Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-audio arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book as it sounded right up my alley being based around Norse mythology in an icy medieval setting with a young heroine coming into her own strength and power, but this unfortunately fell very flat for me. The world building in this book was not great, and I had a hard time for the first 100 pages really getting a grasp on the concepts and setting of the book.

There is also so...much...dialouge. I understand when there's a lot of dialogue in a book that contributes substance to the storyline, but I feel there was so much unnecessary dialogue, especially in the third person. There was not enough action throughout the story until towards the end.

The characters were also void of personality, and I found it hard to relate to anyone and thus couldn't really make a connection enough to care about any of the characters.

I will not be continuing on with the story.

At the age of fifteen Hirka discovers she is Odin’s Child which explains why she has no tail. She is to be feared if discovered as she can bring The Blind into the realm and that means death. Brilliant book one of the Raven Rings trilogy.

Very well written and narrated novel (I listened to the audiobook). Great strong characters with depth. Loved the personalities in this well paced
, action packed fantasy novel. A thrilling book, full of action, adventure, fights, ravens, faith, leadership and fear for the future. Highly recommend.

The narrator does an amazing job on this one. I would listen to a book read by her.

The two main characters are fine for YA. I enjoyed their POVs. There is a third, rather important character, that lacked nuance. I kept wanting to know WHY he behaved the way that he did, but there wasn't really any explanation forthcoming. The worldbuilding was really well done, and I felt like I was dropped right into the world of Ym. I DO wish there had been more explanation of some of the customs and beliefs of the Ymlings, but maybe that will be more evident in the subsequent installments. Pettersen's writing is quite lovely, and it works well with the world that she's building. The only real complaint that I have with this one is that the plot had quite a few holes that needed filling. Again, this is installment one, so it's hard to judge the book too harshly for that - perhaps those holes will be filled in books 2 or 3. Definitely a worthwhile pickup if you like high fantasy, and are interested in a more Norse inspired world.

(3.0 Stars)

This book should be right in my wheelhouse; a Norse Fantasy!

However, this book was very slow in pace and just didn't make me feel the sense of urgency and despair that the characters were feeling. I won't say it was boring, but the action seemed anti-climactic and the character bonding didn't always make sense to me. I found most of the characters to be underdeveloped, or like they lacked motivation for the actions they were performing, and I never really got a great feel of the world they were living in.

For full disclosure, I am reading a translated version (into English) of this book, so there might be some cultural or linguistic features lost in that translation. The narrator was excellent and changed her tone and cadence to bring familiarity and recognition to each of the main characters.

If I had to compare this book to anything else I've read, I'd say it reminds me a lot of Christina Henry's The Chronicles of Alice series. Both, in style and in pace.

At the end of this book there is a preview chapter of the second book in the series (The Rot) which seemed to be a little more accessible... So, maybe this book is just a lot of historic/background for the main plot? I hope so because there was an immediate recognition of the world (modern), and the preview made me interested in reading (at least) the second book in the series.

Thank you #NetGalley for making this audiobook available for reading and review.