I mean... it wasn’t horrible

So, let me preface by saying I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it, really, but there were a lot of little issues.
1. I felt the performance was extremely slow and lacking. I didn’t feel much emotion and there were a lot of awkward breaks in sentences and lulls. It was almost a dnf (did not finish) for me because I just couldn’t get on board with the plodding along performance (however she did leaps and bounds better than I would have)
2. The story was good. I thought the plot was good and everything, but there were a lot of inconsistencies. So, irl, when you climb a 20,000ft mountain you (now) use oxygen, you cover your everything, and you have trouble breathing and speaking. But that doesn’t make for a good dialogue setting. There was only one person with breathing issues and it seemed to be asthma that was only slightly affected by climbing. Which didn’t really make sense. Also I felt like gloves would appear and disappear from one scene to the next, and just a general sense of “this seems highly unlikely” throughout most of the book (when it came to climbing and such.)
3. I did like the book and I will be reading the next one, and I recommend it if you are okay with a few minor inconsistencies here and there

7 people found this helpful

Awesome Fantasy

I’m more of a sexy romance fan generally, but sometimes I enjoy a good fantasy. Wow, this book didn’t need any sex with all the passion and heartache (besides, I’m not a huge fan of teenage sex scenes). It was so good and hard to stop listening. I found myself having a difficult time multitasking while listening because I kept getting swept up into the story and solely focusing on it. It made me smile and even cry. It was full of strength and courage and love and it was just awesome all around.
It starts a little slow which is why it was in my library for 6 months but trust me, it gets good fast and stays high paced for nearly the entire book.
Do yourself a favor and listen to it!

3 people found this helpful

Amazing and beautiful

I loved the story and conflicts that took place throughout the book. The way that the heroine was able to let go of her anger at the end.

3 people found this helpful

The perfect mashup of two worlds

What started off just a little slow turned out to be something I couldn’t put down! The mash up of the Norse and Celt cultures kept my earbuds tightly in. Twists and turns with plenty of adventure. The speakers performance was a delight to listen to as well! 10/10!

3 people found this helpful

loved the story but struggled to finish.

love the story but have to admit I did struggle to finish it. Although the narrative voice is Pleasant and her performance of the characters is good the actual narration had such a distinct sing song pattern and cadence that became so predictable it actually took away from the story by making the words kind of blend together that, in the end, made it difficult to listen to.

3 people found this helpful

Very interesting and fun

A teenage love story set 1000 years in the past with supernatural powers, Irish and Norse mythology, and a handsome Viking captain. This had many twists and turns and each more delicious than the last.

2 people found this helpful

loved it

loved it. great fantasy book with norse and celtic mythology. great family or young adult reader.

2 people found this helpful

Glad I discovered this author

I enjoyed both the story and narration performance. I am fascinated by Norse and Celtic mythology, so this was a pleasant discovery. The narrator's voice was the perfect one to tell this enchanting tale. I will look for other books by this author. Definitely worth listening to.

2 people found this helpful

LOVEDDDD

I absolutely loved this story and the combination of Irish and Norse folklore! Great action and humor! also a enemy to lovers story;)

1 person found this helpful

Good story

I really liked the story, although there were quite a few inconsistencies/plot holes. ie, Main character and another character exit the castle to both cool off and give time for another character to discuss diplomatic issues. Right after, During a conflict, the main character pushes another character away to go get help. The Main Character struggles to survive fight against impossible enemy for maybe a minute or so, nearly dying, but then is victorious. Main character turns around and the other character that was sent away for help is already back, claiming to have searched the entire castle and couldn't find a specific person to help them... after only a couple minutes. Then claims they didn't know where that person was, but had a suspicion on where they might be... even though that is where both characters were prior to this scene (ie, 10 minutes in the past) and was the reason they left the castle in the first place. It wasn't a major plot hole, just an annoying one. Several of these types of holes stood out to me.

Looking past those, I really enjoyed the story. I was skeptical at first over the way religion might have played into the story, but I thought it was a useful place setting rather than a preaching tool (big sigh of relief there). The full circle of revelations was really interesting as well.

Alana Kerr Collins did a great job (IMO). She narrated another, longer story I just finished in a similar setting. This felt almost like it could have been a short story in the same universe, but was unique enough to keep me intrigued.

On the negative side, I was listening to this through Audible Plus as an included book. Irritatingly, Audible removed it from the list with 1.5 hrs of story remaining. So now I either have to use a whole credit to finish 1.5 hrs of story, or just not finish it. Time will tell how that goes.