Slow start but overall a good book. Well written and interesting spin. While not a page turner for me personally, the story was great and leads me to want to read more from this author. Great book and def worth the 4 stars. ( )

4,5 stars
This story was amazing! ( )

I am not a fan of Norse mythology. The author penned an outstanding western and my affinity for such pulled me to the instant novel. Her prose never draws attention to itself nor detracts from the story, rather it flows seamlessly. We regularly read about wars and significant achievements of ancient cultures. Rarely does an author delve into a character or a historical culture's spiritual life, and yet I submit such is more important than so many other matters. The author and I do not share the same worldview on such matters, still I find the recognition makes her characters come alive. ( )

This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't grasping my attention as I would have liked. The pacing wasn't an issue as it was for some. I have read slower-paced books and sometimes it is a nice change. I feel like it was lacking in areas.

I feel as if the reasoning behind the curse which is the antagonist, wasn't believable for the harshness she meant it to give. The explanation was a tell and I believe it would have been more sympathetic for the readers to have seen a bit of what Desdemona went through. She introduced us to Dagmar and Desdemona in the prologue and then chapter 1 is 10 years after only to get a small glimpse of Dagmar before the curse was cast.

The blood runes were under-used. Again this awesome introduction to them in the prologue and it was as if they were an afterthought during the book itself. If you pulled them out, it wouldn't be much of a dent. What happened to the cave? Did Dagmar tell the High Keeper? What was the point of it except to show us how powerful blood runes are, but yet readers didn't see this power in the rest of the book.

Banruud, who is the villain, was hardly in the story. He is the main reason for this curse and we don't see him enough to justify the curse reasoning. I mean, when we see him, he is vicious and brutal, but I have seen that in books, movies, and tv shows were just a stab with a sword or a throwing ax would be justifiable.

Giving Alba away to the North King should have happened earlier. To me, it was a late introduction, and Alba wasn't too much of a convening character when she got older.

I think exploring The Daughter's of Saylok further instead of skimmed would have been nice to see.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Dagmar, Bayr, Alba, and Ghost. But I didn't love them. In fact, I liked Ghost better than Alba. I know not everything can or should be explained and I like it that way. This book had awesome potential. The story idea was great, and it was a good story. I love fantasy; I love historically based books. It wasn't my cup of tea. But it could be yours ( )

WOW. I don't know what I was expecting, but whatever it was I got so much more. When I read the synopsis I was interested but a little hesitant. This is one of those books that could be great or horrible, and it was excellent. The Characters have a wonderful depth to them, and you get so wrapped up in their stories that hours pass before you come up for air in the real world. The pace is a little slow, but it doesn't feel that way, which is very hard to pull off. A great book! ( )