Thank you to Titan Books for sending me a digital copy of this book for review. I am on the bookstagram tour for this book, so my mini-review will be posted on Instagram on the 18th, but here is my full review. Side note – I absolutely love the cover for this book, and the colours are so beautiful! Right now I have a digital copy, but I bet the physical copy is gorgeous. Also, in my digital copy there was a map and glossary at the end.

Hall of Smoke begins with Hessa seeking forgiveness from the goddess she serves after she failed to complete a mission. Hessa is not at the temple long, but while she is gone there is a raid, and many of her friends and family are murdered. In the aftermath, Hessa must try to redeem herself in Eang’s eyes or she will continue to be disgraced by her goddess. She soon realises that there has been a shift, and the Old Gods are returning and threatening everything Hessa thinks she knows. Hessa has served the goddess of war for a long time, so what will happen when she begins to question her committment?

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book – the synopsis indicated to me that it would be a high fantasy with a focus on religion, mythology and war, which it definitely was! This book is full of gods and war, and I think the setting is Viking-inspired. This was right up my street, and just what I like to see in fantasy books! The gods in Hall of Smoke were so interesting, and I loved learning about the history of the world-building – it was very well-done and detailed, and I definitely felt immersed in the world.

I really enjoyed learning about the religion, especially because Hessa is a priestess and so caught up in her beliefs, so it is a shock when she realises that everything is not as it seems. Hessa’s whole life has been devoted to Eang, so I loved to see how her relationship with faith changed throughout the book. Hessa definitely isn’t perfect, and she also has to question what she knows about people devoted to other gods, who she had dismissed all her life because she was so devoted to her goddess.

I did struggle to get into this book at the very beginning – it took me a few chapters to get used to the world-building and get into the story. I found the pacing a bit off for a while, mainly before the action started, because most of this book is Hessa travelling on a journey to complete her mission. However, once I did get used to the terminology and plot I really enjoyed the story. There is a lot of information, so I’d recommend looking at the glossary if you need to, and there are pronunciation guides for some of the words. After reading the first few chapters, I was definitely sucked in and once I hit the 50% mark I found it hard to put down!

I liked the alternating timeline because this allowed us to learn more about Hessa and where she came from through some flashbacks. For me, Hessa stood out quite a lot and I really liked following her journey – she definitely had the most depth and character development, and I wanted to know what would happen to her. I really appreciated how she got her period at one point, because unfortunately periods aren’t often discussed in fantasy books. However, most of the other characters weren’t as memorable, so I didn’t feel fully connected to them. This did stop me from fully loving this book, but luckily the book mainly focused on Hessa.

I was a bit confused at the very end – some things were a left a bit vague, so I would have just liked more detail or a longer ending. I have this issue often with standalone books, especially fantasy standalones, because it’s much harder to wrap up a story without it feeling rushed. However, I did really enjoy the climax of the book because I really didn’t know what would happen! There was a lot of action in the second half of the book, as well as revelations and twists and turns in the plot.

Once again, thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book, and I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author. Content warnings for death, murder, violence, some graphic descriptions of injuries.

4/5 stars

I loved this book! Exciting, extremely well written, and expansive in its worldbuilding. There are so few epic fantasy standalones written by women. I’m so glad to be adding this one to my shelf.


Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read and review in advance!

Hall of Smoke was a really interesting novel, every inch as epic as the blurb suggests. It manages to hit that perfect blend of plot and simplicity; with a story that feels lengthy yet succinct. I wish I’d managed to get my hands on a physical copy of this as I feel a book like this suffers slightly from being electronic - ebooks often feel longer than they are, without the reality of being able to see how far in you’ve gotten. In addition to this, the map is placed at the back of the book, alongside a glossary of characters - and I feel I wish I’d had access to flick back to this when necessary as I did have quite a few ‘wait, who?’ Moments whilst reading. Geography is never my strong suit, so I tend to let the grasp of locations pass me by unless I have a map; and did find myself wishing for one as I read.

I absolutely loved the Viking ideology in this book, and the cover art is so strong that it remained within my mind the entire time I was reading. I loved the way magic was treated like a gift and a curse, and how it came to be really resonated with me; having spent my childhood reading Pratchett and seeing gods made stronger by their followers.

The Gods play a prominent part in the book, reminding me of the meddling ways of Greek deities in the best way. I loved the different people, their looks and cultures and lifestyles - and the way this reflected in their worship. Having one deity show itself through flowers opening, another through owls etc, was a magical addition that felt real and powerful as a reader.

I think my favourite thing about this book though was the real sense of self-discovery and growth. Our heroine wasn't the strongest in her people, or the fastest, or their fiercest warrior. The book literally starts with her repenting from a mistake and the entire book feels like a true battle with what she feels she should do...and what she's being told to do. It's Hessa's journey from mindlessly following orders to making her own choices. Choosing her own fate. Reaching inward for her own strength, her own power.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a touch slow at times, but my fascination with the Gods and their story and Hessa's redemption kept my interest strong throughout. I was so happy with the ending, with the choices Hessa made for herself. I was happy that there was no forced romance, no sappy scene that felt out of place. Just a strong, fantastically written story that kept my interest throughout.

Hall of Smoke follows the priestess Hessa after things take a wrong turn and her homeland is ravaged by war. Her journey is not for the faint of heart and takes her across multiple lands, cultures on a journey to redeem herself after a failure to heed the commands of her goddess.

The most impressive thing about this novel for me was the premise and the world. I thought that the worldbuilding was awesome. The different countries and lands with their own pantheon of gods who fight, bicker and have their own alliances really made it seem quite real to me. There are old gods, new gods, demons, magic abilities, power struggles and it all just mixes in so well. The novel seems to take cues from the Viking culture which I can always appreciate and it all felt new and interesting. I believe the world itself has many more stories to tell.

This however brings us to my first and main issue I had with the novel: the length. The book is only 400 pages long and I believe this was not enough to contain such an awesome world. For a first glimpse into an entirely new world that is this intricate it was just too brief. The story takes us to pretty much every country on the map as well so the reader is constantly bombarded with the names of a bunch of gods, followers, customs and at some point it became a hindrance and I felt like I could not connect to a lot of the story as well as I should have. The novel could have really used a more focused plot. We do not need to visit every country that exists on the map and I would have liked to learn about the world in a much more relaxed pace. I would not call it complex but there was just too much of everything for the kind of story this book was trying to tell.

To not come across as entirely negatively minded I would like to comment that separately all the aspects of the book work quite well. I came out of this novel thinking - "Well the world is awesome, characters are good enough, plot is nice, action is great" - and yet I felt entirely detached from it all due to the way these elements were mixed together. As to what this does to the score I will set the book exactly in the middle with a 5/10. I believe the author has promise but this story sadly comes out to be less than the sum of its parts.

Hall of Smoke is a Viking-inspired fantasy, where the Gods are real.

I admittedly haven’t read a lot of Viking literature, but this book feels like a fresh take on the genre for a first reasons. Firstly, while I wouldn’t necessarily call this a ‘feminist’ story, it’s nice to read a take on pre-medieval societies featuring a well-rounded female MC, who has a wide array of hopes, dreams and fears unrelated to her gender. In Eang, men and women are equal out of necessity (in a case of all hands on deck), and Hessa is both a religious acolyte, part of the mysterious Eangi priesthood, as well as a skilled fighter. Additionally, while Hessa receives help from many men on her journey, she also proves herself their equal – and there are rarely, if ever, romantic undertones in their meetings.

Secondly, I really enjoyed Long’s take on the gods of Hessa’s world. This book does some really deft things with the various gods and the concept of religion more generally: the Gods are real, but who the true gods are and how they should be worshipped is a matter of cultural perspective. Hessa is devoted to Eang, but when the Goddess fails to answer her calls for help, she starts to question exactly who it is she serves. The Gods themselves are also all very different in personality; some are tricksters, some are violent; others just want to go home and forget about human concerns. It genuinely does feel like a pantheon of gods, reminiscent of the Vikings and other cultures like the Greeks.

