I’m a huge Freydís Moon fan and have loved pretty much everything else they’ve ever written, but this wasn’t my favorite! Heart Haunt Havoc was my introduction to their books and it blew me away, so I was really surprised that this one was a miss for me.

I think my biggest issue was I just found the characters underwhelming. There were a lot of things that I didn’t think got enough explanation, mainly who they are, why they’re doing what they’re doing, etc. (In the case of Lincoln, I acknowledge that a lot of his introduction and backstory happened in the previous book, but I feel like a bit of a refresher would’ve been useful.)

It’s true that we learn about Tehlor’s history with dance and her guilt and whatnot, but I still found myself wondering “but like, why the Viking gods? Who IS she? Why did she resurrect Lincoln? Why is she chasing after this artifact? Just for power? Why is she so dedicated to pursuing power?”

But I also felt like the romance was oddly-paced. The shift from hate to devotion progressed awkwardly and somewhat suddenly, which gave the romance a lack of believability. I’m ok with fast-burn! It’s just I think there still has to be a fluid progression, whereas here it felt choppy. I just remember thinking at one point “Oh! Ok they like love each other now. Alright. When did that happen? Did I miss it?”

Overall it wasn’t bad, by any means, but it left me feeling just kind of “meh.”