I requested this one after reading the synopsis and thinking that it was definitely up my alley. Monsters, Norse mythology, and a prophesied power have all been great loves in my reading life.

First, the good. I like what I could tell about the characters. They seem like they could be a good cast that flows well together and make sense. Also, the overall concept has a lot of potential to be a fun ride of a read. There are segments that are reminiscent of Kim Harrison (The Hollows series), Janet Evanovich, and Jennifer L. Armentrout. All are authors that I enjoy for the fact that they are quite simply fun with paranormal twists.

Now I am going to split my review into two parts because there was a disconnect with the first part of the book and the second:

1st 33% of the ebook:

Unfortunately, I really did not like this part. As this is an ARC I expected it not to be perfect but the formatting on my Kindle was so bad that I could not follow who was speaking or when and I have numerous sections highlighted simply because there was an error in the grammar or the wrong punctuation was used. This just about broke my proofreading heart.

On top of this the execution of the story felt very much like a first draft and I repeatedly was reminded of Stephen King's On Writing where he lectures about avoiding an overuse of adjectives and to say things simply. The use of synonyms and flowery prose was distracting and made the story line difficult to follow.

Aside from this there is a complete lack of focus in the narrative. It is almost like you are trying to have a conversation with someone that is constantly distracted and goes off on an incoherent tangent. The placement of random details that could easily be edited out of the final cut make the story nearly incomprehensible. Along with this there were moments where I feel like there was information left out that would have been crucial in world building.

Do I believe this story has potential? Absolutely. Would I recommend it in its current state? No.

Remaining two thirds:

At this point the story really began to come back into a more coherent flow and the writing felt like it had been more thoroughly edited. There is a good amount of energy as the tale moves along and some humor.

My favorite character had to be Hel with her quirky personality and fashion sense including unicorns and My Little Pony. However, characters sometimes felt as if they were sharing a single personality whenever they had dialogue and did not give enough of a unique feeling that I always knew who was speaking.

Overall the book ended up being enjoyable enough and it took less than 24 hours to read. With some more editing for the minor mistakes that were driving me crazy while I was reading as well as the occasional jumping of the story line that left massive holes in understanding it could be a good book.

I would mostly recommend this for someone looking for a lighter read, fans of Loki, and mostly readers that already have a firm grasp of the basics of Norse mythology.

Link to blog:https://obsessivereadingreviews.blogspot.com/2018/09/ragnarok-unwound-by-kristin-jacques.html

Pretty good! A typical YA paranormal / supernatural fare with focus on the Norse mythologies.

It suffers some of the typical flaws of the genre, ie, an overpowered (minimally flawed) protagonist, who is not nearly as scared as she ought to be.
I often find that nonchalance amusing in these novels - it is never explicitly stated the the novel is set in the supernatural world. We have to assume it is set in the mundane; and yet the protagonist often shrugs off the mind blowing information of gods and deities and magic, something that is so unbelievable. Its a tried and true cliche of the genre, but it never fails to amuse me. Ives was told on her eighteenth birthday about her magical heritage, we assume she was brought into the supernatural world then, having lived all her life as mundane. So two years later (we are told she 'avoided her responsibilities'), she is remarkedly unawed by a literal immortal Valkyrie just dropping into the bar to see her. It's one of those things that you just have to suspend your disbelief for, and, to be fair to the author, she manages to make it relatively easy to do that.
However, it's always a niggle at the back of my mind the lack of these protags just freaking heck out!

I did enjoy the fact that the author blends two very different mythologies. Whilst Norse mythology is pretty rife in popular fiction, Hawaiian is not. So it was nice to have an indigenous protagonist, and some cultural exploration of Hawaiian myth. It was an unusual blend that I enjoyed.

I'd recommend this book easily for a quick pleasant read. It's very much of its genre, but is not badly written and I would expect the author to only get better as they progress. I'll even keep an eye out for future releases.

Great book about a derivation of Viking mythology. Ives, is the Fate Cipher, but is born mortal. She uses her limited power to try and stop Ragnarok. It's a well written book, thoughtfully laid out. It is fast paced and a very enjoyable read! Can't wait for sequel!