3 Stars from me.

This is book one in the series Vikings of Highgard.

Torunn the Strong and her sisters are the only remaining people of the descendants of the Norse goddess Solveig. They live in Highgard, protected from any other worlds outside their own, but their population was decimated by the Red Death. In an attempt to save some of their people, three young boys were sent to Midgard years ago. Now, after their sister’s death, Torunn and her two remaining sisters must do something to ensure their survival.

In steps a mysterious group of light beings, who tells them about a vessel that can take them one at a time to Midgard and that it is their only chance to save themselves. Torunn is the first to make the journey. She meets Brandr, a man living on his own in the mountains.

Together they travel to the village below, and eventually further to find Torunn’s two sisters. During their journey they discover that Brandr is one of the Highgard boys that came to Midgard years ago.

Torunn came from a world where she grew up with absolutely no contact with any men, and therefor has no experience dealing with them. The sisters received some information from the light beings, but quite incomplete and not wholly true in some spots. Yet, she had no problem starting up a relationship with Brandr, who didn’t have great experiences in his past with women. She was untrusting of some people she met, but very trusting with other strangers, and there didn’t seem to be any particular reason for this behaviour.

The world the author created is interesting, and I would like to know what happens to Brenna and Aster (Torunn’s sisters) next, and their quest to discover a cure for the Red Death. Overall I quite enjoyed the book, but the writing didn’t appeal at all times. In some places the dialogue seemed to jump around and I felt like I missed something somewhere.

I received an advanced copy of the book from Netgalley to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Was I hooked by this book? I would say more by the world than the characters themselves.

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal