Tag: 7 Rating

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Book: “A Flame in the North” by Lilith Saintcrow

Publishing Info: Orbit, February 2024

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

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

Book Description: An elemental witch and her shieldmaiden journey into a world of ancient myth and unexpected destiny in this sweeping Norse-inspired epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow.

The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.

That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.

The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.

With only her loyal shieldmaid and her own wits to reply upon, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.

They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…

Review: This is the second Norse-inspired fantasy I’ve read this month! It’s funny how these trends come and go; even as I go through what I though was a fairly randomly-ordered TBR list, I often find myself reading books with strong similarities to one another. I’ve read a decent amount of fantasy fiction that draws from Norse mythology, and have typically enjoyed them quite a bit, so this was an obvious pick for me. On top of that, I love the idea of taking a typical fantasy duo (the hero and his shield) and switching it to a female heroine/witch and her shieldmaiden. I still enjoy the former as well, of course, but it’s nice to see such variety popping up throughout SFF.

This book is a bit tough to review, simply because some of my struggles with the book came down more to my needing to properly categorize the type of book I was reading. Starting out, it was clear that this book was aiming for a specific sort of high fantasy, the kind that uses dense language, both in the vocabulary chosen and in the longer sentences structures used, and also is playing a long game as far as pacing and plotting go. The story takes its time laying out its world, its characters, and even getting to what seems to be the true action of the story.

As I continued to read, at some point it occurred to me to compare this read to “Lord of the Rings,” and frankly, that kind of saved the experience for me. Both books have a similar dense sort of feeling, the kind that can be overwhelming to begin with, and the sort that then pays off later. Similarly, there were a few world-building aspects that were simply dropped in with very little explanation. For example, at one point they refer to the “All Mother” which, of course, seems like a similar character as Odin the “All Father.” Changes like this are, of course, fine, but then I was left a bit unsure as to where I was supposed to be placing this world. Are we in some sort of alternate world where there is an All Mother instead of an All Father? Or is this our world with magic and this is just changed? Things like this aren’t necessarily a big deal or bad, but it does add to the initial challenge with the point of entry to the story. The reader really has to work for it get dive in.

But this slow pacing did pick up towards the end, and this is where the LOTR comparisons worked even better. If read as the rather slow-paced entry to a grand spectacle, a sprawling series, the dense nature of this book is easier to digest. I also really liked Solveig and her shieldmaiden as characters. The author did a fantastic job with these two, balancing their fierceness with the sort of sly reserve that they would need to employ in the world in which they are living.

This is the kind of book that I would definitely recommend for a specific sort of fantasy reader, those who like epic fantasy and are willing to put in the time with denser language and a slow plot. Readers who want to be immediately drawn in to an action-packed story will likely struggle this one. But, like I’ve said earlier, if you like “Lord of the Rings” and can remember some of the slower parts, especially in “Fellowship,” this book does seem to promise an intriguing series overall!

Rating 7: Tough to get into but well worth it in the end, I think.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Flame in the North” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists currently, but it should be on Vikings and Viking-Inspired Fantasy.

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “To Cage a God” by Elizabeth May

Publishing Info: DAW, February 2024

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

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

Book Description: To cage a god is divine. To be divine is to rule. To rule is to destroy.

Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia, the sisters have grown up to become living weapons. Raised to overthrow an empire―no matter the cost.

With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.

While Sera reunites with her estranged lover turned violent rebel leader, Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess, whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire―or bring it all down.

Review: Let’s just say, I’m glad this is the cover for the U.S. version of the book. Check out the U.K. one if you don’t believe me! I mean, it’s definitely a statement…but it’s also not the type of cover I’d necessarily want starting out at me from my shelves! However, what truly caught my interest was the promise of a Russian-inspired fantasy world in which two sisters head up a rebel cause. I mean, that checks a pretty decent number of my personal preferences right there. Add in a dash of romance, and yep, I was excited to check this one out!

This book was a very hot and cold affair as far as my changing enjoyment levels throughout the story. It started off great, I will say. I was immediately drawn in to both Sera and Galina’s narration and their different styles. Here, finally, was a case where the two POVs felt distinct but each was enjoyable. I even felt fairly confident that the prickly but powerful Galina was going to be my favorite of the two. However, this strong start didn’t last. Much to my dismay, as the book progressed, we were introduced to a whopping three OTHER POV characters. And five…five is just too many.

