It’s almost three months since Become As God was released, and it’s starting to receive some glowing praise from reviewers.

Become As God has received glowing reviews for its superb storytelling, multilayered and finely developed characters, deep emotional undercurrents, subtle humour, and well-crafted subplots with cliffhangers. Reviewers have called it ‘stunningly original and delightful’, ‘a one-of-a-kind novel’, and a ‘mind-boggling epic fantasy’, with one reviewer describing the storytelling as ‘superb’. Its intricate world-building, intense body horror, dialect-driven narration and mythology have been highly praised.

Become As God is available through Amazon on Kindle and in paperback:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3CYLLPB

For anyone interested in hearing what other people are saying about Become As God, I have posted the reviews in full below.

5 star review from Divine Zape on Readers’ Favorite

Some books entertain you, and others, like A. B. Watts’s Become As God, rewire you. Welcome to Modrinia, the Delivered Kingdom, where magic is outlawed and dreaded to the extent that the citizens only refer to it as “the m-word.” Sleep is a thing that belongs to the horror invented to keep slave dogs obedient. Detective Linen Cobskin spends his nights staring at a TV screen, waiting for his aunt’s old house, number 34 Shepherd Street, to shimmer into existence between two terraced houses. When it does, he discovers children missing for eighty-two years. They are still alive, unaged, with something pink sprouting from their scalps. Elsewhere, Professor Mithba Harland, a nine-foot canine scientist humiliated by Mayor Grisford, accidentally runs down a stranger on a dark forest road and decides her forbidden experiment deserves a try. What begins as a police investigation into missing children quickly erupts into an interdimensional war for existence.

A. B. Watts populates this book with characters that are strange and quirky, and you will consider some of them as though they were friends you have known for a long time. Each of the characters has moments of epiphany that are stunning. Cobskin’s certainties shatter the moment he holds the Lance of Justice. Mithba’s kindness literally leads to tragedy. The pacing is brisk, a rollercoaster of sorts, with chapters leading steadily to cliffhangers, like a Prime Minister erasing memory, turtles in goldfish bowls, and a stadium massacre in Purronto. Become As God fuses dialect-driven narration with queasy body horror, cozy banter, and present-tense urgency into something stunningly original and delightful. You will need to read this epic tale with your heart open, and keep tissues near your “unyay” vitamins.

5 star review from Romuald Dzemo on Readers’ Favorite

Become As God by A. B. Watts is a mind-boggling epic fantasy set in the country of Modrinia, where magic is taboo and feared so much it is only referred to as “the m-word.” In this world, humans and canines operate as equals, kept awake permanently by the unyay paste after losing sleep centuries ago. When Detective Linen Cobskin raids a house on Shepherd Street, together with deputies Rucktar and Kel, he discovers decades of missing children bound in enchanted slumber by Leyhwan, the “Dreamer.” Meanwhile, canine Professor Mithba Harland, working to perfect immortality on pigs, is rejected by Mayor Grisford. In the aftermath, she runs over a fugitive named Staithie Becksdon and resurrects her, binding their fates. Soldier Gabelle Davles is badly hurt trying to liberate canine slaves in Purronto, losing her friend Eba Tougue soon after. These plotlines merge with startling revelations about the protagonists.

The storytelling is superb and captivated me the most. A. B. Watts mimics the tone, the pronunciation, and the accents of the characters. The result is that their perspectives are stunningly captured, together with the accompanying sarcasm, humor, and streams of consciousness. The author cleverly juggles big ideas in a tale that has deep emotional undercurrents. He examines systemic racism where gray canines are enslaved for their feline genocide, the ethics of eternal life, and the concept of the “greater good” linked to Lonika’s child-led cult. Become As God features multilayered, finely developed characters who transform through their ordeals. The author maintains suspense through well-crafted subplots and cliffhangers, keeping you guessing as you turn the pages. There is plenty of humor in this epic fantasy, sometimes sly, sometimes deadpan, but often so grim it lingers between funny and horrifying. This book is a delightful read.

5 star review on Amazon by Kathryn McLear

Loved the concept and was glad I read this.

This was so well written and I enjoyed the science-fantasy horror element of this book. It uses the deities perfectly and was able to weave something that worked in the genre and plot of the characters. The characters had that overall feel that worked and were used in this tense atmosphere. A.B Watts has a great writing style and am glad I got to read this.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

5 star review by Essien Asian on Readers’ Favorite

‘Tective Cobskin’s determination to solve a long-running case of missing children leads him to a nondescript part of town and a house where nefarious individuals have hidden away the unconscious children. Having solved one part of this befuddling riddle, the diligent officer turns his attention to bringing all of those involved in this dastardly crime, whether human or canine, to book so that they face the laws of Modrinia. He has no idea that his crusade for justice will uncover a conspiracy of gigantic proportions within the kingdom, involving ancient factions and gods determined to settle an old score with devastating consequences. Read along and uncover the truth in A. B. Watts’s Become As God.

A. B. Watts combines intricate world-building with extensive origin stories in Become As God. He helps readers understand the unique relationship between humans and canines, and the origins of Modrinia’s citizens’ dislike of anything associated with magic. The author complements these elements with dialogue that oscillates between strategic and emotional while maintaining subtle humor in the undertones. The pace is rapid, graduating from sedate as the perspective follows Cobskin’s detective work to full-on breakneck as all the factions collide in the latter part of the narrative. The author deserves plaudits for a narrative style that fluidly integrates time travel and ancient mythology to immerse science fiction purists. Factor in the attention to detail in the battle scenes, and you have a one-of-a-kind novel that will appeal to action and fantasy enthusiasts in equal measure.