As for the rest of the story: the quality of the prose is excellent, and really evokes an otherworldly feel. This is a world similar to our history, but also a world full of mysteries Hessa is only just being to understand. However, the plot – my main issue with this book – is painfully slow-moving at points. Much of the middle of this book is Hessa simply moving from one village to another, and replaying the same crises of faith in her mind, and it gets a little repetitive. I also didn’t get a good sense of the other human characters in this book. Much of Hessa’s journey is about revenge and justice for her family, and to protect those she loves who are still in hiding, but the problem is that we simply don’t know enough about these characters to really feel the depths of Hessa’s motivations or love for them. However, the action does build nicely at the end, and I was satisfied with the payoff; always a good sign for a standalone book.

Overall, Hall of Smoke hits a lot of the same beats as other epic fantasy novels, but also contains enough to differentiate it from the crowd. I’m looking forward to seeing what Long writes next.

Hall of Smoke was Long's debut novel and it was... okay. Not exceptional as I hoped. The main problem was the pacing: 80% of the story is about Hessa's journey. She travels from one place to another and doesn't interact very much with other characters. She doesn't develop any relationship. It's mostly about her, about her inner thoughts. After a while, it became a little bit boring. Another thing I couldn't connect with was the writing style. I felt it flat and it didn't captivate me. I had to push myself to keep on reading and finish the book.

Creative, intricate, and unique are all words I would use to describe the last half of Hall of Smoke. Unfortunately, to get there requires more than a little effort. I came dangerously close to not finishing this book due to some structural and pacing issues in the beginning.
My number one problem had to do with the language. No matter what was occurring, and believe me there were some potentially epic battle scenes in the first half of this novel, everything was monotonous. The tone and cadence of the language did not change, making the narrative seem almost textbook, even at times that it should have been really exciting. This was not the case later in the novel, which made the affectation of it in the beginning seem all the more strange.
My other problem had to do with the sheer amount of unnecessary characters thrown at you in the beginning of the book. Random encounters, idle memories, briefly met allies; it became impossible to discern who was who, and who was supposed to actually matter to the story.
That aside, let’s talk about the positive. Hall of Smoke has a really intricate magic and god system that made my mouth water with the level of unique detail in it. Similarly, the world was really well thought out. The various warring factions and how they interacted and responded to one another was amazing. This all came into play in the last half of the novel when Hessa began to piece together what was actually going on. I wish that some of these elements had been introduced sooner to better even out the pacing. If the starting tedium was adjusted, and the reader was to catch some foreshadowing or glimpses of the potential of the later chapters, I think it would have made this decent novel into something seriously great.

I know the saying is that you should never judge a book by its cover, and as someone who reads a lot of books I know that's good advice; however, I dare anyone to look at the cover for Hall of Smoke to look at this book and not want a copy. Luckily, this is a book that you can judge by its cover, as the content inside is just as bold, and beautiful as the artwork on the front, and is a book that I had a hell of a good time reading.

The story follows Hessa, a young warrior priestess of Eang. The book begins with her having to travel to her goddess' temple to pray for forgiveness for failing to carry out an assassination of a strange traveller that she was instructed to make by Eang herself. Unfortunately for Hessa, whilst she's up the mountain her village comes under attack from the Algatt, a tribe of raiders from the country to the north. By the time Hessa returns home she finds the village in flames and her family dead. This was not just a simple raid, but the exodus of thousands of Algatt, fleeing their home in the wake of a rival force. Now one of the last remaining Eangi priests Hessa sets out to finish her mission and kill this mysterious traveller; but she soon discovers that there is much more going on than she could ever have imagined, and god both new and ancient are awakening across the land.

One of the things that surprised me most about Hall of Smoke was that despite the length of an average novel (400 pages) it really managed to pack the content in, and it at times felt like reading a book twice the length. This was in part due to the amazing amount of world building that Long did, and despite the main bulk of the book taking place in a relatively small corner of this world it felt like a very big universe, one where you could get lost for hours exploring the history and lore. This history is an important part of the story, and over the course of the book the readers get to learn more and more about the pantheon of gods in Hessa's world, both those new and those much more ancient. Learning about these gods and their history is an integral part of both the story and Hessa's journey, and despite the book being packed with great action sequences it was these quiet moments of discovery that really hooked me and drew me in.

Long has managed to create a story that feels incredibly layered and complex, but one that never leaves you confused or feeling lost. Yes, you get a lot of information dropped on you at times, but this information is usually delivered in such a way that we learn of it through Hessa, and her experiences of discovering these secrets, and what they mean to her, makes it much easier to digest than some other lore heavy fantasy novels. We experience everything this way, through Hessa, and whilst not only does she make for a narrator that makes the story and its complex turns easy to follow, but her journey is one of the best I've read for a long while. So many protagonists end their journeys having learnt something, but often they still seem like the same person; Hessa, on the other hand, ends up being a completely different person com the end. She grows in ways that I never expected when I started the book, and by the end I was still desperate to spend more time with her. I wanted to see what this new Hessa would do next, what her life has in store for her come the conclusion. She's the kind of character that I could spend a dozen books reading about and never get bored of her. If this is the only time I get to read about her I'll be a little disappointed that I won't be getting more, but still incredibly happy with the journey I got to go on with her.

Hall of Smoke was a book that I missed in its pre-release hype, one that I wasn't really excited for or thought much about, but it's quickly become one of my favourite fantasy books I've read in a good long while, and one that I know that I'll be shouting about and recommending to a lot of people. The perfect debut novel.

This book tells the story of Hessa, an Eangi priestess, banished from her community for not following the orders of the high priestess and subsequently, her goddess Eang. However, soon her people are killed and she’s left alone in the world with one mission: kill the traveler and earn the forgiveness of the goddess. Heartbroken but determined, Hessa starts her journey around her known world, to uncover the secrets behind the massacre and finding the traveler to secure her place in the afterlife.

Most of this book is a journey from one location to another, following it on the map would make it more interesting and engaging. The world-building was very well done, H. M. Long transported us to a harsh world full of lore and rich culture. Albeit inspired by Vikings and Norse mythology, the gods had more of a direct and important role in this book. I’m always intrigued by books where gods are actually real and their influence on the world is evident. The world Long created and the history she weaved and how they played out at the end of the book was my favorite part of this book. She also illustrated the relations between the different nations in a clear interesting way.
Please check the glossary at the end, if it wasn’t for it, I would’ve been confused since there are many names mentioned.

Long’s writing was easy to get lost in. she described the world vividly and I was always imagining the lands Hessa was traveling through in my head. Her style was solid, especially for a debut book. The book is told from Hessa’s perspective. I also appreciate the lack of romance in this book and how Hessa didn’t need anyone to survive and was always depending on herself. Sure, many helped along the way but not in the way of a “love interest” does.

Hessa was fierce and strong, a warrior who is left with a heavy burden. But she’s also vulnerable when it’s needed. She was also loyal and always putting others first. While the book is mostly told in the present time, we get a flew flashbacks chapters that tell us about Hessa’s life before the events of <i>Hall of Smoke</i>. Although the pace of this book is slow, since most of it is on the road, the chapters helped since they weren’t long most of the time.

But these are all positives why didn’t I give it any more stars?
I couldn’t connect with the characters. I also didn’t feel that she loved her husband. We were constantly told about how much he meant for her and yet it was more telling than showing, this is usually a set up for future “true love” later on.

All in, this is a good debut. The world-building was great and I loved the history of the world. Do I recommend it? Sure if you like Vikings inspired stories. You might have better luck than me connecting with the characters. I will also keep an eye for H. M. Long future books.


Note: Make sure to check the glossary and the appendix containing the map at the end.

This book brings the epic to epic fantasy. I richly imagined world, breathtaking fights, creatures that could haunt your sleep, Hall of Smoke has something that'll make anyone fall in love with it. The writing is exceptional--the prose snatched me into the book and I clung for my life. A great debut!

Hessa, is an Eangi, a warrior priestess of Eang, the Goddess of War.

A very likable heroine to follow, she gets involuntarily sucked into a war among the gods.

It was nice to read a high fantasy book that was a bit different from ones that have come out lately. More of a Viking fantasy world.

I really enjoyed the story, but it was fairly slow in some sections, and I think it would benefit greatly from reading a physical copy of the book instead of an ebook, since having the map and glossary of names at the beginning would have been super helpful.

I would definitely recommend this book regardless! There’s going to be some awesome fan art when this is released. I can’t wait.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

This is what storytelling is made of.

I can’t explain to you guys how much I loved this book. The author takes her time telling this story, and let me tell you...With the ending, it’s totally worth it. I could not predict where this story was going to go, and I can guarantee you won’t be able to either. The strength of our main heroine Hessa was so unbelievably inspiring. She is so alone in the world, and yet always comes out on top in the numerous problems she faces.

The writing was so cinematic, fluid, and without reserve. Long deals punch after punch, and you can’t help but keep reading! The mythology of this world will completely suck you in. I adore anything Viking-esque (thank you for the introduction, Adrienne Young), and I just fell head over heels in love with this book. And if you're a gamer (like me), and have been playing the new Assassin's Creed Valhalla game - same vibes, my dudes. Same vibes.

Cinematic. Gory. Heroic. Epic.

I wouldn’t change a thing about this story. Except add more romance. But that’s just me LOL.

Big thank you to Titan Books + Netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book!

I requested this book because of that gorgeous cover and the synopsis seems so good. I love a great mythology and I was not disappointed.

The world building of this book is very rich. We discovered a mythology made up of several gods. Each has a unique power and is followed by it own community. The larger the community, the more powerful the god. Unfortunately, a new god comes to change the situation and we quickly realize that the power game between the gods is important and complicated. I loved discovering each god, each community and you can feel the Viking influence throughout the book. It was really good.

Hessa our main character is awesome. She made a mistake and accepts the consequences. She seems a little naive on some points but she never stops questioning herself when necessary. I liked her quest for truth and her evolution. In addition the author had the good idea not to put romance which is refreshing for this kind of book, because it made the MC that much more interesting.

Overall, I really recommend this book which I find very good both in the writing style, the characters and the construction of the universe.

Although Hall of Smoke is a debut novel, it feels like it was written by someone who has been telling stories their entire life. H.M. Long guides the reader through a living and breathing world, full of strong warrior priestesses, gods walking among men, mythical creatures and raw, human emotions.

Hessa is an Eangi, a warrior priestess of the Goddess of War, Eang. While away from her village, raiders destroy her home and kill her people, leaving her as the only Eangi left. Alone and grieving, Hessa hunts down a traveler she was tasked with killing by her Goddess. But while she hunts down this man, Hessa gets tangled up in a war amongst gods. When Eang no longer answers Hessa’s prayers, she starts to realize far more is going on than she knows. While her faith in the Goddess of War wavers, Hessa must find a way to navigate the fickle moods of the Gods and prepare for the war that is brewing.

Hall of Smoke was obviously inspired by multiple ancient religions, most notably the Norse one. Despite this, Long managed to create her own pantheon that feels almost as if I could find it in the history books. The mythology, different gods and goddesses, tribal communities and the emergence of a ‘one true god’, feel real, like this is the history of a people who lived on Earth long ago. The world-building is amazing, without it ever turning into an information dump. Mythological stories are woven in perfectly, giving exactly the right amount of information, without diverting from the main story at all.

