Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

60 reviews

dandan10's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Skyrim wouldn't do me like this.

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bookameme's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

Intense and Heartbreaking with all the Viking Battles You Could Ask For

“I am yours and you are mine, even if we’re the only ones that know it.”

Thoughts:💡

Children of the Gods are unfated, yet it doesn’t seem like they get to make many choices. Freya least of all. Her love for her family and clan are continually used against her. She’s furious, bold, and occasionally brash, but still young enough to be manipulated while being a true warrior at heart.

Vikings are notoriously violent and bloodthirsty, especially in this book, which is why it’s no surprise the entire plot is built around that idea. Even the magic system, which was admittedly unique and interesting, was based on the premise of helping the characters achieve glory and spread their fame with acts of violence or response to it.

Dreams of battle glory and Valhalla are utmost on most of the characters' minds, even after their stomachs turn from the effects of war. It’s a main focus of the book from start to finish. The characters' fervor for it irked me at times just as Freya’s naïveté and soft heart frustrated me. Overall, I genuinely liked her character and Bjorn’s, especially their relationship. However, their characters have a lot of room to develop in the next volume, and I for one can’t wait for it.

Audio & Narrator:🎧

The audiobook for this added a fun and immersive feel to the story. The narrator had a norse accent that sounded believable and interesting. The volume and pace remained steady and easy to follow along with, and the perfect amount of excitement and inflection was used for each scene.

Fun Bits:

⚜️ Action packed and full of adventure

⚜️ Really cool magic system

⚜️ Lots of Norse Mythology

⚜️ An interesting romance

⚜️ Extremely fierce FMC

✨Beware the cliffy

⚠️: Violence, Death, Blood, Gore, War, Graphic Injuries, Slavery

Stats:📊

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Characters: 💙💙💙💙

Audio: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

Narrators: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️

Historical Fantasy: Vikings, Norse Legends, Magic, Fighting Fate, Warring Clans, Hidden Secrets📘

First Person, Past Tense, Single POV

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pierrereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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steen19's review against another edition

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adventurous funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A beautifully woven story. I love a good quest. It took me longer than normal to read, but I enjoyed making guesses and then putting the pieces together.

My initial thoughts in the first half:

Freya is a badass.

Snorri is a terrible leader. He’s just another man with an over inflated ego and blind entitlement.

I don’t trust Steinunn.

The sprayed edges are the most beautiful thing ever.

Starting around chapter 31, freya really bugged me with her reckless choices. She felt like a totally different character from the first 60% of the book. It was fun seeing my guesses come to fruition in the last ~5% of the book. Bjorn is such an iconic man-written-by-a-woman.

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hheartbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

2.75

Bleh. I honestly forced myself to finish. The plot felt like it was repeating itself, Freya was annoying, Bjorn's story was predictable, the 'romance' just felt lustful, and I ended not really desiring to pick up the next in the series. This one obviously wasn't for me.

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sophierosemaria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Danielle L Jensen was the first romance fantasy author that I read 4 years ago and completely reinvigorated my love for reading.
Don’t comes as no surprise that I loved this book.
It was a bit hard to get into I’ll admit, but I think that was more out of frustration with the characters (particularly male ones) surrounding Freya at the beginning. Horrible and yet all too close to reality, especially when considering the time the book is set in.
That being said, I grew to love the story, although not always the characters.

And even got a bit of a surprise at the end with Bjorn’s mother.

Content Warnings

folkofthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

“They say being given the blood of a god is a gift,” I whispered. “But it’s a curse.”

It was not lost on me that I’d once dreamed of greatness, and now, presented with it, it felt like the last thing I wanted.

this was an enjoyable fantasy romance. the nordic setting with viking/norse mythology inspiration was a refreshing change from the typical anglican medieval settings we often see in this genre. there are some commonly used fantasy tropes and admittedly this was a bit predictable for me, but the chemistry between freya and bjorn was sizzling and delicious and made it enjoyable to read. the writing paints a vivid picture as we follow the story, with norse rituals and action-packed scenes.

while i enjoyed bridge kingdom, this was definitely an improvement for me. i'm intrigued enough by the end to continue the series with the next book. i might never look at the lemons the same again tho lolllll

“You’ve never been alone,” Bjorn said, his voice so soft that no one but me would hear over the wind and my weeping. “I will be at your back until I cross the threshold to Valhalla, Born-in-Fire, whether you want me there or not.”

“Your looks aren’t good enough to compensate for your tongue.”
In the faint light, I saw him smirk. “Don’t underestimate my tongue, Freya. Especially in the dark.”

“I don’t want to rule,” he answered. “I want you.”

“You are mine, Born-in-Fire. Even if only the two of us know it.”

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downtown_kb's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"I’ll let the past burn to ash, Freya, because you are my present, my future, my destiny.”

Freya is just a fishwife with a secret who dreams of being a warrior. When the local jarl comes and forces her to fight his son in battle to save her family she must reveal that she has a drop of the god’s blood. She is long prophesied shield maiden who will make a king of whoever binds themselves to her.

This kicks off pretty brutal and fast paced and I really liked the first half of this story. The Norse myth and magic system was really fascinating to learn about. Loved having a Viking story. This story is a story of war, betrayal and vengeance.

This dragged a bit in the middle but mostly I think because I started to find Freya borderline insufferable? She became less and less likable as the story went on. She is really a bit pompous and her bravado is frustrating because she’s often proven wrong. Jumping to so many conclusions. And while it’s explained, she gets angry about everything and it just comes across sometimes - oftentimes- like a teenager throwing a fit. Furthermore, she is willing to sacrifice herself and her happiness for her very shitty family over and over. Usually this is a DNF thing for me but I was invested enough in the rest of the story to overlook my annoyances with her. This says a lot, trust me, because Freya just was a perfect storm of things that irk me. I enjoyed Bjorn fine, he is flirty, protective and a true friend to Freya. I liked the bodyguard trope and the secret aspect of their relationship. They had some good banter.

Honestly, I’m not that invested in this story. I liked the direction it was going but after the twist and the cliffhanger I don’t think I’ll continue this series. This plot twist is tired and I can guarantee we will just have to deal with the fmc being butt hurt and mean to the mmc the entire 2nd book. No thanks. Definitely not a fan of all that.

Recommend on audio for sure Nina Yndis does a great job especially with pronunciations.

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krystlethegreat's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Great story! Love the Viking vibes. Love the distinctive personalities of our main characters; they felt very authentic to each of their situations. Freya is a little wishy-washy and that can be annoying. I'm hoping for a ton of character growth for her as we move on in the series.

My only real complaint lies with the author using "f*ck" and "bullsh*t" in this otherwise high fantasy world. To me, these few instances of modern languange just felt so out of place in this world, and it would pull me out of the story when they were used. (Handful of times.)

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bookrecsbyjess's review against another edition

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While I was enjoying this story, the content is just way too graphic. Not only was there too much spice, but the way people and animals were treated was too much for me.

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