Paulinja・⎵・
To summarize this book as short as possible: ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ ▄︻デ══━一
If you want a few more words: This was a very fun read! The reading experience was seamless and went exactly as I expected. The moment I finished Chapter 1, I knew I was in for a good time and, personally, I think that should be reason for anyone to pick up this book. Oh, and the cats, do NOT forget about the cats!
This was going pretty good, until it wasn't.. I was enjoying the story until about midway through the book, and then I realized I might be getting too old to like or relate to MC's that make everything and everyone about themselves, annihilating the supporting characters who have incrementally more interesting backstories in the process and whom I would have loved to read more about.. again, if not for the MC.
By the end of the book I was wondering how useless can this character be after we spent the entirety of the book sacrificing plot left and right for their sake only to end up with nothing ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Er, it's okay. I liked TLH as a junk food book better. Was actually going to rate this book 1★, but Georgina and the random Latvia callout (i'm Latvian and it's my God given right to not let a Latvia reference go unnoticed) saved it.
See, I don't know what I thought would happen after I read The Locked Tomb books back to back, but nothing prepared me for the absolute reading draught that would hit me, because nothing measures to the fascination, confusion, thinking-I've-got-everything-figured-out, then absolutely getting my s#!@ rocked mentally, that this book served me. Idk man, just read it!
3.75★ rounding up to 4. I often have fun with Norse mythology based books, so this was a very enjoyable read. The different personalities present in the book were well written, everyone has something to fight for, and they were compelling. There were points in the book where I was getting slightly irritated by some of the logic of our protagonist, most of which was based on my own personality biases, but the author did a great job bringing me back and helping me understand that this character has layers that can't be shed off so easily, and I appreciated that.
My only immersion breaking gripe with this book was some of the awkward placement of smut. Now.. yes.. this is Romantasy, but I don't think we need to be pondering about our dead allies and the ripped muscles of our love interest in the same breath ¯_(ツ)_/¯
And before you come for me, yeah it's mentioned several times that a huge part of this romance is based on lust. I just think it could've been more refined, which in turn would make the yearning, and the ending payoff of it, become that much more impactful.
This was my first time reading a Norse based Romantasy. Usually, when it comes to mythology, I like to read high-stakes-battle fantasies, but I genuinely had a good time with this one and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!