4.5 stars! I loved this book and the audio was really well done. This is a Finnish folklore inspired fantasy and I really loved it.

I was pulled in by the characters and plot and just along for the ride with them. We get death gods, tricks, animal characters along the journey, and searching for a friend. I was highly invested! A little on the long side towards the end but then it picked back up and wrapped it up so well.

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don’t recall if I have ever read anything related to Finnish Folklore. I know nothing about Finnish Folklore so I cannot comment on if I felt it was written accurately in that aspect but I loved learning about the gods and goddesses. I loved that there was a sense of culture present as far and scents, food and clothing.

As a fantasy reader that loved the Jacksonville Rays series I can say that I thought Emily’s writing in this book was beautiful. I thought she did a great job with the characters and world building.

I did an immersion read with North is the Night. I read physical and listened to the audio.

I think both narrators did an amazing job. I would definitely recommend the audio book.

This book started with a captivating premise, but as the story progressed, it felt like the author strayed far from the original plot. Siiri clearly has strong feelings for her best friend Aina, but Aina doesn't feel the same—though this dynamic changes later, and it feels forced. Aina is kidnapped, falls in love with Tuoni, a god of death, and gets pregnant after marrying him to save other girls. Yet, she later feels betrayed by fate and resents her situation—despite the fact that she made her own choices.

Siiri, on the other hand, kills two men and pressures a reclusive shaman into teaching her his ways to save a friend who doesn't even love her back. The shaman, who wanted to live in isolation, is forced to teach Siiri against his will. The whole storyline felt off for me, especially considering the gorgeous cover.

Tuoni deserves better, and so does Siiri. Aina is, in my opinion, the real villain here—she drags both Siiri and Tuoni along, has a child she never wanted, and then runs away from Tuoni, who wanted to raise their son. Instead, she forces Siiri to help with the birth and care for the child, too.

The inclusion of Christianity felt out of place and didn't add anything meaningful to the story. Ultimately, this book wasn't what I had hoped for, and it missed the mark for me.

This book is absolutely fantastic! Loved the fantasy, the Finnish folklore and the way she molds the two together. The gods of death I absolutely loved and wanted more of! There is some romance in here but it feels more like a fantasy book than a romantsy book. Hoping there will be a book 2 at some point to see more of this world.

Audiobook was very well done. Narrators made the Finnish words much more digestible. As far as the book itself, it was good but I don’t know if I felt a spark towards the story. The beginning drug on so much and did not pick up until part 4. Although I did appreciate the glossary, the amount of gods and goddesses seemed a bit over the top when they didn't have much to do with the plot. Most of the time I didn’t know who we were talking about. Liked the balance of fantasy and romance. Hoping the set up really delivers for the sequel.

I was sincerely interested and very excited when I got granted the audiobook for this! As someone who moved to Finland a few years ago with a Finnish partner, I was really quite excited to see a book about Finnish folklore, with fantasy aspects and a sapphic romance!
But I found myself sincerely quite disappointed. I DNFed this one at around 54% in because there were just too many things that did not really sit well with me.

First of all, I found it annoying that the narrators for Siiri and Aina really ended up mispronouncing a lot of the Finnish words (notably, the word kantele, within the first chapter, pronounced so strangely my Finnish partner actually did not know what they meant as I repeated it to them). It really bothered me as it felt to me like that's the #1 thing you can work on when you get an audiobook with words in a different language - make sure you nail the pronunciation, and this really just distracted me from the whole story.

Then, secondly, I was looking forward to this being a more sapphic romance, as that seemingly was what it got marketed as. And I saw it with Siiri, the set-up for it was there, and yet as I got about halfway through the book, it felt like there was more of it being alluded to than it actually being there - which could of course still happen, but after about 300 pages I expected more than just vague hints at it, all while getting open, graphic descriptions of one of the characters kissing a man. Repeatedly. Which was a choice, certainly!

And then of course there is also the question of the Sámi representation. The Sámi people are an indigenous and marginalised minority in Finland (and other Nordic countries) that have gone through colonisation, erasure of their language and culture and are currently still being discriminated against. The author managed to make the one Sámi woman in this story a villanous witch and an enemy of one of the main characters, and their people as a whole the "enemy" in general. This was exactly what I was worried about when picking this book up, as it is still such a sensitive subject considering the discrimination and marginalisation are still ongoing, and therefore I found this portrayal of the Sámi quite distasteful. I am by no means an expert, but anyone that has been to Finland and knows of the Sámi people knows that their portrayal is something that should be treated with care and respect.

Therefore, I am unfortunately DNFing this book.

Honestly, I went into this book super blind and enjoyed it at face value. This romantasy debut did
a pretty good job at world-building. This one wasn't my favorite fantasy read, but it wasn't bad either, which is reflected in my rating. Despite the marketing controversy, I found myself rooting for both main FMCs and admired their bravery. I plan to read part two!

As an author, I love Emily Rath, so seeing her delve into a new genre was cool. Excited to see her growth from here on out!

Thank you to RBmedia and NetGalley for this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest opinions!

🎧 / 3.5⭐️

3 Stars

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the audio - this is my honest review*

I didn’t love this at all - but it wasn’t terrible.

Firstly, i understand that there have been issues with how the book has been marketed as a sapphic romance and I can definitely see the issue. There’s barely anything in here that’s sapphic. You could tell me that Aina and Siiri were just friends and nothing about this story would change (except the one chaste kiss they shared out of nowhere). More to the point, it felt like the stories of each woman was totally separate. Siiri might have been motivated by finding and rescuing Aina, but I definitely didn’t feel that the opposite way.

Aina’s story was so much more interesting to me. Her experiences in Tuonela and with the god of death were interesting, if a little contrived and Mary-Sue. I would have loved to actually stay in this world and explore it properly.

The most interesting thing about this book was the use of Finnish folklore though - I liked that. I don’t know anything about it though to know how good a use of it in the story is.

The historical element of it though - yikes. There’s a lot to unpack in the issues with the Christians, the Swedes and the Sámi. I don’t think these aspects were done well at all and they weren’t used enough to matter.

Overall, I think there were some interesting ideas here that really just fell over in the execution.

*the audio was well done and well acted. Both narrators really made the character even though the dialogue and action/story was very stilted.

I had a tough time getting through this one. The plot felt a bit out of sync, almost like it couldn’t decide if it was trying to do too much or not quite enough. The religious war subplot felt tacked on, like it wasn’t fully integrated into the story—it didn’t carry the weight it could have. Then there’s the relationship between the main characters, which felt pretty one-sided to me. I kept hoping for that spark or depth that would make me fall in love with their dynamic, but it just didn’t get there. I really wanted to love this book, but instead, I was left feeling confused and like something crucial was missing.

3.5⭐️

I find myself torn on how to rate this book. If I am rating on vibes, it’s a solid 4. I really liked the premise of the story and had a good time listening to the audiobook. The Finnish folklore aspect was really fun. I enjoyed the narrator a lot.

Sounds great, right? Why am I torn?

This book could have been cut MUCH shorter. This audiobook is 18 hours long. That seems insane given that it did not feel like 18 hours worth of stuff happened in this book. While I liked the narrator, it was very difficult with the dual POV because if you did not pay very close attention, it was easy to forget whose POV you were in because their voices were exactly the same. The romance between Aina and the god of death was very forced and icky, and I’m not a fan of the pregnancy trope and him using the pregnancy to force her to stay with him. There was also poor imagery - and when I say poor, I mean I was not able to picture anything while listening to this due to lack of description.

ADDITIONALLY, after reading some of the other reviews, this book had a lot more problems on a deeper level that my “vibes” reading approach did not pick up. Naturally I went into this book based on the cover and the fantasy genre with no other preconceived notions about it. Seeing that it was marketed as sapphic is absolutely baffling - while it was obvious that Siiri was in love with Aina, that feeling seemed to not be reciprocated (maybe a little at the end? Honestly it was so confusing) so that was definitely mismarketing. On top of that, there was extreme villainizing of women and anti-indigenous tones. All of this puts a bad taste in my mouth after reading it.

I was leaning towards 4 ⭐️ but have decided to bump it down to 3.5 ⭐️ (rounded up) because again, based on vibes, I had a good time - but don’t appreciate some of the problematic issues.

Thank you so much to RBMedia for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Take an epic fantasy like Beowulf and then ruthlessly pound that square shaped peg into a round YA-fantasy hole, and you get this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed the tour of the pantheon from Finland's epic poem The Kalevala. On the other hand, it was painfully a YA book where there is FAR too much tell over show. I'm not sure I wanted to follow any of the characters and never warmed up to the "Hades and Persephone plot. The audiobook narration was also very problematic.

Story: Aina and Siiri are young girls who are very close in their medieval Finnish village. There is a story that girls are disappearing along the countryside but they aren't worried - until the Goddess of Death appears and kidnaps Aina. Thus begins a quest by Siiri to find a way to the underworld and save Aina - while her friend deals with insane goddesses and underworld politics.

We get two POVs - Siiri in her quest to find the shaman Väinämöinen and Aina as she attempts to find the missing God of the underworld, Tuoni. Siiri will have to fight off brutish trappers, a mad Sámi witch, and then convince the hero of the Kalevala, Väinämöinen, to help her reach the underworld, Tuonela. Aina, meanwhile, is one of a small group of young women who are playthings to the goddesses of death, decay, pain, plague, etc. Those witches rule the underworld in a cruel manner while their father, the King, is missing. So Aina has to survive all kinds of cruelty, finding allies where she can.

I ran into two problems with the story. For one, I just could not get into either character, Siiri or Aina. Both were highly inconsistent and a lot more tell than show. Aina's arc was especially problematic. E.g., Siiri goes on and on throughout the book about Ain's fierce loyalty, yet when Aina makes a deal with Tuoni as the only means to save her friends, she's already reneging a few pages later because she has to kiss him (she'll marry him and says she accepts all that that means but then already begins lying and backing out). As well, both characters are extremely rude to their contacts: Siiri is always threatening or jabbing at Väinämöinen while Aina is a perpetually angry and contentious wife to Tuonela. I kind of wanted both to be thrown into the lake and for the men to be done with them.

Another issue is the plot. The Kalevala is a collection of epic poems of the oral tradition sourced in the late 1800s. It was too weird to have both girls become intimately involved with the big heroes of the Kalevala. In many ways, this treatment felt very non-Finnish, with too many anachronisms and non-Finnish ways of communication. E.g., Finns don't use people's names in sentences, so every time a sentence like, "You're so annoying, Siiri" was used, I cringed. It felt very weird and lacking the directness of the Finnish culture that confounds so many other cultures. Don't even get me started about the anti-Christian subplot or the especially problematic depiction of the Sámi (they deserve better, as do so many indigenous peoples).

I listened to the audio version and that was the final nail in the coffin for me. One of the narrators was ok on the pronunciations but the other's was painful. I can't help but wish this had been narrated by native Finns for both POVs (especially since Finland is a country that so roundly speaks English fluently).

So, yes, it was fun seeing something done with the characters from Finnish epic poems from the Kalevala. It just didn't feel like they were Finns (more like something from a Percy Jackson book), and the characters just weren't very likable. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I really enjoyed this Finnish romantasy based on their version of the Hades/Persephone myth. Full of female friendship, romance, shape shifting animal familiars, missing girls, a rescue mission, death armies, witches, prophecies and so much more. It was a perfect winter read that was great on audio narrated by Khaya Fraites and Emily Lawrence and I can't wait to get my hands on what is sure to be a GORGEOUS limited hardcover edition!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy by a new to me author in exchange for my honest review! This is perfect for fans of authors like Genevieve Gornichon or Ava Reid.

