Reviews

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. It seemed like a story perfectly crafted to my high-fantasy tastes, and every fantasy reader I know proclaims to love it. I was ready to dive into this new world and fall completely in love. But alas, it was not to be. Truthfully, I don't have very strong feelings for this one. I thought I would like it more but didn't hate it either. It's very much in the middle. A book that can best be described as "overwhelmingly okay." The characters, the writing, the action, the story, the twists were all simply okay. Some were more well done than others, but nothing really stood out to me.

The story is by far the strongest aspect of this novel, set in a Viking-inspired world where in the past, a war between gods split the world and caused the "Tainted," powerful animalistic, humans who have traces of the fallen blood of those same gods in their veins. The Tainted are treated as others, enslaved and abused, beaten and scorned. And this is what drives much of the story's conflict.

So much detail was put into every aspect of this world and it felt so real and lived in, I had no problem immersing myself in this intense world of fjords and snow-capped mountains, of chainmail and spears, shield-walls, oarsmen and gruff warriors. The intriguing, well-thought-out history and rich worldbuilding are a masterclass and the great shining beacon of the story, crafting a striking sense of place and scope. The scenery and the descriptions were atmospheric and beautiful, full of just the right amount of detail.

When Gods go to war, it is no small thing.

It is a brutal, bloody world where danger lurks in the shadows and hidden foes creep in the corners. Disputes are settled with violence and the world of law goes to whoever has the larger army and the bigger sword. Much care and thought was put into the most minute of details, from the food and the armor to the trolls and fairies who prowl the distant north, to the routines of the farmers and the routine of warriors in the warbands. Along with the worldbuilding, the action is also one of the better aspects of the story. There are long gripping, gory scenes of battles and duels that are blessedly easy to follow, as they flow well and have just the right amount of detail to be perfectly conjured in my head, but not too much that I was confused.

Yet so many of these details quickly became repetitive, when the exact same descriptions and phrases were continuously beaten over our heads. Half of this book is just descriptions of helmets, chainmail, and shields and the process of putting them in with painstaking detail, so much so that they all started to blend. It served to further immerse the reader, yes, but at some point, it just took up space on the page. How many times do I have to read about how Varg removed the leather covering from his spear or how every other warrior has an axe and a seax on their belt and a boss on their rounded shield?

Worst of all was the substitution of the phrase, "<b>thought-cage</b>" for "mind" which I swear is repeated every two pages and every four sentences. "The thought rattled around her thought-cage." "He felt his words settling in his thought-cage." Thought-cage, thought-cage, thought-cage. I was beginning to wonder if the author had challenged himself to see how often he could fit this word on one page.

We are the Bloodsworn, closer than kin. A brotherhood, a sisterhood: we live and die together.

The characters were the worst part of this. Especially as someone who mostly enjoys character-driven narratives, with strong, memorable characterization. We have 3 POV's and all of them are bland. None of them are terrible or aggravating, indeed I liked them and I want to see how each of their stories continue, but I just couldn't quite connect to any of them as a sense of detachment just overcame me the further the book went. I felt like a passive observer, just following them on their journeys as they sliced and slashed. Elvar was my least favorite, none of her chapters interested me until the end. Even during that last stand where the action peaked and the stakes had never been higher, I was underwhelmed. I simply didn't care. She felt like a filler, stuck between the somewhat more interesting and compelling characters of Orka and Varg.

We spend a lot of time with all three characters because this is a slower-paced novel that drags its feet for much of the first half, but not much of that time is spent actually getting to know our main characters beyond a surface level. I kept waiting to learn more about them, outside of their present circumstances but none of that came until the end, when the story was approaching the finish line. None of them were truly allowed to develop much due to the rapid and incessant action which we were always sucked back into. Honestly, I felt like if Orka and Elvar were switched, not much would change because they felt incredibly similar, despite (presumably) being so far apart in age.

I didn't mind the slower pace, and the mystery and the tension lurking beneath the surface slowly rising and consuming our characters was masterfully done. For over 100 pages, nothing much happens, but it's all building up to something, and then everything is happening at once, exploding into a crescendo of savagery and death. But the explosion remained underwhelming, it was fun and thrilling but the most interesting bits of this novel were toward the end. The last 100 pages were better than anything that had come before. It felt like there was a lack of focus and a lack of progression.

It's strange to say of a first book but this felt like a lot of setup for the rest of the series. I'm disappointed that I didn't love this as much as everyone seems to but I have high hopes for the sequel. I think the next book will be better because everything has been perfectly laid in place, a solid foundation for a brilliant series to come.