, in the sense that we don't want someone who comes to these characters in a few years to be missing something by not having read this book. But there are some major changes to the characters that come about in the novel, so maybe it's a bit of both? You'll have to read it and report back on which of the two narrative styles you feel it fits more into.

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Mark Moreland wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
is this the Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine approach?
Probably more TNG than DS9, in the sense that we don't want someone who comes to these characters in a few years to be missing something by not having read this book. But there are some major changes to the characters that come about in the novel, so maybe it's a bit of both? You'll have to read it and report back on which of the two narrative styles you feel it fits more into.

Alright, will do! :)

I can see why you would be hesitant to involve the iconic characters in ongoing storylines, for the reason you mentioned. In the cases of Amiri and Seelah, they already are part of the Owlcat CRPG's, which are not canonical to the "true timeline" of Golarion (which is established by the AP's), yet make those two have very definite personalities in the minds of people who have played those games.

Is this book gonna have a chronicle sheet like the novels released during 1e did?

Can you pre order digital copies or just the Hardcover?
adam morin wrote:
Can you pre order digital copies or just the Hardcover?

Pre-orders of physical products help Paizo predict the actual number of copies they need to print. There is no such utility in knowing how many people are excited about digital copies.

I don't recall ever seeing PDFs be available to purchase before the release date for the physical product. And when physical product is delayed, so is the release of the digital version.

You can place your order for the digital version as soon as the physical version is released, but not before.

I also assume that the Digital copy and the Hardcover copy are two separate buys, as in I wont get a PDF as well when buying the Hardcover?
adam morin wrote:
I also assume that the Digital copy and the Hardcover copy are two separate buys, as in I wont get a PDF as well when buying the Hardcover?

True.

The only time you get a free digital version with your physical purchase is if you are a subscriber to one of the Paizo product lines. Subscribers get a free copy when their order ships as a subscriber perk.

Otherwise, buying a physical product (either from Paizo, a gaming store, or from any other source) does not give you the digital product as well.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Where can I pre-order the audiobook?
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

This might be a silly question, but will this be part of the old Pathfinder Tales subscriptions? Or do we need to order it as a standalone product?

I am cool with either, but want to make sure that if I need to pre-order that I do so.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Paizo, you have such great, deep, well thoughtout lore and world building. Please do yourselves and us simple folks a favor and continue the novels. You have such great characters that you shelved, like Salim Gadafar, the Atheist priest hunter that sold his soul to Pharasma... bring these characters back. Cheers
Grand Archive
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
JUSTMQZ wrote:
Paizo, you have such great, deep, well thoughtout lore and world building. Please do yourselves and us simple folks a favor and continue the novels. You have such great characters that you shelved, like Salim Gadafar, the Atheist priest hunter that sold his soul to Pharasma... bring these characters back. Cheers

The novels stopped not becasue Paizo wanted to stop, but because they couldn't find any publisher interested in doing them anymore, sadly.

So yeah, the success of this new one will be very important for the future prospects.

Nice. Is this the first time the Iconics have been put in a novel? I like the look of this.
Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

Hope it does well enough for the trade or mass market paperback. I avoid hardcovers for their size and weight primarily. If it was priced the same I'd still buy the paperback. But hopefully in a year I'll be able to.
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
6 people marked this as a favorite.
JoelF847 wrote:
Hope it does well enough for the trade or mass market paperback. I avoid hardcovers for their size and weight primarily. If it was priced the same I'd still buy the paperback. But hopefully in a year I'll be able to.

We hope so too, but the easiest way to help us feel comfortable publishing this in other formats is if sales on this one are high enough. So consider getting the hardcover as a gift for someone who doesn't mind the weight and size, or pick it up in eBook or audiobook format while we wait to see how well it does and assess the viability of a trade or mass market option.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Is the eBook going to be available from the Google Play store? (Or library services like Libby/Overdrive?)
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Ross Byers wrote:
Is the eBook going to be available from the Google Play store? (Or library services like Libby/Overdrive?)

Yes, it should be. We are in the process of setting up wider eBook and audiobook distribution channels for this book and our back catalogue, and all three of those should be among those available to readers. For Libby/Overdrive, you'll need your local library to buy a copy to lend, of course, but it will be available for them to do so.

Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Okay, I pre-ordered this ages ago, when it was first announced. I am super excited about this.

Reading through this thread though... I think I'll buy a Kindle copy as well, use my hardcover as a display piece in my bookshelf and use the kindle copy to read. In about a month or so afterwards, basically the next time I have to drive to Florida, I'll probably get the audio book.

Speaking of the audio book, has there been a release about who is narrating it?

Preordered Hard Cover and Getting the Audiobook on Audible.

I want to see the Tales line return :)
Paizo Employee Sales & eCommerce Assistant
7 people marked this as a favorite.

Surprise! This will be an October release! :)
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Mika Hawkins wrote:
Surprise! This will be an October release! :)

The audiobook, which is still in production, will not be moving up to an earlier release date, and may, in fact come out a few weeks after Godsrain shows up in bookstores other than Paizo.com. We will have a product page and release date for it as soon as a few production-based elements are clarified.

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook Subscriber; Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
Brinebeast wrote:

This might be a silly question, but will this be part of the old Pathfinder Tales subscriptions? Or do we need to order it as a standalone product?

I am cool with either, but want to make sure that if I need to pre-order that I do so.

Did we get an answer on whether Tales Subscribers need to Pre-Order this or it will be sent as part of that subscription?

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