Serena’s Review: “The Ice Beyond”

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Book: “The Ice Beyond” by Olivia Wildenstein

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, September 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: I had two childhood dreams: to shift into a wolf, and to win Nordin Stormsson’s forbidden heart. My first dream shattered the day my mother confessed I wasn’t a shifter, but a valkyrie—stranded in a land far from my people. My second was crushed when Nordin rejected me…only to claim another as his mate.

Heartbroken, I crossed beyond the wards in search of my birth clan. My freedom came at a cost. Dragons, vampyrs, and enemy wolves stalked me through the dark. They weren’t the only ones who came after me, though.

Nordin came too. He seized me before they could, stealing my body and then my heart. For a time, I dared to dream once more, to imagine a future with Nordin in the land of ice and wolves. Until I uncovered my beloved’s most closely guarded secret.

A truth about my past.

One that ruined us all.

Review: This was a very mixed bag read for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed, and then others that I really struggled to get through. I think the world-building was one of the most interesting parts. Of course, it’s hard to go wrong with Norse mythology and fantasy, and I think the familiar elements from this were used well, as well as some nice twists to things to build a more unique and individual version.

As the story continued, we were given more and more information about this world, and more and more little subplots were added in. On one hand, I was interested in many of these newly introduced aspects of the story, but on the other, it did begin to feel a bit overwhelming, with very little resolution coming to any pieces of the story. There were a bunch of questions left wide open, and at a certain point, this did begin to feel frustrating rather than interesting.

I also struggled to enjoy the main character and the love interest. The main character wasn’t a complete loss, but the author chose to include diary entries and letters written by this character between chapters, and these really didn’t help me connect to her. The tone of voice used by Zas in these written portions was so juvenile, so silly, that I had a hard time keeping it in my head that I was supposed to be reading about a new adult woman. I guess 19 is still fairly young, but if a character is written as a very young 19, it’s always going to give a bit of an “ick” factor to the spicy aspects of the romance. And such was the case here.

Beyond how young she sounded, Zas was frustrating in her focus. She learns she has this entirely unknown history, and while this should be a driving force for her story, instead her inner dialogue and these letters revolve almost exclusively around the romance. I get that this is a hard balance to strike, as this is a romantasy title, so the love story should come first. But be that as it may, something in the balance here between the romance and Zas’s own personal arc didn’t work.

I also didn’t love the romantic interest. Nordin was your typical bossy, possessive romantic lead. He wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it was frustrating watching the entire progression of the romance come down to him just deciding for them both when the romance could or could not happen.

I also didn’t love the first-person, present-tense style the book was written in. However, as this is so common in romantasy, it’s hard to really hold it against this book in particular. I, for one, just want this entire trend to die a quick death, as I think it makes even skilled authors come across as weaker than they are. But plenty of romantasy/romance readers seem to be fine with it or even prefer it, so I’ll likely remain in the minority on this one.

So this was just an ok read. I know this author is fairly popular, and I’m still curious to go check out her older books, as I think the world-building was interesting and there were aspects of the characters I liked. If you’ve enjoyed this author in the past, I imagine this will be for you. Also, if you enjoy most trending romantasy nowadays, this fits in well with many of the other currently popular titles.

Rating 7: The world-building was interesting and I had a whole lot of questions about where things were going. Alas, I didn’t get many answers, but instead had to spend way too much time reading juvenile sounding journal entries.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ice Beyond” should be on this Goodreads list: Norse Fantasy.