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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Matthew Di Paoli’s Sun Gods follows Dwayne, a video game obsessive living in New York whose doomsday preparations become useful when a solar flare destroys the electrical grid. Three years later, Dwayne has turned the former FAO Schwarz toy store in Manhattan into a fortified refuge for other survivors he calls his “adds.” Among them is Link, a boy whose mother, Karolin, vanished during the catastrophe. Dwayne’s refuge sits near territory controlled by the Sungunners, an armed faction ruling Manhattan from the Plaza Hotel. When Dwayne decides to challenge their control before it reaches his group, he turns to Bishop Jeff, leader of another survivor community, and begins preparing an assault on the Plaza that may uncover what happened to Karolin after the city fell.
Matthew Di Paoli’s Sun Gods is a wickedly inventive post-apocalyptic dystopian novel that turns ruined Manhattan into an unusual new civilization governed by its own logic. Scarcity drives daily life, with a Sungunner checkpoint across flooded Fifth Avenue showing how access to basic resources can become political power almost overnight. Through Dwayne, the author examines technological dependence as old habits keep shaping how catastrophe makes sense long after ordinary institutions disappear. Later, Amaterasu’s encounter with her brother Susanoo on the Triborough Bridge brings solar mythology directly into post-collapse society, where borrowed names begin determining how survivors see themselves. Alternating time periods keep the pace moving, and Dwayne’s sardonic voice makes every encounter unmistakably his. With black comedy running through an offbeat New York setting, the author creates a distinctive vision of collapse that should appeal strongly to readers who enjoy unconventional post-apocalyptic fiction with speculative social satire. Very highly recommended.
