Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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
Three people come together: Brynhild, an exiled Valkyrie stripped of her flight and exiled from Valhalla by a capricious Odin, Sigurd, a man looking for his heroic destiny, and Gudrun, a princess of Burgundy, who is looking for a way to protect her land from the invader Attila the Hun, who also happens to have a dragon he can call on. None of these people is ordinary, and their different abilities and skills prove to be critical in dispatching threats and fighting off a conqueror.
Author Kate Heartfield brings her trove of research to bear on this Norse myth-inspired story set in a far past, where magic is alive in the world, and gods and otherworldly beings still walk the land.
A grieving and in pain Brynhild is used by Sigurd to prop up his name after they jointly kill a poisonous lindworm. She is later tricked by him, and is pulled into Gudrun's life. Gudrun uses her sense and honesty to win Brynhild to her cause, with Brynhild training warriors and Gudrun using her magic to strengthen her land. Along the way, Brynhild and Gudrun develop deep feelings for each other, and Sigurd proves to be a terrific warrior but a vain man jealous of his reputation.
There are a number of things that made this story compelling: Gudrun's wielding of magic, Brynhild's prowess, the conflicts amongst the characters, the political maneuvering necessary to win against the conqueror, and the exposure of petty games between the gods. Though the middle slowed down a little too much for my liking, I liked Brynhild and Gudrun immensely, and their developing relationship kept me reading to the end of this enjoyable novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and to HarperCollins Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Author Kate Heartfield brings her trove of research to bear on this Norse myth-inspired story set in a far past, where magic is alive in the world, and gods and otherworldly beings still walk the land.
A grieving and in pain Brynhild is used by Sigurd to prop up his name after they jointly kill a poisonous lindworm. She is later tricked by him, and is pulled into Gudrun's life. Gudrun uses her sense and honesty to win Brynhild to her cause, with Brynhild training warriors and Gudrun using her magic to strengthen her land. Along the way, Brynhild and Gudrun develop deep feelings for each other, and Sigurd proves to be a terrific warrior but a vain man jealous of his reputation.
There are a number of things that made this story compelling: Gudrun's wielding of magic, Brynhild's prowess, the conflicts amongst the characters, the political maneuvering necessary to win against the conqueror, and the exposure of petty games between the gods. Though the middle slowed down a little too much for my liking, I liked Brynhild and Gudrun immensely, and their developing relationship kept me reading to the end of this enjoyable novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and to HarperCollins Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
This isn’t a long book, 300 something pages, and yet a lot fills it. The pacing is a little off, to cover everything it’s not necessarily covered in enough detail to be truly satisfying, Midgard and Brynhild settling in is probably covered the most, but you’ve got a wrym, zombies, Valkyrie, Gods, battles, feuds, there is A LOT going on and it’s done well, it’s just if this book were longer we could have had so much more of it - I mean the wrym alone was so amazing and it was such a small part of this book, an army of undead soldiers, a little blip, they were so cool and I needed more! Even the Valkyrie themselves, I would have loved more of their battles, of getting to know them. But this book tries to achieve a lot in its relatively small number of pages. An extra say 100 pages could have changed everything.
The romance is pleasant enough but it feels like insta love, you don’t see it bloom between Brynhild and Gudrun, you don’t really see what they love about each other or even experience many interactions between them, just via the POVs they suddenly complete each other. That said the writing of their romance is beautiful so this isn’t a complaint necessarily, i just needed more moments.
As I’ve just mentioned, the true heart of this book is in the writing which is really quite beautiful. Books on Greek Gods/Ancient Greece are becoming increasingly common and yet what sets some apart is the way in known characters and stories are written and for me that was the case here. Kate Heartfield does a wonderful job of wiring an enchanting narrative here that made it stand out from other books in this ever growing genre.
Likewise the world building, of Midgard, Helheim etc, is really well done, creating delightful depth and imagery.
This is very much a feminist book and as a feminist I loved that. Brynhild is a fantastic, empowering character, at one point she literally hands a man up like a coat because she finds out he deceived her and still thinks he can have her. She is a solid character, brave, unrelenting, she does not submit or allow anyone to look down on her. All the women in this book are spectacular in fact - the men in the book are a little weak and/or menacing, I think bar a couple they all lie, scheme and the women have to make the real progress happen.
I did really enjoy this book, it has variety, beautiful writing and strong female characters - my only real complaint is how it tried to achieve a lot in too little pages, leading to briefness where I wanted to stay and experience more.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review
The romance is pleasant enough but it feels like insta love, you don’t see it bloom between Brynhild and Gudrun, you don’t really see what they love about each other or even experience many interactions between them, just via the POVs they suddenly complete each other. That said the writing of their romance is beautiful so this isn’t a complaint necessarily, i just needed more moments.
As I’ve just mentioned, the true heart of this book is in the writing which is really quite beautiful. Books on Greek Gods/Ancient Greece are becoming increasingly common and yet what sets some apart is the way in known characters and stories are written and for me that was the case here. Kate Heartfield does a wonderful job of wiring an enchanting narrative here that made it stand out from other books in this ever growing genre.
Likewise the world building, of Midgard, Helheim etc, is really well done, creating delightful depth and imagery.
This is very much a feminist book and as a feminist I loved that. Brynhild is a fantastic, empowering character, at one point she literally hands a man up like a coat because she finds out he deceived her and still thinks he can have her. She is a solid character, brave, unrelenting, she does not submit or allow anyone to look down on her. All the women in this book are spectacular in fact - the men in the book are a little weak and/or menacing, I think bar a couple they all lie, scheme and the women have to make the real progress happen.
I did really enjoy this book, it has variety, beautiful writing and strong female characters - my only real complaint is how it tried to achieve a lot in too little pages, leading to briefness where I wanted to stay and experience more.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review
This isn’t a long book, 300 something pages, and yet a lot fills it. The pacing is a little off, to cover everything it’s not necessarily covered in enough detail to be truly satisfying, Midgard and Brynhild settling in is probably covered the most, but you’ve got a wrym, zombies, Valkyrie, Gods, battles, feuds, there is A LOT going on and it’s done well, it’s just if this book were longer we could have had so much more of it - I mean the wrym alone was so amazing and it was such a small part of this book, an army of undead soldiers, a little blip, they were so cool and I needed more! Even the Valkyrie themselves, I would have loved more of their battles, of getting to know them. But this book tries to achieve a lot in its relatively small number of pages. An extra say 100 pages could have changed everything.
The romance is pleasant enough but it feels like insta love, you don’t see it bloom between Brynhild and Gudrun, you don’t really see what they love about each other or even experience many interactions between them, just via the POVs they suddenly complete each other. That said the writing of their romance is beautiful so this isn’t a complaint necessarily, i just needed more moments.
As I’ve just mentioned, the true heart of this book is in the writing which is really quite beautiful. Books on Greek Gods/Ancient Greece are becoming increasingly common and yet what sets some apart is the way in known characters and stories are written and for me that was the case here. Kate Heartfield does a wonderful job of wiring an enchanting narrative here that made it stand out from other books in this ever growing genre.
Likewise the world building, of Midgard, Helheim etc, is really well done, creating delightful depth and imagery.
This is very much a feminist book and as a feminist I loved that. Brynhild is a fantastic, empowering character, at one point she literally hands a man up like a coat because she finds out he deceived her and still thinks he can have her. She is a solid character, brave, unrelenting, she does not submit or allow anyone to look down on her. All the women in this book are spectacular in fact - the men in the book are a little weak and/or menacing, I think bar a couple they all lie, scheme and the women have to make the real progress happen.