And in this case, it was incredibly apparent that at least two of them had no business having POVs at all. We had a fair number of chapters from one of the Queen’s handmaidens, and yet every single chapter we heard from her, she literally went through the same exact story beats: the Queen killed her sister when her sister was a handmaiden, the Queen is violent and may kill her at any moment, she hates the Queen. Rinse and repeat and get ready to hear the same story about six more times, all to conclude in…yeah, nothing really. From there, we also got a handful (maybe three or four? not enough to amount to anything, that’s for sure) of chapters from Sera’s love interest, Vitaly. Again, this character had no arc or story of his own. The entire purpose of his chapters, apparently, was to give readers a glimpse into his mind as he repeated over and over that he was a bad guy, but he’d do anything for Sera. Which…we’d already heard him say aloud several times to Sera herself, thus completely negating any reason to hear directly from this character himself.

Lastly, we also had chapters from the Princess Vasilisa’s perspective. These, at least, were more worthwhile in that Vasilisa has the remnants of an arc to be found, in that she has had a troubled upbringing with her mother, the Queen, and must face the reality of her mother’s violent and unchanging nature. I’ll also say that this character having POV chapters was fairly necessary for this romance. Not for the reasons you’re thinking though! But because if she didn’t, we’d have had about a grand total of three interactions between her and Galina to build up a romance. As it stands, I really struggled with this romance either way. It’s classic instalove, and if you actually add up the time Galina and Vasilisa spend together, it rounds out to a few hours! Total! Before they’re professing love and Galina is insisting to Sera that Vasilisa will turn on her mother and side with the rebels. And she’s right, a few hours was all it did take! It’s all pretty crazy, and the focus on this romance was one of the reasons my interest in Galina’s storyline dropped quickly from my favorite to one I barely cared about.

Sera, instead, became my favorite character and actually took up the bulk of the action of the book. She’s the only one who is truly doing anything much of the time, and almost all of the action scenes come through her storyline. And if we had taken out Vitaly’s unnecessary chapters which I think managed to actually hurt the romance, I would have enjoyed this second chance love story as well.

Honestly, this book was a bit of a hot mess. The world-building and fantasy elements (the idea of gods being caged within people who can then harness their powers) all had a lot of potential. But the story fell apart due to failures of craft. There were moments when the writing was incredibly strong, but others when it felt all over the place. And then, worst of all, the decision to include so many POV characters, especially when so many of them had no real arcs of their own, really hurt the overall book. If things had been kept to just Sera and Galina’s stories, I think the story would have been massively more successful. As it stands, the bones of a good book can be seen in this one, but the author got into her own way too many times for it really come together. If you enjoy large casts of characters, however, you may still want to give this a shot. Sera’s story is still enjoyable, if you go in focusing on that.

Rating 7: I enjoyed one of the main characters a lot; unfortunately, she was one of five POVs, which drastically reduced my overall experience.

Reader’s Advisory:

“To Cage a God” can be found on this Goodreads list: Russian motifs in fantasy

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “A Fate Inked in Blood” by Danielle L. Jensen

Publishing Info: Del Rey, February 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.

Review: I was really excited when I saw this book was coming out this spring. For one thing, I would have been interested purely on the cover alone. I really like the style of this art, and I think it’s a great example of a cover effectively conveying exactly the sort of book you’ll be picking up. It’s also nice to see character art on a cover that isn’t super cheesy. But, beyond this, I’ve had this author on my TBR list for a while now. I know her “Bridge Kingdom” series is incredibly popular, but I just haven’t managed to getting around to picking it up. So this was a great in for me to start up with this author without having to commit to a multi-book series.

However, this book did leave me with a lot of mixed feelings. I’ll say right off the bat that I’m still very interested in reading this author’s original fantasy series. Reading this book, it’s easy to see that she’s a compelling author, and several of her strengths are just the sort that I look for in my fantasy authors. Her descriptions are clear, her prose runs smoothly, and her dialogue and banter are both funny and earnest. On this last point, I think that too often we forget how important good dialogue is to the appreciation of a story. I’ve read other books where everything else is perfect, but the dialogue itself is written in a way that is either cringey, corny, or simply doesn’t fit with the rest of the vibe of the story. Here, however, I often found myself enjoying the dialogue more than anything else!

