The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers

The Horns of Ruin is my first foray into steampunk. The novel also has elements of sword and sorcery, which makes it quite an interesting adventure.

There were three brothers who became gods of the city of Ash. They were Morgan the Warrior, Alexander the Healer, and Amon the Scholar. Each was human before they were a god, and has a human cult who worships them.

Eva Forge is the last Paladin of the dead god Morgan. Near the novel's beginning, people in the cult of Morgan are being kidnapped or murdered, and Eva is trying to find out who is behind it. 

That is the premise of the novel. It was a lot of fun, really. Here's what I liked about it:

• There is a mythology at play. It is cool to read about the mysterious gods...
• ...And the powers bestowed by them. Invokations. Noetic armor. Weapon replicas. 
• The writing is interesting. Written in first-person. Sentence fragments are used to good effect. Good word choice. It's sort of dreamlike.
• Action! This book has quite a bit of it. Eva Forge is a true Warrior...and fights like one.
• The city feels alive. It is vast and industrial, yet accessible.
• It is fast-paced. So the plot unravels fast enough that everything more or less comes together by the end.

It is an amusing, fantastical, and technological romp of a book. Strongly recommended!