I did really enjoy this book, it has variety, beautiful writing and strong female characters - my only real complaint is how it tried to achieve a lot in too little pages, leading to briefness where I wanted to stay and experience more.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review
The romance is pleasant enough but it feels like insta love, you don’t see it bloom between Brynhild and Gudrun, you don’t really see what they love about each other or even experience many interactions between them, just via the POVs they suddenly complete each other. That said the writing of their romance is beautiful so this isn’t a complaint necessarily, i just needed more moments.
As I’ve just mentioned, the true heart of this book is in the writing which is really quite beautiful. Books on Greek Gods/Ancient Greece are becoming increasingly common and yet what sets some apart is the way in known characters and stories are written and for me that was the case here. Kate Heartfield does a wonderful job of wiring an enchanting narrative here that made it stand out from other books in this ever growing genre.
Likewise the world building, of Midgard, Helheim etc, is really well done, creating delightful depth and imagery.
This is very much a feminist book and as a feminist I loved that. Brynhild is a fantastic, empowering character, at one point she literally hands a man up like a coat because she finds out he deceived her and still thinks he can have her. She is a solid character, brave, unrelenting, she does not submit or allow anyone to look down on her. All the women in this book are spectacular in fact - the men in the book are a little weak and/or menacing, I think bar a couple they all lie, scheme and the women have to make the real progress happen.
I did really enjoy this book, it has variety, beautiful writing and strong female characters - my only real complaint is how it tried to achieve a lot in too little pages, leading to briefness where I wanted to stay and experience more.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.
I love Norse mythology but tend to struggle a bit with the writing style and storytelling of mythology retellings.
So my personal experience with the book was a little bit tainted by that, but I still recommend it because I think objectively, it's a great book!
The story follows a princess of Burgundia and a fallen Valkyrie, and this combination is just so good. Both storylines were so interesting, and I love how they flowed into each other.
I really appreciated how this book was a combination of Norse mythology and Germanic history, especially since the latter is something I haven't yet read about in a fiction novel.
There are battles and wars, betrayals and betrothals, royalty, diplomacy, court politics, Gods, and even a dragon!
It was so much fun to read and learn about all of it.
As mentioned in the beginning, I struggle with the storytelling of mythology retellings because they always feel more impersonal, and I just find it harder to get into the story. There was a part in the middle where I lost a bit of interest, there is a lot happening at the beginning and the end, but the bridge between the two felt long.
The writing style as a whole was coherent with the story and world, but there were a few instances where modern slang was used (like a 'Go fuck yourself") and it took me out of the story for a short moment.
Overall I recommend this book to fans of books like Circe by Madeline Miller, or anyone who has an interest in Norse mythology.
I love Norse mythology but tend to struggle a bit with the writing style and storytelling of mythology retellings.
So my personal experience with the book was a little bit tainted by that, but I still recommend it because I think objectively, it's a great book!
The story follows a princess of Burgundia and a fallen Valkyrie, and this combination is just so good. Both storylines were so interesting, and I love how they flowed into each other.
I really appreciated how this book was a combination of Norse mythology and Germanic history, especially since the latter is something I haven't yet read about in a fiction novel.
There are battles and wars, betrayals and betrothals, royalty, diplomacy, court politics, Gods, and even a dragon!
It was so much fun to read and learn about all of it.
As mentioned in the beginning, I struggle with the storytelling of mythology retellings because they always feel more impersonal, and I just find it harder to get into the story. There was a part in the middle where I lost a bit of interest, there is a lot happening at the beginning and the end, but the bridge between the two felt long.
The writing style as a whole was coherent with the story and world, but there were a few instances where modern slang was used (like a 'Go fuck yourself") and it took me out of the story for a short moment.
Overall I recommend this book to fans of books like Circe by Madeline Miller, or anyone who has an interest in Norse mythology.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
emotional
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
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really wanted to like this book. Usually love folklore adaptations. Unfortunately, this book felt incoherent after the first half. Last 100-150 pages were confusing and disjointed. I think this story has potential, but it reads as a hazy, fugue or dream state that just really lacks any sensical plot development.