There was also strong evidence that the author can write interesting characters. I think the love interest character, in particular, was very effective. I really appreciated that the book was told from a single POV, demonstrating the author’s strong abilities with characterization in that I felt like I understood and knew Bjorn just as well as Freya, even without seeing inside his head. See?? Authors take note! It is possible to write compelling love interests who don’t need chapters to themselves so they can just tell the reader how they’re feeling at all times. You know, showing instead of telling and all of that.

However, on the other side of the character coin, I did struggle with Freya’s character. It was tough, because throughout a lot of the book, I really enjoyed this character and her voice. She had a lot of the bullet point character traits I look for in my heroines, and even had a decent number of action scenes where we got to see these traits at work! But she was also incredibly frustrating to read. About halfway through the book, I found myself continuously putting the book down and trying to understand why I was struggling to remain connected to the story. And part of what I came up with was the fact that Freya’s own story had very few stakes, arc, or motivation Yes, there is action and violence and drama, but Freya herself is only every reacting to the things going on around her. Even worse, while Freya tells us why she’s choosing to allow others to determine her choices, the reader is never given a compelling reason to understand this choice. She must protect her family…but we never see most of her family and those we do see treat Freya terribly in the brief number of pages they have. So, throughout the bulk of the story, we have a character whose entire drive comes down to a choice that makes very little sense to the reader centered around characters the author has made clear are not worthy. It’s fine to write a character who’s been blinded to the realities of those she loves, but we just didn’t get that character work for Freya. She just tells us that she has to protect them…and that’s it. Nothing about why she’s so sure of this belief in the face of their poor treatment. Nothing showing us moments of kindness that she would use to justify her own mistreatment. Just…nothing.

Beyond that, the story was also incredibly frustrating with its central premise. It’s not a spoiler since it’s right there in the book description, but the entire plot is driven around a prophesy that whomever control’s Freya’s fate will reunite the land. Well, I give you approximately one guess to put together the clues of this fate and how exactly it works. Which, fine, I think there is a way to tell a story like this, even if some of its conclusions are obvious to the reader. But it wasn’t just the fact that Freya seemed completely oblivious to the obvious interpretation of this prophesy, it’s the fact that she paired this cluelessness with other wild jumps of logic and assumptions. Throughout the middle portion of the book, she jumps to a pretty crazy assumption, and then, even in the fact of others pointing out this wild leap, and even when she herself acknowledges that she has no real reason to believe this thing other than her own biases, she just…goes right on doing it! And, of course, there are a million clues that makes the reality of the situation obvious to the reader, which just makes Freya’s determined cluelessness all the more frustrating to put up with .

So, that was a fairly big rant. But Freya’s character arc and characterization was a huge struggle for me for much of the middle portion of this book. Which was really frustrating because at other times, I was completely into this world, this plot, and, even Freya herself. There were wild swings in my enjoyment levels; at times I thought I’d be rating this around a 9 and at others, I almost quit. But, overall, I do think there were a lot of strengths to be found in this book. I liked the world-building and the overall plot. And I can see signs that she also knows how to write some fantastic characters. I’m not exactly sure what happened here, honestly. I’ll probably pick up the second book, however, to see where the story goes. And I’m definitely curious about the author’s other books. Was Freya an exception that proves the rule?

Rating 7: There were a lot of good bones to this story, but the main character’s arch was nonexistent for much of the book which ultimately left it feeling a bit flat.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Fate Inked in Blood” can be found on this Goodreads list: Upcoming Romantasy Releases 2024

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Longest Autumn” by Amy Avery

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Tirne is one of four humans rigorously selected to usher the turn of the seasons into the mortal world. Every year, she escorts the taciturn god Autumn between the godly and human realms. Autumn’s seasonal stay among mortals brings cooler weather, changing leaves, and the harvest of apples and gourds until Winter takes his place.

This year, the enchanted Mirror that separates their worlds shatters after Tirne and Autumn pass through, trapping both of them in the human realm. As the endless autumn stretches on, crops begin to fail and the threat of starvation looms. Away from the magic of the gods’ home, Tirne’s debilitating headaches return with a vengeance. Worse, Autumn’s extended stay in the human realm turns him ever more mortal and vulnerable, stirring a new, forbidden attraction to Tirne.

