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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story was good but did drag a bit
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A Love for the Sagas!
As ever, Andrew’s has a way with words that draws you into a layered adventure of magic, betrayal, and romance.
This new magic system is rich and complex, I enjoyed Andrew’s attention to detail. She strikes a perfect balance - giving us clear detail that is sprinkled as the story moves so readers are not overwhelmed with a slow start to the book. Instead we learn more as our MCs do and when readers reach the end they find themselves in a world that is far more complex than they first realized.
I enjoyed the yearning of MCs Lyra & Roark through this delicious slow burn that the reader can feel. Instead true Andrew’s fashion the MC’s are serving soul touching lines of devotion and main and supporting characters have clever banter throughout. She layered in some masterful twists and turns that left me sack jawed.
This is just the beginning for our star crossed lovers. Readers will eagerly look forward to the next installment.
As ever, Andrew’s has a way with words that draws you into a layered adventure of magic, betrayal, and romance.
This new magic system is rich and complex, I enjoyed Andrew’s attention to detail. She strikes a perfect balance - giving us clear detail that is sprinkled as the story moves so readers are not overwhelmed with a slow start to the book. Instead we learn more as our MCs do and when readers reach the end they find themselves in a world that is far more complex than they first realized.
I enjoyed the yearning of MCs Lyra & Roark through this delicious slow burn that the reader can feel. Instead true Andrew’s fashion the MC’s are serving soul touching lines of devotion and main and supporting characters have clever banter throughout. She layered in some masterful twists and turns that left me sack jawed.
This is just the beginning for our star crossed lovers. Readers will eagerly look forward to the next installment.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first book by L.J. Andrews and will not be my last. I love a Viking romance in any context, be it historical or romantasy, so I ate this up!
Lyra Bien has been hiding from the king in plain sight since she was a child. After her village was ransacked and her parents killed, she was brought up in an orphanage and then entered into the local jarl's service. Lyra is a rare melder, able to meld the bones of the dead to the living and it's the law that she must serve the king, but she's terrified of the potential consequences. When Roark Ashwood, the crown prince's Sentry is sent to find her, Lyra can no longer hide. Roark uses her relationship with her foster brother to expose her magic and then takes her to the king to serve as his next melder. Lyra is terrified, forced into compliance by the love she has for her brother but she finds that nothing is as she thought within the royal circle. The crown prince is kind, the others in the king's guard at Stonegate are hardworking and respectful and the prince's Sentry isn't all bad. So why does she keep encountering a dark figure who fills her with a sense of foreboding whenever she melds?
Viking romance is one of my favorite subgenres, whether it be in historical or romantasy. I love the political structure of the Viking era and the relative freedom in gender roles that exists, compared to the rest of the medieval period. This Viking romantasy has pretty much everything I love about the genre, wrapped into one book.
Lyra is not the typical shieldmaiden-type character we're used to being served in Viking romantasy. She can defend herself, but she's not a trained warrior, nor does she wish to be. She wants to live a quiet life away from the dangers and drama of the royals but that's not possible with her magic. Because Lyra grew up in hiding, she spends most of this book trying to figure out why her power works the way it does. How can she enter a trance from her first attempt melding when it usually takes much longer? Why can she enter the mirror world? Who is the dark stranger in her mirror and why can no one else see him? Lyra has so many questions but no one to ask so she has to rely on books and her own ingenuity.
Roark was a total surprise. I was expecting the typical Viking hero and instead we got a complicated man who cannot speak with his voice due to an injury so he uses sign language. What a cool characteristic for the hero of the book! Roark is very close to the crown prince, Thane. They act as brothers and Thane helped create the sign language Roark uses to communicate. I loved seeing their friendship and trust on page because it laid the groundwork for Lyra's trust in the prince and other members of the royal circle, creating an element of found family.
The romance in this book is both insta-attraction and super slow burn. Lyra and Roark are immediately drawn to each other, although neither knows why. It takes most of the book for them acknowledge the attraction– because of their positions in Stonegate, a relationship between them would never be allowed– and even longer for them to act on it. But when they finally do, it is worth the wait. Roark's sign language is deployed to quite the effect in the intimate scenes and L.J. Andrews does a great job of using their intimacy to further the plot.
Like most first books in romantasy series, this book does take a little while to get going. There's quite a bit of world building we need, both from the political and magical perspectives, before the plot can start moving. We also leave off on a cliffhanger so if that's not for you, perhaps you should wait until the next book comes out to read Broken Souls and Bones. I'm definitely planning to continue with this series and would recommend to anyone looking for a Viking romance or a romantasy that does not feature fae, vampires, or shifters.
Lyra Bien has been hiding from the king in plain sight since she was a child. After her village was ransacked and her parents killed, she was brought up in an orphanage and then entered into the local jarl's service. Lyra is a rare melder, able to meld the bones of the dead to the living and it's the law that she must serve the king, but she's terrified of the potential consequences. When Roark Ashwood, the crown prince's Sentry is sent to find her, Lyra can no longer hide. Roark uses her relationship with her foster brother to expose her magic and then takes her to the king to serve as his next melder. Lyra is terrified, forced into compliance by the love she has for her brother but she finds that nothing is as she thought within the royal circle. The crown prince is kind, the others in the king's guard at Stonegate are hardworking and respectful and the prince's Sentry isn't all bad. So why does she keep encountering a dark figure who fills her with a sense of foreboding whenever she melds?
Viking romance is one of my favorite subgenres, whether it be in historical or romantasy. I love the political structure of the Viking era and the relative freedom in gender roles that exists, compared to the rest of the medieval period. This Viking romantasy has pretty much everything I love about the genre, wrapped into one book.
Lyra is not the typical shieldmaiden-type character we're used to being served in Viking romantasy. She can defend herself, but she's not a trained warrior, nor does she wish to be. She wants to live a quiet life away from the dangers and drama of the royals but that's not possible with her magic. Because Lyra grew up in hiding, she spends most of this book trying to figure out why her power works the way it does. How can she enter a trance from her first attempt melding when it usually takes much longer? Why can she enter the mirror world? Who is the dark stranger in her mirror and why can no one else see him? Lyra has so many questions but no one to ask so she has to rely on books and her own ingenuity.
Roark was a total surprise. I was expecting the typical Viking hero and instead we got a complicated man who cannot speak with his voice due to an injury so he uses sign language. What a cool characteristic for the hero of the book! Roark is very close to the crown prince, Thane. They act as brothers and Thane helped create the sign language Roark uses to communicate. I loved seeing their friendship and trust on page because it laid the groundwork for Lyra's trust in the prince and other members of the royal circle, creating an element of found family.
The romance in this book is both insta-attraction and super slow burn. Lyra and Roark are immediately drawn to each other, although neither knows why. It takes most of the book for them acknowledge the attraction– because of their positions in Stonegate, a relationship between them would never be allowed– and even longer for them to act on it. But when they finally do, it is worth the wait. Roark's sign language is deployed to quite the effect in the intimate scenes and L.J. Andrews does a great job of using their intimacy to further the plot.
Like most first books in romantasy series, this book does take a little while to get going. There's quite a bit of world building we need, both from the political and magical perspectives, before the plot can start moving. We also leave off on a cliffhanger so if that's not for you, perhaps you should wait until the next book comes out to read Broken Souls and Bones. I'm definitely planning to continue with this series and would recommend to anyone looking for a Viking romance or a romantasy that does not feature fae, vampires, or shifters.