I have such mixed feelings about this story. I think it was really interesting and I LOVE that it was inspired by Finnish folklore. It’s such a unique topic and definitely under appreciated. That said, most people are not as familiar with the old Finnish gods and therefore those can be A LOT of information, and similar sounding names, to take in. It’s me. I’m most people. I really liked having the glossaries at the beginning to refer to for this reason, and again, found it really interesting. 

Siiri was a really fun character! I liked her strength of spirit and devotion to Ainna. Her story/chapters really caught my attention and had me eager for more. I loved her relationship with Väinämöinen, and his backstory as well. 

Ainna was a little tough for me, and where the mixed feelings came in. I was probably most invested in her story because I’m a sucker for “he falls first” type love stories and was therefore very drawn to Tuoni…but I don’t think I was supposed to be? I’m pretty sure that relationship is a little toxic - and slightly instalove - but damn if I wasn’t wanting more. This naturally, made the ending a little hard for me, although I think it was very sweet and poetic in its own way. I’m not sure I would label this as quite a sapphic romance so much as a tale of friendship, love, and devotion. That doesn’t mean I don’t think it was romantic, because it absolutely was. Ainna really says it best:

Khaya Fraites does a really good job with the narration. As someone who has studied Finnish in the past, I can say the pronunciation is really tough, and I think Khaya does well and makes it sound very smooth/natural. She also did a good job making characters sound fairly distinct, and she did especially well with emotions and voicing the tones of the story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I cannot say I’m quite eager for a sequel, but I also cannot say I wouldn’t read it.