Freya is sick of being stuck in a loveless marriage, spending her days gutting fish and keeping house. But when she reveals her identity as a child of the goddess Hlin, she is swept up into the politics of the realm, for it has been prophesied that whoever controls her fate will become king of the land.
Fantasy was always my first love when it came to books. Nowadays I have ranged far from that familiar region, but sometimes you just want to go back to the basics. The basics being, of course, magic, war romance, and a Chosen One.
The Chosen One here is Freya, but there’s a bit of a twist on it, for it’s whoever controls her who will have the special fate of ruling Skaland. I enjoyed the world-building – the society and magic system is clearly rooted in Norse mythology, but the author made it come alive with plenty of her own unique touches. Freya and most of the supporting characters are drawn in shades of gray, and I enjoyed how their competing motivations made it tough for me to decide who was making the right choices. There were enough twists and turns in the story to keep me guessing right until the end.
However, there was one big thing that did not work for me – the romance. Freya is drawn to Bjorn, which is complicated because he is the son of the jarl that she’s forced to marry in his bid for kingship. However, Bjorn always felt flat to me until almost the very ending of the book, and I found myself bored with him. While I enjoyed some of his banter with Freya, I never really bought into their chemistry – and since the romance between them is a large part of the story and Freya’s conflict, it meant I did always find myself gripped. I also found myself rolling my eyes at how invariably selfish and uncaring Freya’s family and friends were – it struck an odd note in a book that builds depth even into its minor antagonists.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.