I’ve always liked books that are about vikings or that have norse mithology in them so when I saw the description i was sold. Unfortunately this book was kind of a let down.
Our two main characters are two teenage girls: Yrsa a danish girl, daughter of the helmsman, who seems to have the ability of seeing fate ( a seeress) and Sister Job a nun who is captured by the men of the village and turned into a hostage.
For me the beginning of the book was slow and it didn’t pick up until around the 40% mark. After a men from the village SA Sister Job and she mortally wounds him, our two mains flee the village to avoid the repercussions and this is when things get interesting since the villagers won’t let them off so easily.
I liked the relationship between Yrsa and Job, especially their clash of religions and how each of them were so convinced of their own religion, but i do understand why some people think their romance was out of the blue since Yrsa spends half of the book thinking of her cousin, definitely the relationship would have benefited if it had been more developed.
Overall it’s still a book that i would recommend.
Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC.

I enjoyed this book a lot!
I very much enjoyed the setting and the story. I find Yrsa especially to be an interesting character. I enjoyed the romance and the way their relationship developed from the beginning.

I don’t really know what to think about this book.
I liked the two main characters. The style of writing was beautiful. The animals, so sweet.
It always feels weird reading a YA book written by a man, that includes on-page sexual assault. I don’t know how I feel about that but it isn’t good. It definitely could have been off-page, especially considering it’s YA. I also thought the book was miscatergorized as “queer” - the MC is pining for her cousin almost the entire book and then in the last 5% of the book suddenly one is in love with the other but it’s actually not really that obvious, it could definitely just be friendship. There’s no romance whatsoever (which is fine!), feels a bit weird to categorize it like that and very sudden and out of the blue.
I wished the dialogue had been a bit truer to the times. They used a lot of sayings that I’m not sure were used back then.
It was a grand adventure with good action, and great descriptive writing.

I almost missed my stop on the metro while reading this—if that’s not a testament to how good this book was, I don’t know what is.

The writing completely transported me to 9th-century Denmark. The characters were utterly fascinating and multifaceted, especially the side characters. Almost every assumption I made about them turned out to be wrong. Characters like Signe (stepmother), Nokki (fling/cousin—yeah, wild, I know), and Gudrun (grandmother) could have easily fallen into stereotypical roles, but they didn’t. Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem gave these supporting characters, though not the main focus, so much space to grow into their own unique individuals with complex motivations rather than forcing them into pre-made molds. I have so much respect for that.

Now, onto our main characters: Yrsa and Job! Yrsa had my heart from the very first page, while Job took a little longer to grow on me—but she eventually did. I know some might argue their romance came out of nowhere, but I didn’t find it sudden at all. The small moments sprinkled throughout the book built up to their eventual coming together. It was clear from the start that they were meant to be.


This book had it all—yearning, badassery, religious guilt & symbolism—it was truly delectable. 🙏

And that ending!!! I can’t wait for its release so I can dive into everyone’s theories. (less)

This was a much needed book! I love to read about vikings and this book was true to the history. The writing is highly developed and entertaining. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

ARC Review
First of all a huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance of reading this book with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

But let's start.

I enjoyed the book quite a lot even though I had started the read expecting a much less challenging experience than it was, and maybe that ruined the mood a bit for me.
This story is deeply historical, a true Viking story with no filter to it.

What I didn't particularly enjoy was the romance: I love a wlw but this felt a bit out of the blue even for a rivals to lovers.

Overall though it's a good book I would recommend.

This was a strong historical fiction novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this. The characters were everything that I wanted and thought it worked in the time-period. I was invested in what Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem wrote and thought the translation worked well overall.

A very unique characters with great development and story line.
I couldn’t put it down.
Highly recommend.