I was given an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for honest review.

I was originally interested in this book because the cover is cute and the synopsis is very Norse-Myth heavy. If there’s one thing I love, it’s myths! The context of the story, is that our main character Lena is the eldest child of the village chief, and undertakes a quest when her little sister mysteriously dies. The quest being to bring back her sister’s soul back to Midgard (Earth).

I was honestly kind of shocked by how dumb Lena was as a character. Is Norse myth not something she grew up with? Wouldn’t she know that her sister’s soul replacement needs to be similar in purity/skill/age/gender in order for this switch to go unnoticed? Lena struggles with finding a soul replacement candidate, when it was pretty obvious from page one what needed to be done. Even when it came to just daily life with scenes with her family and friends it felt like Lena was always 10 steps behind the reader, which shouldn’t be the case when the narrator is not omniscient. It was a genuinely bizarre experience.

Another star-detractor was the whole confusing scenario of Lena and Amal’s relationship. They allow an arranged marriage to each other pretty quickly, even though they supposedly don’t want to be married; and they were also pretty quick to want to kill each other at the slightest suggestion. It was really strange to see childhood best friends keeping secrets and turning on each other in the space of a paragraph. I don’t see how a resolution between our main characters is possible, nor how the climax prevents/delays Ragnorok in any conceivable way. There was a big moment where a magical dagger is lost to another realm, but no importance was ever imbued upon the dagger so why should it being lost have any meaning? It was just a narrative tool to reveal some information about Loki…

That allllll being said, I’m genuinely intrigued by the ending. I think Tammi has set up book two to have a different POV which will most likely make the book more enjoyable, but I’m honestly not sure if I’ll get around to it. ( )

I received this book via NetGalley for reviewing purposes. This has in no way influence my opinion.

Find my YouTube review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvmCS7t3w_E&feature=youtu.be ( )

This review is also posted on my blog

Gorgeous cover, right? The description on NetGalley also grabbed my attention – young sisters in a Viking clan, grief and mourning, Norse gods and maybe even Ragnarök? Yes, please! I was thrilled to be approved for a free ARC of this book. Unfortunately, the book fell flat for me.

The blurb sounds very promising: when Lena’s sister, Fressa, is found dead, the whole Viking clan mourns, but Lena can’t move on. She needs to know how and why her sister died, and feels like the wrong sister was taken. Lena will do anything to bring her sister back, including striking a dark deal with Hela, the goddess of death. As she moves closer to bringing her sister back, she discovers family secrets and does the unthinkable, all while darkness, cold, and possibly the end of the world descend on their world.

I really think this concept could have been developed into a good story, but unfortunately this book suffers from lack of structure and not-so-great writing. While it is clear that a lot of research went into creating the Nordic/viking culture in the story, I don’t feel like the characters themselves are well developed. It’s hard to really feel anything for Lena or any of the other characters when they are so one-dimensional and incomplete. It’s hard to invest in the strong bond between Lena and Fressa when we have no backstory or reason to believe their closeness, and the same is true of the love story – it doesn’t feel special or intense at all. The story is told in third person, which in this case didn’t help me to connect to the characters. The plot itself is wandering and clunky, with a big event at the beginning, followed by a lot of randomness, and some more action right at the end. I felt lost throughout and ultimately unsatisfied at the end. The writing itself is ok but in need of some editing – that’s likely just because my copy is an ARC and not the final product.

Since I did enjoy the concept, setting, and addition of Norse mythology, and the story managed to keep me reading until the end, I’m giving this book two stars instead of one. If YA/historical fiction/fantasy is your thing, don’t let my review sway you – Goodreads has many glowing ratings of this book, so maybe it’s just me? ( )

i'm feeling a whole lot of things right now but it's too late at night for this and i just have a silent scream building up in my chest ( )

*******SPOILERS*******
In The Weight of a Soul by Elizabeth Tammi, the Freding clan has suffered the unexpected death of one of the younger women. Fressa, Lena's sister, has been taken, with no signs as to the cause of death. Unable to accept this, Lena seeks answers in the runes, and ends up visiting Helheim. The answers she finds there are not what she expects.

I wanted to like this. I really, really did. The synopsis held such promise, especially the use of Norse mythology. That was the most enjoyable part of the story for me. The hel-horse, visiting Helheim, Loki and Hela. Sadly it was also the only enjoyable part. I'm Rokkatru, and Loki is my main patron deity. However, I'm used to stories that tend to portray him as 'evil'. This story tended toward that direction, while still allowing that perhaps there is a good reason for Loki to spur Ragnarok. In fact, it was only the chance to see Hela again, or some of the other gods, that kept me from DNFing the book.

The rest of the story was epically infuriating. Lena was angry almost the entire time. She had bursts of irrational rage. Lena is supposed to have been training for years to be an apothecary. A healer. Yet, she doesn't even hesitate to start killing to try and bring back a dead person! She needs to find someone worthy of Valhalla, yet the first two people she straight up murders are either not at all worthy, or would never fit in. Neither would another potential victim. A final potential might've been worthy, yet I am pretty sure that Odin would, ya know, notice. The soul to be replaced was one ordered there by Odin himself.

The soul supposedly 'worthy' this whole time was Lena herself. No. Not by any stretch of the imagination. She was a selfish brat turned serial killer. One of the people she killed was someone very close to her. She just turned on this person without a second thought, pissed because that person had a part in Lena's arranged marriage. Marriages were political, and Lena was the eldest daughter of the chief. Yet, she cared nothing for duty towards the safety and health of her clan either.

Not only was Lena an unlikable character, but many of the others didn't engage me either. They all seemed kinda flat. My favourite human was Nana, an elder of the clan. Loki and Hela were the most interesting to me. I loved the descriptions of the ceremony before the wedding, and of the wedding ceremony itself.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Flux for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )