Eelyn fights alongside her Asks clansmen against their rivals, the Riki. While on the battlefield she sees the impossible— her brother, fighting with the enemy — the fact that he is fighting for the enemy would be surprising enough, except that he’s been dead for five years.
Distracted in battle by her brother’s return, she is captured by the Riki, and take to their village as a slave. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan it is clear that the Riki and Aska will have to join forces to defeat a common enemy.
Before I read the book: “Vikings, uhh, no thanks.”
After I read the book: “Give me all the Vikings, especially Fiske!:
Well, holy moly. This is a fantastic book! The characters, the plot, the originality. Everything was phenomenal. I loved that no one really went easy on Eelyn, because as she was earning the respect of the characters in the story, she was also earning the respect of the readers.
I really felt for Eelyn, and the author did a great job of making us see things from her perspective, really feeling the betrayal. The story was brutal, but that’s the times they were living in. But for all the brutality there were such sweet moments as well.
Some of the sweetest moments were between Eelyn and Halvard, Fiske’s little brother. Speaking of Fiske… whoa. If you are a fan of slow burn romances, this is for you… There were a lot of great things about these two, but my favorite was the mutual respect between these two characters.
Overall: 5
I loved this book and will certainly be reading the next book that Adrienne Young writes.