First things first: Christiana's reading was truly excellent. I always enjoy listening to one of her readings/podcasts. I love it when she does different voices for the characters, and she did a great job on this one.
The story:
Well... I kinda liked it. The whole killing the pagan gods thing for personal gain (or Truth) sort of irked me, but it's to be expected of an "enlightened" civilization. (Holy Roman Empire persecution of the Druids, anybody?).
I've said this before and I'm going to say it again, I like it when the fantasy is part of modern day life. Electronic alarms alongside wards, strong thick glass strengthened by charms, and hearing the words "data lines", "wards", and "cell towers" in the same sentence is fun.
The story was a little dark, and I was listening to it in broad daylight without a cloud in the sky, so it was a little weird, but a lot of fun.
Oh, spoiler alert, in case somebody didn't hear the end yet. If you haven't, do bother reading the rest of the post.
The character development was a little weak in my opinion. I spent far too much time trying to figure out exactly what the narrator is. (She's a girl, oh no wait, stubble. A dude then, and gay. That's fine. "Baby girl"
A man in denial? Oh, sex change...) it was fun trying to work it out, and I do like it when the author doesn't come right out and tell you what's going on, but makes you work for it, a la O'Henry. But there was too much going on that I was trying to figure out at the same time. (Scar? Tattoos? Blood of gods? Why jail? And what exactly does the blood of the gods do? And how come it doesn't affect Woody?) All the questions were answered in the end, but I spent a lot of the story trying to work it out, and think in parallel across many lines of thought.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, it was just.... strange.
I think the one thing I truly didn't like was the ending. My sense of justice is wronged. Huck is a manipulative bastard and needs to be punished so he knows he's been punished. (Having his tattoo burned out (how and when and why did that happen??) wasn't a punishment for him. It just fueled his hate and anger. He needed something a little more... dreadful, perhaps. Maybe losing his mind?) Also, having Woody work with him again implies either that he (Woody) hasn't learned his lesson, while it certainly sounds like he has. Or that he's falling prey to the same old "This time
I will be in charge, and things will be different" mantra which never works.
I don't need every story too have a happy ending, nor do I require the opposite. But this case just seemed off. The whole story was dark, and we get a happy ending, full of promise for the future? I don't think so. That makes the whole thing unbelievable. I had no problem with my suspension of disbelief until now, welcomed it in fact, but the ending won't carry. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't hold water.
Other than that, a very good story, especially (or because) it was written in a sleep-deprived 24 hour marathon.