I picked up this book because the third book in the trilogy was released in 2024 and was on many readers' lists as one of the best fantasy books of last year, so I was excited to give this a try. Especially since it puts a spin on the standard fantasy tropes by drawing from Norse mythology rather than the typical Greek, Roman, and Western European legends. And it really didn't disappoint... too much.

The one area where the book felt a little lacking was in the cohesion department. The book synopsis says:




And, I mean, I guess it doesn't specifically say that the three of them will shape the fate of the world together, but I did kind of feel like that was heavily implied and that turns out to not be the case. At least not in this first book, where the three storylines barely intersect at all. Maybe, since it's intended to be a closed trilogy rather than an ongoing series, the whole point is that the first book is a "set the stage for the other two books" kind of exercise, but I really dislike feeling like an entire 500+ page book is basically just setup for the good stuff.

I'd also say that the author has 2/3 of an interesting group of people here. The "thrall seeking vengeance" (Varg) was immediately captivating and I was hooked on his narrative from the very beginning. The "huntress on a dangerous quest" (Orka) was someone who grew on me as the story progressed... and their narrative coinciding at the very end of the book was really compelling. The third character, Elvar ("the noblewoman pursuing battle fame") was the least interesting of the characters and I found myself often skimming her chapters because there just wasn't a lot there to engage with.

That said, it was still a very well-written book and the other two characters were compelling enough that I think I'll actually finish this series. I'm going to take a little break for a while to focus on some other books, but this is an author (and a trilogy) I can see myself wanting to return to before long.

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Created Apr 27, 2025 at 3:00pm • Submit your own review...