Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

Out April, 2018

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in my OWLCRATE subscription service.  I’d like to leave my honest review.

I have to say I was not expecting to like this book.  With a Viking/Scandinavian heritage, I was waiting to see how “off” the author was.  But instead, there were clan fights, excellent battle scenes, great world building and perfect character development.

This story had a unique and original concept made perfect with a strong plot and setting. However, I think the main character carried the story. She is well-rounded and flawed and typical of Viking women.  But she isn’t all bad-ass either, more like a survivor, willing to do what it takes to survive and that means picking up a weapon or dying by one.

There’s been a lot of new developments in the understandings of Viking civilization and what happened to them, where they traveled to and how they lived.  Reading this book was very refreshing because many things depicted were written realistically.

I gave it: