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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a beat for beat retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in Norse underworld. It's explicit, but not as steamy as I would have imagined. I read it in one sitting but am fairly sure if I had put it down I would have forgotten to pick it up again and finish it.
I rated this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I liked the dark vibe of this story (the world, magic, and more). I was excited about the Finnish mythology/lore inspiration. I wish it could have been more Finnish inspired and less Hades/Persephone. I did like most of the tropes in this story. For me the pacing was very slow the first half of the book. Once I got to about 60% it picked up, although this often happens to me when it is the first book in a fantasy or romantasy. I have not decided to DNF the series. Hoping the second book has better pacing.
I really didn't enjoy this... but it was like a bad train wreck I couldn't put down. I think the MC's internal dialogue is really annoying and there is too many pop-culture references intertwined. Honestly, I kept reading because I wanted to know more about the mythology.... and I'm already reading the second book, so not sure what has its claws in me... probably just the hero, I enjoy a dark misunderstood God of the underworld... what can I say... I'm predictable.
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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
adventurous
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
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
CONTAINS SPOILERS
This book was surprisingly more plot led than I thought it would be. Another supernatural/fantasy read so I was really looking forward to this series. Needless to say, Death would have me on my knees for him. No shame. Total slut for men (or Gods in this case) who dirty talk like him. And his nickname for Hanne? SO CUTE. “I want to see your sweet face as you spread your wings, little bird.” Door unlocked and legs wide open for him. ANYWAYS! Let's get to the actual plot and not just talk about Death yeah? A cool aspect that I actually liked was the chapter titles. "The Little Mermaid" when Hanne first met Bell. "The Full Moon" when Hanne and Death first kissed. It like told a little bit about what was gonna happen in that chapter and I think that's really nice. I feel like we need to address Hanne's decision making capabilities. Back in about the middle of the book when she first met Telly because Rasmus was in trouble with Death, she chose to go and help him. That's an obvious smart choice to make because he's the one who brought her to Tuonela and has to take her to find her dad. But then Death tells her why he was in trouble and how he just left her in the middle of the night. Like surely he wasn't lying about that at all, right? Furthermore, when she fell into the spider's web, Rasmus was nowhere to be found. He just left her in there it seems. And, if what Death was insinuating that he was going to offer Hanne to take her father's place in turn for him to go back to the Upper World, why in the everloving hell would she trust him and go with him? Ultimately, it seemed like Rasmus's whole plan was to take her to Tuonela to just give her to Death just so he could have her father back to train him further into how to be a proper Shaman. Something isn't adding up with him. PLUS we learned that he was Louhi's son. Louhi who is Death's ex-wife and, I'm guessing, is part of the overthrowing for the Old Gods to come back into power. SO, my theory right now is that Rasmus just "saved" Hanne so he could bring her back to Louhi and get leverage over Death in some way. *takes a bow* That is what I think is what's going to happen in the next book.
This book was surprisingly more plot led than I thought it would be. Another supernatural/fantasy read so I was really looking forward to this series. Needless to say, Death would have me on my knees for him. No shame. Total slut for men (or Gods in this case) who dirty talk like him. And his nickname for Hanne? SO CUTE. “I want to see your sweet face as you spread your wings, little bird.” Door unlocked and legs wide open for him. ANYWAYS! Let's get to the actual plot and not just talk about Death yeah? A cool aspect that I actually liked was the chapter titles. "The Little Mermaid" when Hanne first met Bell. "The Full Moon" when Hanne and Death first kissed. It like told a little bit about what was gonna happen in that chapter and I think that's really nice. I feel like we need to address Hanne's decision making capabilities. Back in about the middle of the book when she first met Telly because Rasmus was in trouble with Death, she chose to go and help him. That's an obvious smart choice to make because he's the one who brought her to Tuonela and has to take her to find her dad. But then Death tells her why he was in trouble and how he just left her in the middle of the night. Like surely he wasn't lying about that at all, right? Furthermore, when she fell into the spider's web, Rasmus was nowhere to be found. He just left her in there it seems. And, if what Death was insinuating that he was going to offer Hanne to take her father's place in turn for him to go back to the Upper World, why in the everloving hell would she trust him and go with him? Ultimately, it seemed like Rasmus's whole plan was to take her to Tuonela to just give her to Death just so he could have her father back to train him further into how to be a proper Shaman. Something isn't adding up with him. PLUS we learned that he was Louhi's son. Louhi who is Death's ex-wife and, I'm guessing, is part of the overthrowing for the Old Gods to come back into power. SO, my theory right now is that Rasmus just "saved" Hanne so he could bring her back to Louhi and get leverage over Death in some way. *takes a bow* That is what I think is what's going to happen in the next book.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Where do I begin…I was told that this was a sapphic romance. There is none of that to be reported at all. Honestly the beginning half of this book was very intriguing and well written. I loved the Finnish folklore aspect a lot, I thought it was different. Once Death comes into the picture this book rolls down hill faster than a wheel of cheese. I think, actually, it started when one of the characters got his penis sucked by a mermaid, from there on the whole concept of the book got whacked for me.
I get that there’s other books in this series but the amount of mystery and just like look the other way on plot holes, was too much for me. I think this would have been an excellent slow burn book, it had so much potential for being a fantastic series but the proportion of character building vs character climbing was not equivalent and none of the characters choices made sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Death
adventurous
dark
mysterious