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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
DNF @ 53%.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
If you asked me to tell you what this book is about, I would not be able to tell you. I ended up DNFing because truly nothing was happening and I was shocked when I saw I was 53% of the way through!
The opening set up was quite interesting - I loved the prologue about the creation of the world and the deities and I was excited thinking we were going to get a really strong, fleshed out world with lore to enchant us. Instead, the author chose to flesh out the world by changing 'day' to 'dey' and night to 'noct'. Randomly changing words =/= world building. It's lazy.
We start with Ertha being kidnapped by the Sons - a group of war mongers who have just decimated the village she's lived at for the last however many years, killing her best friend and members of the temple she's apprenticing at. Ertha is a healer (rare and special, duh) and she finds an injured enemy soldier and decides to heal him (because of course) even though he is assumed to have participated in killing LITERALLY EVERYONE. She (Ertha) gives some really weird "oh I took an oath to heal anyone who needed it! The Gods will take away my power if I don't heal him" reason and I'm like ?? I feel like it would've been better if the author just said she was panicked and confused and thought he was someone she knew and healed him before she realised. Anyways, of course she's found out, captured and taken to the home land of the Sons - Umbra.
For some reason she is also royalty but this is kind of.. briefly mentioned and then that's the last we hear of it. I don't know why it was relevant or why it was necessary but alas. OH. And apparently she's not just a healer - she's a witch and the Sons/Umbrans did their own version of the Salem witch trials! But how many times do you think we explored her learning magic at all in the 53% I read? One single time which ended badly.
What follows is Ertha being stockholm syndrome'd by the MC, Fenris as she's forced to work as a healer for the town. She cannot stop seeing the blood of her friends literally dripping off Fenris everytime she looks at him. To keep her in line, he puts a bracelet on her that ends up giving her (and him) some weird marking (gold star if you can see where this is going). We're also introduced to Kastor - who is the soldier she healed back when her home town was being slaughtered - and for some reason she just.. trusts him and is like.. automatically hot for him.
Uh? Okay? Babe 5 minutes ago you were conflicted about healing him to save his life. I'm very much over the trope of FMCs forgiving MCs committing literal war crimes just because they're hot. Don't piss me off!
Fenris has two friends - twins(I think??) Munnin and Huggin. I thought they were like. Old. But I guess apparently not?? Their only character trait is that the boy (Huggin) doesn't talk much and the girl (Munnin) talks all the time and - again - instead of world building, we get a little quirk in her dialogue. If I had to read "it do be.." one more time I was going to lose my mind. No one else (except her brother obviously) talks like this. It's not explained *why* they talk like this. It just is. Also apparently she has a book club and they read smut - crazy that we got more information about that then the actual lore of the world.
I asked a friend who finished the arc to spoil the ending for me and I won't give explicit details except it ends with Fenris saying "Don't touch my wife." I know what you're thinking - at least he didn't say mate. Well, that's because the people *he* is a part of don't have mates, they have wives. The *other* people do have mates. So it's like same same but different.
I thought the gods actually existing was interesting - as in people could see the God of the sun literally carrying the sun across the sky (at least I hope this was real and not the promised lyrical prose??)
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
If you asked me to tell you what this book is about, I would not be able to tell you. I ended up DNFing because truly nothing was happening and I was shocked when I saw I was 53% of the way through!
The opening set up was quite interesting - I loved the prologue about the creation of the world and the deities and I was excited thinking we were going to get a really strong, fleshed out world with lore to enchant us. Instead, the author chose to flesh out the world by changing 'day' to 'dey' and night to 'noct'. Randomly changing words =/= world building. It's lazy.
We start with Ertha being kidnapped by the Sons - a group of war mongers who have just decimated the village she's lived at for the last however many years, killing her best friend and members of the temple she's apprenticing at. Ertha is a healer (rare and special, duh) and she finds an injured enemy soldier and decides to heal him (because of course) even though he is assumed to have participated in killing LITERALLY EVERYONE. She (Ertha) gives some really weird "oh I took an oath to heal anyone who needed it! The Gods will take away my power if I don't heal him" reason and I'm like ?? I feel like it would've been better if the author just said she was panicked and confused and thought he was someone she knew and healed him before she realised. Anyways, of course she's found out, captured and taken to the home land of the Sons - Umbra.
What follows is Ertha being stockholm syndrome'd by the MC, Fenris as she's forced to work as a healer for the town. She cannot stop seeing the blood of her friends literally dripping off Fenris everytime she looks at him. To keep her in line, he puts a bracelet on her that ends up giving her (and him) some weird marking (gold star if you can see where this is going). We're also introduced to Kastor - who is the soldier she healed back when her home town was being slaughtered - and for some reason she just.. trusts him and is like.. automatically hot for him.
Uh? Okay? Babe 5 minutes ago you were conflicted about healing him to save his life. I'm very much over the trope of FMCs forgiving MCs committing literal war crimes just because they're hot. Don't piss me off!
Fenris has two friends - twins(I think??) Munnin and Huggin. I thought they were like. Old. But I guess apparently not?? Their only character trait is that the boy (Huggin) doesn't talk much and the girl (Munnin) talks all the time and - again - instead of world building, we get a little quirk in her dialogue. If I had to read "it do be.." one more time I was going to lose my mind. No one else (except her brother obviously) talks like this. It's not explained *why* they talk like this. It just is. Also apparently she has a book club and they read smut - crazy that we got more information about that then the actual lore of the world.
I thought the gods actually existing was interesting - as in people could see the God of the sun literally carrying the sun across the sky (at least I hope this was real and not the promised lyrical prose??)
mysterious
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
I found the modern language was jarring to all the effort the author put in to all the nochts and deys in, for me it didn’t work. The use of Ass and F U pulled me out of the world.