Long also gives us a heroine that is flawed, and because of that feels very real. Hessa is strong, a warrior priestess. But after losing her people, she feels lost and vulnerable. She experiences grief and despair, without it ever spiraling into something annoying. She’s smart, but not too smart. Hessa makes mistakes, and pays for them. Because the book is written in first person, we experience Hessa’s doubts and feelings with her.

The only thing that sometimes bothered me was that some of the names of tribes, people and areas were easily confused with one another. Hall of Smoke has a list of names with an explanation in the back, which is helpful, but a bit annoying to go to when you’re reading it as an e-book. However, this is more of a personal pet peeve, and didn’t affect my rating.

The stakes in Hall of Smoke are high, but never feel unrealistic. Because the gods walk amongst men, speak and fight with them, an epic battle truly feels epic. The book works towards a very satisfying final battle, slowing down in all the right places, and becoming action-packed again as soon as you caught your breath.

I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with Hessa, and I can’t wait to see what H.M. Long comes up with next.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hall of Smoke was such a good book! I will admit though that some things that were happening confused me for a bit. Luckily, for me, it didn't take long for everything to make sense. In it, you will meet Hessa. Now she was a person that you could easily fall in like or dislike with. It kind of depends on where you are at in the story. Don't get me wrong, she is strong and kind of a badass when she needs to be.. but she also goes through a lot.

Whether it's pain or on this mission for Eang, the Goddess of War, Hessa is a girl who will fight for what she believes in. At some point, I honestly thought there was going to be more of a romance than what I got.. but it just never happened. In a way it was bittersweet but I still ended up enjoying the crap out of the book.

Now while I enjoyed the book... I just feel like not a lot happened throughout it. Yea, we got some fights here and there.. but she doesn't really talk to anyone unless she needs to. Even if she does, it happens for a minute or two. I just feel like I needed a bit more in this just to make Hessa a bit more realistic or relatable.

In the end, I was intrigued enough to finish the book and the ending was okay enough to like.

It might be an "it's not you, it's me" case because I saw a lot of 5 stars reviews.

I was excited to read this Viking inspired fantasy full of ruthless gods at war with each other and magic-wielding priestesses. Hessa is an Eangi, a fighter priestess who worships Eang, Goddess of War. The story is about her hard quest for redemption after she ignored the Goddess’s order to kill a man and after all her people were slaughtered by an enemy raid. Now Hessa is trying to find the man she was supposed to kill to fulfill her Goddess’s will and regain her favor.

She is guided by her regrets, and her desire for redemption and revenge, and her path is filled with enemies and demons. Hessa is a flawed character, trying to right her wrongs and on her journey, she starts to question her beliefs as she finds out that there is way more to the worlds and the gods than what she was taught. She is a good character, she is strong and independent, and I liked the fact that there was no forced romance in this story, even though she meets many men along the way.

The fighting scenes are vivid and well written, the world-building is simple, and easy to picture (there is a map at the end to help), but it is also very interesting. The information about the Gods and Goddesses is presented as the story goes, it is not an info-dump at the beginning of the book, and it made it easier for me to get invested in this book from the first chapter.

One complaint that I have is the lack of interaction between Hessa and the other characters. Even though she was surrounded by people for some parts, she didn’t develop real relationships and her conversations didn’t help her create connections with the people around her. I was really immersed in Hessa’s story right from the start, but then, after reading this story for over 200 pages, I was wishing for more meaningful interactions and discussions. This story is solely about Hessa, her inner thoughts, and her quest to get rid of her remorse and to find inner peace. She talks with some deities and she keeps on praying to her Goddess for guidance, but that’s about it. Her first interaction with Ogam is great and I thought that he was the kind of character that I would really enjoy, he seems funny and has good repartee, but then he left and Hessa continued her lonely quest, only speaking with him occasionally.