While the priesthood scrambles to find a way to reassemble the Mirror, Tirne digs into the temple’s secrets and finds an unlikely ally—or enemy—in the enigmatic sorcerer and master of poisons, Sidriel. Thrown into a world of mystery, betrayal, and espionage as she searches for the truth, might Tirne lose her morals, her hard-earned position, and the illicit spark between her and Autumn?

Review: I have to say, I barely made it past the cover on this one. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t read “fantasy” to me. Instead, it looks more like some sort of historical, literary fiction type book (nothing wrong with those, just not my preference!). But once I actually looked at the book description itself, it definitely sounded like something up my alley! I’ll be curious to see if other readers had similar feelings. We all say not to judge a book by its cover, but in reality, that’s the first thing a perspective readers sees and, try or not, they make a lot of assumptions about the type of book it will be based on this initial glance. And, while this book wasn’t a perfect book for me, I do think there are a good number of fantasy readers who will enjoy this, and I’d hate for them to miss it simply because the cover looks like what you’d find for another book entirely.

When thinking back on my reading experience of the book, I find myself coming away with the thought that I still liked the overall idea of the book more than the actual thing itself. In that, I thought the world, magic, and characters all sounded interesting. There was almost the feeling of it being a re-telling of some ancient Greek myth (though it isn’t). It had nice nods to the struggle of chronic pain, and the approach to romance was more realistic than you often see. However, all of these things still never quite came together the way I liked.

For one thing, I found Tirne to be a very passive character, spending much of her time dealing with her chronic migraines and simply reacting to and trying to survive the various challenges thrown at her. And while I think this kind of representation of chronic pain is useful, it also began to feel as if it was Tirne’s only character trait. Beyond this, it seemed that much of the story’s plot and mystery was hung on Tirne’s struggles to deal with these debilitating headaches. I found myself increasingly wanting more not only from Tirne as a character but also from the story itself. Representation of chronic pain, no matter how good, is not a story in and of itself.

And, while I appreciated some of the nods towards more realistic romances, I also felt mislead on this front by the book’s overall description. I was expecting the love story to play a more important role in the book, but instead I found myself feeling rather adrift, not knowing who I was meant to be rooting for or whether the romance was actually going to be important to the story at all. Things ended in a satisfactory way, but not necessarily in the way that most romance readers will be looking for. So, again, kind of like the cover art, I’m concerned that this book won’t easily find its way to the readers who will most appreciate it. Instead, readers looking for a romantic fantasy story may find themselves a bit disappointed by the love story that is presented here.

I also never felt myself becoming overly invested in any of the side characters. The book is written in first person which can sometimes run into this problem. And its unfortunate that Tirne felt as passive as she did, since establishing a solid main character is the primary strength of this style of writing. But the weaknesses that can be found do often come down to the portrayal of side characters, as we only have the limitations of the main character’s perceptions of them to really paint any sort of picture. This was definitely the case with this book, as I can’t point to a single side character who really stood out to me.

Overall, this book was fine. It was a fast, easy read, but it wasn’t exactly the story I was looking for when I picked it up. Fantasy readers who are less interested in the romance may find themselves enjoying it more. And those looking for a heavy focus on chronic pain may also find this to be a good match for them.

Rating 7: A bit lackluster with its main character, and I felt like there was a bait-and-switch in the overall concept of the book as presented in the description.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Longest Autumn” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Best Books To Read In Autumn.

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Unbound” by Christy Healy

Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing, January 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

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

Book Description: Rozlyn Ó Conchúir is used to waiting—waiting for the king, her father, to relent and allow her to leave the solitude of her tower; waiting for the dreaded and mysterious Beast of Connacht to at last be defeated; waiting for the arrival of the man destined to win her heart and break the terrible curse placed on her and her land. So, when she meets Jamie—a charming and compelling suitor—she allows herself to hope that her days of solitude and patience are at long last over.

But as she finds her trust betrayed and with newer, more sinister threats arising, Rozlyn learns that some curses are better left unbroken …

For fans of Hannah Whitten and Rebecca Ross, Unbound is a gender bent re-imagining of the classic tale of a monstrous beast and the beauty determined to tame it, set against the lush backdrop of Irish mythology and folklore.

