This book is good. HOWEVER the main character is genuinely stupid.

I normally try to be spoiler free in my reviews but I need to explain what happened to better understand my frustration with this book.

FIRST, the smut is bad nasty. It's like, actually gross. Even like cringey sex scenes I'll grimace through and keep going. This is the one time I've actually had to skip over the sex in a book at all. I read BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood and I had to skip over these two morons having sex. It's like someone gave Danielle L. Jensen a playbook of how to make me so icked out and told her to write two dry humping scenes, a fingering, then sex right before the end betrayal. I genuinely wish there was no smut in this book and It'd get a higher star for sure. Because instead of Using Her Brain, Freya sends too much time being horny. Like Björn is applying burn cream to her hand and she's wishing he was inside her, it's nuts.

So... Freya is stupid. For a moment I considered it might be on purpose, but came to the quick realization of... No, it's not on purpose because she's supposed to be this clever and smart, all powerful protagonist. She's not. She is not clever /once/ in the whole book, any good ideas came from Bjorn, and most of the time she ignored him. Even when he flat out tells her the answers, she doesn't get it.

I knew Bjorn's mom was alive the whole time, I knew Freya had two tattoos bc she had two godly parents, I knew her other parents would be Hel, I knew Bjorn was the traitor the whole time because it is INCREDILY and PAINFULLY obvious. The way the step mom is villainized and one dimensional made it clear she was not the traitor.

Freya never ever thinks about the things she's learned and she never ever tries to piece things together. "Oh it's weird that I have two tattoos," and "Oh yeah. The Gods themselves said I had two bloodlines so MAYBE..." normally, in any other book, I'd forgive this bc no one else made that connection. But the problem is SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE! Technically someone did, but that was the last 10 pages reveal so I just went "I KNOW!!!!". But someone other than the Big Bad(TM) who shows up twice should have been able to say to Freya. "Hey. Maybe you have two Godlines?" But no one does and it's a choice the author made for that last ten pages reveal holding to shock and interest a reader into reading the squeal.

I don't need to read the squeal, I already know what's going to happen for the most part, and I know it's going to be incredibly annoying because Bjorn is the only person with a brain in this story. I /might/ read the squeal because Danielle is a good writer, and the world is atmospheric, I just don't know if I can handle Freya being the worst for another full book.

I think there's a very good discussion of fate in the book, one that should have been leaned into a little harder. I think Bjorn's real dad should've had more influence behind the scenes, trying to make Freya believe in the cause; which he sorta does but it's just wishywashy enough that it is kinda a shock when Freya starts to buy into the cause... just sorta, on her own. Like, I know all the times he said "it's a test from the gods!" was a load of crap, but again, Freya is almost to stupid to live, and no one ever points that out to her so it never clicks for her. but that's WHY I think it should've been leaned into more.

The characters are weak. They all have strong personalities but they are cardboard cutouts of roles with very little depth to them. I was able to figure out the entire plot by chapter 12 or whatever because Danielle relied on tropes we all know and love. Freya is the general strong FMC, Bjorn is her teasing/bickering love interest who is dark and mysterious. There's the sister-wife who is just so jealous of Freya bc she's so special and wonderful and pretty (barfs up a lung). There's Bjorn's dad who is the generic war lord dad who wants all the power. Bjorn's other dad who is the exact same character... It's bad, Bjorn is actually the only compelling character bc despite knowing he was the traitor the whole time I was interest in seeing what he is character was doing at all given time.
The scene where Freya is in a killing frenzy, and Bjorn is following behind her absolutely wiping the floor with dudes was incredibly bad ass and a moment that really stuck out to me.

And can we all agree that Bjorn is James Fraser from outlander? It's absolutely uncanny.

Also there's never any talk about Freya is Bjorn's Step Mom...