The Shadow of the Gods

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3 -3,5 stars

Oh no! I came to The Shadow of the Gods really expecting to end the year with a 5 stars read and to add this series as my most anticipated reads for years to come. But... well, no.

This book is great in so many ways: it has a Norse setting, characters that suffer and that evolve through the story, a compelling plot, a great writing style, and overall the beginning of a new epic fantasy story. I can see why this book is so well-loved...

But still... It didn't click for me:
- Although the setting was very enticing, it took me a fair amount of time to understand properly what the characters were seeing because I didn't understand the lingo. I kept confusing the names of some of the side characters (all seemed similar to me!!)

- Although I'm a character-driven reader... I wasn't in love with any of the characters. I feel that the fact that each story advanced separately, plus the fact that the chapters were very short prevented me to be really hooked to them. I wonder if longer characters would have helped me to bond with them

- Also, each chapter kind of ended strongly so I really wanted to continue reading, but at the same time as so much stuff happened before I reached to the same story again (because the book follows mostly the order of presenting in each chapter one PoV).. I just was like “wait what then?”

Anyway, not a read I regret- it was alright! butttt not sure if I would recommend it to my closest friends!