Review: I’m not really sure which came first: my love of Irish folklore fantasy or my love of Juliet Mariller’s books. I suspect the latter likely lead to the former. Either way, through no real study on my part, I’ve become fairly familiar with Irish mythology, legends, and folk tales/characters, so whenever I spot a book purporting to be about these topics, I’m always eager to check it out and see how it compares to the other stories I’ve read. But, while I’m a big fan of both Hannah Whitten and Rebecca Ross, I sure do wish that Marillier would get her due for books like this! While I can see the similarities to those authors, Marillier’s works are a perfect read-alike to this author’s style and general concept. Plus, she’s a very under-the-radar author who I just wish more fantasy readers were aware of, so I’ll do my part and plug her here now!

I will say, subjectively, I very much enjoyed this one from start to finish; that said, objectively there are some quibbles to be found with parts of it. The style of the writing (very lyrical and fairytale-feeling) is just the sort I enjoy, with sweeping prose and beautiful turns of phrase. Like the best fairytales, the style could take on the tone of a how one might imagine a storyteller presenting the fable to an audience around a fire at night.

However, on the other side of this, there were many blatantly anachronistic aspects to the writing and world-building. These are always tough things to point out about historical fantasy books like this, because if you wanted to, almost every book in the subgenre likely strays outside of the strict boundaries of historical accuracy. Plus, one can always say it’s fantasy, so are there really any historical rules to be applied here and isn’t this just nit-picking? Healy writes in her author’s note that she was conscious of these anachronisms and left them in intentionally, using pretty much this exact reasoning about fantasy. But, on the other hand, she chose to seemingly set this in the “real world” and even included the exact year before each chapter (needed for plotting reasons that we’ll talk about next) which firmly and repeatedly sets it in the reader’s mind that this is in fact taking place at a specific point in history.

I wish, instead, that she had simply created a new world and year system. Really, no great world-building or changes would have needed to be made. Just come up with the name of a fantasy world, make an obviously different calendar system, and ta da! Many of these anachronisms go away! As it stands, many of them will only really be noticeable to those who know a lot about the time period and the import histories of things like chocolate. But others, like the repeated use of the word “okay” in dialogue, really do stand out as distracting.

The inclusion of the years at the start of each chapter heading are very important however, whether using a fictitious calendar system or not, as the story is told in a very non-linear fashion with many jumps forward and backward in time. Now, I’m on record through my various reviews as enjoying this sort of fragmented story-telling. I enjoy meeting characters who clearly have a long, complicated history with one another and then jumping around through their stories to slowly piece together how they came to be in this state. I think, when done right, it can create some excellent stakes to the plot right from the start. But it also requires the reader to trust that the author will bring answers eventually and be patient with not understanding exactly why characters say and do what they do currently. So, for some readers, this may be a challenging read, as the story does very much jump around in time between the current situation, the past, and then, even more strange, a several-centuries-long jump that comes about halfway through the book. Even for me, this half-way-through jump and the introduction of new characters was a big ask on the author’s part. It all ties together nicely, but I think some readers might struggle to stick it through.

I also do not like the fact that this book has been marketed as a gender-swapped “Beauty and the Beast.” If you squint, yes, you can see how the promoters got there, but there are really no elements of the actual plot of that tale to be found in this book. It’s more, we seem to have come to the point where anytime there is ever a vaguely (reallllly vague sometimes) monstrous character and a love story, marketers can’t help but shout “Beauty and the Beast re-telling!” at the top of their voices, forgetting that a “re-telling” implies that the story itself should be similar to the original fairytale. It’s misleading to readers to call books like this re-tellings and more likely to result in disappointed readers leaving negative reviews and thus out-pacing any gains that had been hoped for in using this fairytale as a lure in the first place! It’s even more frustrating in this case because there are actual Irish folklore characters that are obviously the inspiration for much of this book.

So it’s tough to sum this all up. I did enjoy this book, overall. I think the writing was fairly high for a debut novel, and I’m especially looking forward to any future books by the author when, perhaps, some of my quibbles will be improved upon. I think there were a few stylistic choices that a good editor could help with. And then, as far as the plotting, I do think it will be challenging to some readers, but it worked for me, so it’s something to keep in mind going in, whether or not this will work for you!

Rating 7: Overall, a very solid debut book, though I do wish some work around had been used for the anachronism, either changing the world itself or editing out some of them.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Unbound” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Fairy Tales for Grown Children and Fantasy Romance.