This book started off so strong. I was really starting to like the characters and the plot line. However the end felt super rushed. For a book that is meant to be a duology, there was no reason for it to feel so cramped at the end. When it comes to reading the next book, I’m going to wait and read some reviews first then decide if I want to read the second one. I’ve loved Emily’s other books so this was a letdown for me.

This story fell a bit flat for me. There was a decent amount of action/adventure and the plot was good, but the characters didn’t hit the way I hoped. The best parts of this story for me happened between Aina and the side characters after she was taken, and didn’t have anything to do with Siiri. The whole aspect of Tuonela was well done, and had the story ended there, I would have appreciated the plot a bit more. The FMCs didn’t have enough on-page time together to really connect in anyway. I didn’t feel the bond that was so important in the story. I did finish the book, though, but don’t think I’ll be returning for the second book in the duet.

The audio aspect was very good. Both Emily Lawrence and Khaya Fraites brought life to the characters and every emotion was portrayed beautifully. They both kept me engaged in the story when I may otherwise have stopped listening.

This was a great read, and felt like you were immersed in the world she has created. Most books with this many gods and witches etc would feel overcomplicated or like you're getting an info dump, but it didn't feel like this with this book. I was hooked straight away and loved the plot and characters. Wish we saw more of the FF romance but otherwise this book was amazing 😍

This was my fault. I was lured by a pretty cover and the promise of folklore
I should've at the very least looked at the author and the page count. Couldn't get into it, and don't parts were mildly insulting

This book had me at Finnish folklore. And with its rough and wintery setting, I was completely hooked from the start. Let's add Finnish underworld and a quest to become more - and hell yeah, the vibes are vibing.

If you came for 'sapphic romantasy' though, this book might not be for you. Yes there's a bit of sapphic and a bit of romantasy, but not in the way you might expect.

Still, let yourself get immersed in this world and go root for the protagonists (dual POV oh yeah) and it's a perfect read for chilly temperatures outside and a hot tea in your hand.

I loved it a lot and I'm looking forward to book 2.

The audiobook is great as well. Both POVs were narrated in a way that brought the characters and the vast world to life. I can highly recommend listening to this if you're into audiobooks.

4,5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and RB Media for the eARC!

#NorthIsTheNight #Netgalley #Bookstagram

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review

I thought that I was going to like it a lot more than I did. I did love the story but there were a few issues that I had with it. I felt like too much was going on
- Siiri is traveling to the north to get assistance of a shaman to save Aina from Tuonela and the Death God encountering issues of her own.
- While that is going on Aina is dealing with the Tuonela witches and gods and figuring out the mystery of the disappearing women.
- While that’s going on, the Swedes are invading with their new Christian god and the home village of Aina and Siiri is in danger.

With so much going on, this also created pacing issues where some stuff were dragged out where other things were quickly went over. I felt like this could have been 2 books and that would have allowed for the time for each plot point to have its times to shine.

I was excited for this epic fantasy set in an epic frozen backdrop. Unfortunately, the world is poorly built, there is barely any imagery, so I can't even tell you what the characters or settings look like and the fact that this was marketed as Sapphic/feminists and it's clearly not pisses me off. A bunch of girlpower one-liners does not make something feminist. Both the female leads NEED the help of a man to further their plot and help them along, either from marriage or training/assistance. Also making all the female goddesses villains, and having the indigenous Sami come off as antagonists. Wtf? Did they not someone go through and think about the implications of that?

I'd seen the book mentioned as bi or sapphic and was excited, especially since it was written by someone who is well known for writing extremely spicy books. But this book was sanitized of any real romance between them, there was longing on one side and dedication clearly but that's about it. I love books that highlight the power and importance of female friendship, that could have been enough, but if you are hinting at a lesbian romance either you go for it or remove implications completely

Wow, Emily Wrath is such an amazing author. The way she tells a story is so breathtaking. The Audio was beautiful. It flowed amazing and you really get like you were going in an adventure with the characters. The pacing was great and I really felt like the voices match the characters really well. I tend to only listen to fantasy books as opposed to read them, and this audiobook really kept my attention and made me feel like I was watching the story happen in front of me.