She also spends about 80% of the book traveling because she needs to find the man she is supposed to kill. There is a lot of description about the geography and topography of the lands she crosses, I would even say that some parts are over-detailed, and it clashed with the pace of intense action scenes, but not necessarily in a good way. It created real slow moments in the story where I had to push myself to keep on reading until there was another action scene or faster-paced chapter to hook me back into the story.

Overall it is a good book, and I liked it, but the flow of the story and the secondary characters (and their role in the story) could be improved.

I really enjoyed this. I feel like the options for finding an adult fantasy novel written by a woman is a bit harder to come by in a genre so traditionally dominated by men, but Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long is a FANTASTIC debut read—one worth a reread or few.

If you dig Viking influence and stories that feature strong women at their helm, give this one a shot. It’s similar to Sky in the Deep (which I found lacking), only way more grown-up. Better writing, more immersive world-building and lore, captivating storytelling and plot, and an epic cast of characters, which includes monsteresque creatures, zealot priests and legionaries, and brutal, brutal gods.

The lore, the stakes, the fight scenes, battles—they were all superb in Hall of Smoke. I got major Skyrim vibes reading this book (the shouts, the setting, the weapons). I’ve put an embarrassing number of hours into that game LOL.

Though it took roughly a quarter to one-third of the way into the book for it to really get going for me, once I passed that 25–33% mark, it had my undivided attention. If you’re looking for a romance sub-plot, you won’t find it here. HoS is not that kind of story. This is about one woman’s struggle as she examines her beliefs and, ultimately, avenges all she’s lost.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. H.M. Long is an author I’ll have my eye on for future books. If House of Smoke gets a sequel, I’m here for it. Very respectable debut!

Hessa is a priestess to the war goddess Eang, blessed with fearsome powers that the goddess bestowed upon her. When she fails to follow a command given years ago, Hessa is exiled. After murderous raiders attack the village, she is forced to re-evaluate her previously unquestioned beliefs. Hessa must journey to earn the forgiveness of her goddess and save the afterlife of her people. As menacing forces gather to battle for godly power, Hessa cannot rely on her goddess for aid as she attempts to fulfill her destiny.

In a harsh world where the gods are fickle, Hall of Smoke is a creative and new adventure. This is a captivating tale that reaches out and grabs hold of the reader! Hessa is a strong warrior priestess determined to save her people, regardless of any demons or gods that get in her way. One can feel the chill of winter on the back of the neck, hear the crackle of the flames, and Hessa’s determination seeps through the page. I really enjoyed the complex systems of gods and magic paired with vivid descriptions of the surroundings. I was very surprised by some of the twists and turns the story took, it was fantastic! Hall of Smoke is an incredible fantasy debut and I would highly recommend it. Hall of Smoke releases on January 19, 2021. Thank you so much to H.M. Long, Titan Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble etc.

I am a sucker for epic world building. Fortunately, Hall of Smoke did not disappoint. The mythos of this world, inspired by the ancient Norse, is engrossing and original. Hessa, the lead character of this story, is a young Eangi warrior priestess that finds herself embarking on a turbulent path after her village is invaded. Hessa is at times contradictory, but it makes her relatable and touchingly human in a world with Gods and Goddesses that are not always what they seem. This was a stunning debut with a strong female lead that I greatly enjoyed. If you like gritty, kick ass heroines then perhaps you will too.

Also, I just want to take a moment to say how much I adore the cover. It is stunning.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an e-copy of this book.

I loved this book from the very first page until the very end.

We meet Hessa and are introduced to the mythology of her universe and her attempt of reedeming herself. The book starts strong and heart-wrenchingly, it prepares us for her journey. And what a journey...
I loved Hessa and her strength, mentally as mush as physically (but especially mentally). There is always something happening: new interesting characters being introduced, fight scenes, treasons, powerful gods. I loved the development of the world-building, the pantheon of the gods, the tensions between the different lands (even though I was sometimes confused by which land was at war with which other land), the different beliefs.
Also, the writing is really beautiful and it really keeps you captivated by the story.

I was enthralled thoughout the whole book, it was epic!