Huggin and Munnin felt like charactures rather than fully fledged people with their “do be dos”
. I didn’t get any Norse mythology links references other than Odin’s companions so I was confused whether this was a reimagining of Norse mythology or just a bit inspired by it. I didn’t mind the gods and their interference.The positives were that I loved her magic, how she used it, how it flowed and how she could follow it in other bodies be out into the world. How it transformed I do think the last 100 pages feel like a much better book. This story has me confused because even though I haven’t loved it I feel like I would thoroughly enjoy book 2 a lot more. We will have to see.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story caught my eye and sounded like it was right up my alley. It hits the standard romantasy tropes, and is instalust between the FMC and MMC. Their relationship felt a little shallow, and I personally really dislike some of the tropes used within so this ended up not being for me. The setting was interesting and the inclusion of religion into the character's daily lives was done nicely. I do wish there had not been changing of spelling of words and the weird ways of talking. That really took me out of the story. There was also a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. It seemed repetitive at points and made some of the reading slow going.
Overall, I gave this three stars as I wanted to like it, but found it lacking in depth. It's not badly written or imagined, and the author's care shows in the world. It just ended up not being for me. If you like Norse mythology, forced proximity, and mating bonds, then I think you'd enjoy this.
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Overall, I gave this three stars as I wanted to like it, but found it lacking in depth. It's not badly written or imagined, and the author's care shows in the world. It just ended up not being for me. If you like Norse mythology, forced proximity, and mating bonds, then I think you'd enjoy this.
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
/might have spoilers/
'The Seventh Sister' is a classic romantasy, perfect for a quick and "fun" read.
("Fun" because while it is, it's also quite dark and terrifying in terms of sexual harassment and assault)
The book was fine ; it played a bit too much into the stereotypes of romantasy in my opinion. While it was enjoyable, sometimes it felt too much like every other romantasy.
But should we say romantasy or lustasy? Because lust is all you'll find.
Of course, as soon as you get introduced to the love interest (which, kudos for the author, is still hated by our MC) you just know he's going to be the endgame. And also, by the end of the book, you still don't know anything about him, or his motivations.
Ah, and our classic naïve MC, who discovers she has magic, ditches her morals real fast for hot men, and falls for the wrong guy because she's naïve. Her naïveté is explained by her sheltered life but still, she looked pretty stupid, specially because she's supposed to be around 23-24 I think.
Anyway, the book was fine.
'The Seventh Sister' is a classic romantasy, perfect for a quick and "fun" read.
("Fun" because while it is, it's also quite dark and terrifying in terms of sexual harassment and assault)
The book was fine ; it played a bit too much into the stereotypes of romantasy in my opinion. While it was enjoyable, sometimes it felt too much like every other romantasy.
But should we say romantasy or lustasy? Because lust is all you'll find.
Of course, as soon as you get introduced to the love interest (which, kudos for the author, is still hated by our MC) you just know he's going to be the endgame. And also, by the end of the book, you still don't know anything about him, or his motivations.
Ah, and our classic naïve MC, who discovers she has magic, ditches her morals real fast for hot men, and falls for the wrong guy because she's naïve. Her naïveté is explained by her sheltered life but still, she looked pretty stupid, specially because she's supposed to be around 23-24 I think.
Anyway, the book was fine.
adventurous
I kept reading because I thought it was going to get better.
I received an eARC from NetGalley.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
So I just finished this fantasy debut and honestly, it was a fun ride! M. A. Brown throws our girl Ertha into enemy territory where she’s caught between trusting her mysterious keeper or the soldier who’s sworn to protect her. The author gets really creative with the world-building, pulling from Norse mythology to create something that feels fresh. Fair warning though: the writing style takes some getting used to, but once you hit your stride it actually adds to the otherworldly vibe.
The ancient gods meddling in mortal affairs kept me hooked, and I loved the whole “nothing is as it seems” energy throughout. That said, I saw most of the twists coming from a mile away, and Ertha can be frustratingly naive for someone who’s literally a prisoner with gods pulling strings. Despite those gripes, it’s definitely an entertaining read with solid mythology vibes. If you’re into fantasy with meddling deities and don’t mind a slightly predictable plot, this one’s worth checking out.
So I just finished this fantasy debut and honestly, it was a fun ride! M. A. Brown throws our girl Ertha into enemy territory where she’s caught between trusting her mysterious keeper or the soldier who’s sworn to protect her. The author gets really creative with the world-building, pulling from Norse mythology to create something that feels fresh. Fair warning though: the writing style takes some getting used to, but once you hit your stride it actually adds to the otherworldly vibe.
The ancient gods meddling in mortal affairs kept me hooked, and I loved the whole “nothing is as it seems” energy throughout. That said, I saw most of the twists coming from a mile away, and Ertha can be frustratingly naive for someone who’s literally a prisoner with gods pulling strings. Despite those gripes, it’s definitely an entertaining read with solid mythology vibes. If you’re into fantasy with meddling deities and don’t mind a slightly predictable plot, this one’s worth checking out.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While Norse mythology-based and easy to understand, the world building is still unique. The gods are stirring things up and give cryptic warnings of prophecy that move the plot along. Ertha is such a complex main character. Being in her head, while she navigates the enemy's kingdom and learns more about herself, provides a tense mood that kept me guessing and on the edge. I was suspicious of everyone but also wanted to know more about each character.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I've loved this book. Not only I've loved how the captivity and the world really overtake the hyped vibes, but also the characters: Ertha - the FMC - and I are bookbesties who even share HIM: character without spoiler.
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated