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feri_ne's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
aleshamiller's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Violence
ezwolf's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
The Valkyrie's Daughter is about sixteen year old Sigrid, who has been raised as a stable hand but longs to be a valkyrie and something more in her life. When her home is attacked she accidentally has a vision of a possible future where she is leading the valkyries into battle along with the enemy valkyrie she's fighting, which leads her on a quest to save her home and find out if she's really meant to be more than a stable hand.
I'm going to start with the positives. I really love any fantasy book that includes horses. I am still a horse girl at heart, so I'm always sold on that, especially when it's queer. And I loved Sigrid's bond with her gelding, Hestur. Mariam was my absolute favorite character (though I did like Fisk as comic relief and a good nudge for Sigrid's teasing) and honestly I was probably the most invested in Mariam getting Aesa back than anything else. I loved the queer rep with sapphic and trans characters (I'd have loved to hear more about that though!).
Now the negatives. I was incredibly intrigued and engaged with everything going on...up until the last like 20% where the book kind of lost me. Hilariously, this is when a lot of the actual battle started and should have been the most interesting, but I let myself stop reading to go to bed for the night with 12% of the book left (to be fair, I'd driven across an entire state that day but I hardly ever let a book go unread that close to the end).
With all of this I still probably would have given the book a 4 star rating, but when Sigrid decided to paint her face to make her look more like a warrior or leader, it really pulled me out of the story. I am not an expert on Norse mythology or viking history and I do not claim to me, but to my knowledge and the brief Googling I did just to do a little double check, "viking warrior face paint" does not seem to have been a real thing is just really Indigenous cultural appropriation more than anything. So to include that was disappointing to me.
Including my last grievance at the very bottom since it does contain a spoiler.
***SPOILERS***
I also knew what the big reveal for Sigrid's would be the second Princess Helena was mentioned the first time and honestly I really didn't like the "evil mom" plot.
Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
I'm going to start with the positives. I really love any fantasy book that includes horses. I am still a horse girl at heart, so I'm always sold on that, especially when it's queer. And I loved Sigrid's bond with her gelding, Hestur. Mariam was my absolute favorite character (though I did like Fisk as comic relief and a good nudge for Sigrid's teasing) and honestly I was probably the most invested in Mariam getting Aesa back than anything else. I loved the queer rep with sapphic and trans characters (I'd have loved to hear more about that though!).
Now the negatives. I was incredibly intrigued and engaged with everything going on...up until the last like 20% where the book kind of lost me. Hilariously, this is when a lot of the actual battle started and should have been the most interesting, but I let myself stop reading to go to bed for the night with 12% of the book left (to be fair, I'd driven across an entire state that day but I hardly ever let a book go unread that close to the end).
With all of this I still probably would have given the book a 4 star rating, but when Sigrid decided to paint her face to make her look more like a warrior or leader, it really pulled me out of the story. I am not an expert on Norse mythology or viking history and I do not claim to me, but to my knowledge and the brief Googling I did just to do a little double check, "viking warrior face paint" does not seem to have been a real thing is just really Indigenous cultural appropriation more than anything. So to include that was disappointing to me.
Including my last grievance at the very bottom since it does contain a spoiler.
***SPOILERS***
I also knew what the big reveal for Sigrid's would be the second Princess Helena was mentioned the first time and honestly I really didn't like the "evil mom" plot.
Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Abandonment, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
[Early copy from Netgalley. This doesn’t affect my opinions or review.]
I was so excited about this book when I found out about it, and even more excited to be approved for an ARC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. While the characters and relationships—both platonic and romantic—were well-written and developed, I was able to predict many of the plot twists. That predictability took away the element of surprise in most situations, and in a fantasy story like this one, that was detrimental to my reading experience.
Despite that, I wouldn’t call The Helheim Princess bad or say I didn’t enjoy it. I did like the use of Norse mythology in the story and world-building, as it’s more common to see stories using Greek myths and this was a nice change of pace. It was fun to see the characters’ adventuring across multiple worlds and the different ways they were challenged on their journey.
I would still recommend this book; I think the reason I found it predictable was due more to the number of fantasies I’ve read than any real problem with the book itself. I also think that plenty of teen readers will enjoy it, as it has a good amount of action while still being fairly lighthearted and easy to understand.
Representation
I was so excited about this book when I found out about it, and even more excited to be approved for an ARC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. While the characters and relationships—both platonic and romantic—were well-written and developed, I was able to predict many of the plot twists. That predictability took away the element of surprise in most situations, and in a fantasy story like this one, that was detrimental to my reading experience.
Despite that, I wouldn’t call The Helheim Princess bad or say I didn’t enjoy it. I did like the use of Norse mythology in the story and world-building, as it’s more common to see stories using Greek myths and this was a nice change of pace. It was fun to see the characters’ adventuring across multiple worlds and the different ways they were challenged on their journey.
I would still recommend this book; I think the reason I found it predictable was due more to the number of fantasies I’ve read than any real problem with the book itself. I also think that plenty of teen readers will enjoy it, as it has a good amount of action while still being fairly lighthearted and easy to understand.
Representation
- sapphic protagonist + love interest
- sapphic romance
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty
Animal cruelty is tagged because there are a couple of scenes in the final third of the book where a horse’s bit is used to cause pain and demand obedience. This isn’t done by the protagonist.foreverinastory's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was such a fun Norse book! And it was super queer normative aside from still being heavily based in the binary. Also the MC is a horse gay.
Rep: Sapphic female MC, sapphic love interest, trans female side character, two BIPOC side characters.
CWs: Abandonment (mother/child), alcohol consumption, animal death, blood, bullying, death, violence, fire/fire injury, grief (from loss of companion animal), toxic relationship (mother/child).
Rep: Sapphic female MC, sapphic love interest, trans female side character, two BIPOC side characters.
CWs: Abandonment (mother/child), alcohol consumption, animal death, blood, bullying, death, violence, fire/fire injury, grief (from loss of companion animal), toxic relationship (mother/child).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Toxic relationship
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