Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What was your overall reaction to God of Fury as a reading experience? Were there moments where the intensity of Brandon and Nikolai’s dynamic drew you in, and were there others where it pushed you away? What do you think Rina Kent was aiming for with that balance?

2. The enemies-to-lovers structure is one of romance fiction’s most lasting tropes. Did you find Kent’s execution of it satisfying in God of Fury, or did the relentless escalation of conflict between Brandon and Nikolai start to feel repetitive at points? If you’ve read other novels built around this arc, such as Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue, how does Kent’s approach compare?

3. How did you feel about the way Kent chose to depict Brandon’s mental-health crisis and the road toward healing? Did the novel earn those final moments of hope, or did the resolution feel rushed given everything Brandon carries?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Brandon keeps up a performance of control and normalcy for years, presenting a polished exterior to the world while privately struggling. Think about a time when you maintained a version of yourself for others that didn’t fully reflect what was going on internally. What made it difficult to set that version aside, and what eventually shifted for you?

2. Landon dismisses Brandon’s orderly landscape paintings as boring and derivative yet immediately recognizes the power in his chaotic abstract work. Have you ever had someone in your life see a part of you, whether a talent, a feeling, or a truth, more clearly than you could see it yourself? How did that recognition affect you?

3. Brandon identifies as demisexual and only experiences desire in the context of a deep emotional connection, something he comes to understand more fully through his relationship with Nikolai. What formative experiences have helped you understand your own identity, particularly when the available labels feel incomplete or unfamiliar?

4. Nikolai’s loyalty to his chosen family, the Heathens, provides him with a sense of belonging as foundational as his bond with his blood relatives. Think about the communities or relationships outside your family of origin that have shaped your sense of self. What made those connections feel significant, and how did they change you?

5. Brandon’s rigid daily routine is his primary tool for managing internal chaos. Have you ever relied on a structure or habit to keep yourself steady during a difficult period? What did that discipline give you, and what did it cost you?

6. Throughout the novel, Brandon fears that being honest about his sexuality, his trauma, and his struggles will cost him the people he loves most. Yet when he finally opens up, his family and friends respond with warmth rather than rejection. Has your own experience shaped how you think about the relationship between vulnerability and trust? What does it take to believe that honesty won’t drive people away?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The dark-romance genre has exploded in popularity in recent years. What do you think this cultural moment says about what readers are looking for that more conventional romance doesn’t provide? Does the genre’s popularity say something meaningful about how people use fiction to explore difficult experiences safely?

2. Brandon’s silence about his sexual assault is shaped by shame, stigma, and the very real fear of disrupting his mother’s career. His experience as a male survivor is largely invisible to the people around him. How does the novel engage with the pressures that can make it hard for men to disclose abuse, and do you think those pressures are reflected in broader cultural conversations around gender and trauma?

3. God of Fury is set within a world of elite universities, secret clubs, and inherited power, drawing on the real-world mystique of organizations like Yale’s Skull and Bones or Oxford’s Bullingdon Club. What does the novel suggest about how institutions built on secrecy and exclusivity shape the people inside them? How does that context reinforce or complicate the personal themes of concealment and loyalty that drive Brandon and Nikolai’s story?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Kent uses an alternating dual-narrator structure throughout the novel, giving readers access to both Brandon’s and Nikolai’s internal states simultaneously. How does this technique create dramatic irony, particularly in early chapters where both characters are resisting what they feel? Were there moments where having access to both perspectives changed how you interpreted a scene?

2. Brandon’s two bodies of artistic work, his publicly admired landscapes and his hidden abstract paintings, track his psychological state across the novel. How does the moment when Landon calls the chaotic abstract piece “fucking brilliant” function as a turning point, and what does it suggest about the novel’s broader argument regarding authenticity and self-expression?

3. The lotus-flower symbol is introduced early when Nikolai gives Brandon the nickname, explaining that beauty can bloom from difficult circumstances. How does this symbol develop as the novel progresses, and what does it mean that Brandon eventually claims it for himself by the first Epilogue, tattooing “Niko’s Lotus Flower” over his own heart (588)?

4. Mirrors and reflections serve as a consistent motif tied to Brandon’s self-perception, from his early inability to face his own image to the novel’s closing scene where he looks in the mirror and sees a future rather than his past. How does Kent use this motif to chart his internal journey, and why do you think she chose a physical object rather than a purely emotional marker to signal his transformation?

5. Clara functions less as a fully developed character and more as a symbol of the life Brandon feels pressured to perform. How does her presence in the novel illuminate what Brandon is running from, and does reducing her to a symbol rather than a person serve the story’s purposes or limit them?

6. The blood motif connects Nikolai’s externalized violence and Brandon’s private self-harm in a way that makes their parallel suffering visible. How does Kent use this shared motif to draw a contrast between the two characters’ coping mechanisms, and what does it suggest about how isolation shapes the way pain is expressed or suppressed?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were to design the cover art for God of Fury, what imagery would you choose to capture the novel’s central tensions? Think about the symbols and motifs that run through the book—the lotus flower, the mirror, the chaotic abstract paintings—and consider how you’d visually represent the relationship between Brandon’s hidden self and the version of him the world sees.

2. Picture yourself casting God of Fury as a film or limited series. Which scenes do you think would be most challenging to translate to screen, and which would benefit most from a visual medium? How would you handle the dual internal narration that drives so much of the novel’s tension?

3. By the second Epilogue, Brandon proposes to Nikolai, and the two exchange rings engraved with a lotus flower and their initials. Imagine a third epilogue written from the perspective of a secondary character, perhaps Landon, Astrid, or Jeremy. What might that character observe about how Brandon and Nikolai have each changed, and what would their presence at this moment of the story reveal that neither protagonist could see about themselves?