"OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.
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."
Review:
What an amazing read! Any girl named Eelyn (or spelled Aelin *wink wink*) is one I’m siding with wholeheartedly. This was my first story involving Vikings and OMG, it did not disappoint. To enemy clans fighting to the death for as long as they’ve know, only to be forced together in an epic standoff with a common enemy.
This was definitely a very slow burn romance. But I think the time we spend hating the Riki was needed. Our main character has known nothing but war and trauma and struggle. She was bred for it. And once a warrior like that is forced to stop fighting, it was a hard endeavor. However I think we saw along with Eelyn everything with the same heartache and frustration. It was so moving.
The best parts though were the action sequences. Holy cow, they were awesome. I do wish they were longer, it seems like these epically-sized battles were shrunk into a few minutes which seems a bit unrealistic, but other than that they were fantastic. And even better than that, I loved that the women fought alongside the men as equals. It was never expected for the women to stay behind, they were bound to the battlefield just as much as the men were. The scene where Eelyn and Fiske were checking over each other’s armor before the fight was so friggin sweet, I think that might be a new favorite trope of mine.
Overall, what an amazing read, it was well worth the hype! As always, let me know your own thoughts and feels down below in the comments and I’ll see ya on the next one!
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