Rating: 3 Stars

Publisher: Penguin

Genre: Romantasy 

Tags: Nordic Romantasy, Action (Hard to give it tags)

Length: 415 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon, Danielle L Jensen

Blurb:

A sizzling fantasy romance from the No.1 Sunday Times bestseller & TikTok sensation Danielle Jensen, perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas & A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Trapped in an unwanted marriage, Freya dreams of becoming a warrior – and of putting an axe in her controlling husband’s back.

But those dreams become a nightmare when he makes a deal with their fanatical ruler, and she’s forced into a fight to the death. To survive, she must reveal her deepest secret: she possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood and magic that will unite their nation beneath the one who controls her fate.

Believing he’s destined to be king, the ruler binds Freya with a blood oath and orders his fierce but charming son to train her to fight, to control her magic . . . and to make sure no one lays a hand on her.

But the greatest test of all may be resisting her forbidden attraction to the son of her enemy.

Review: 

This truly is a hard book to rate. On one hand it’s like sugar – too freaking easy to consume and pretty addictive. However, on the other hand, if all you get is sugar you soon realise there isn’t enough substance on its own. You need more of something else to make up for what’s missing.  

In the beginning Freya had a lot of promise. However, I only minimally liked her. That’s saying something as I do love me a female lead who wants to murder things. After the beginning, when she kills her husband with a fiery axe – loved that – a wealthy arsehole fisherman who held her bio family ransom, she gets very bogged down by guilt. ‘I killed him, and yes, he was a prick, but he was my prick that I hated, but fammillyyy.‘ No! Nope, gurl!’ Now she isn’t given any choice other than to leave her old village and her family with her new captors, Jarl Snorri and his son, Bjorn, because Freya reveals something of herself that her late father told her never to reveal. She is favoured by the goddess Hlin. She has a touch of her blood. Although Freya has immediate Bjorn-lust after he comes out of the sea all dripping hotness, ala Ursula Andress in Dr No. I’m going with the OG, because, yes, Halle Berry was hot-as in Die Another Day, but Ursula ate that scene up and left no crumbs.

Anyway, Bjorn is hotness and she never lets go of that. I was here for it because the reader can see there is thirst reciprocity by Bjorn. Even if he is somewhat superficial in certain information he gives her, he has Freya’s back in a lot of ways. He also declares his feelings here and there more and more as you read.

“Not all scars we earn are skin-deep, Freya Born-in-Fire.” He loosened his grip, my hand sliding through his. Though my scarred palm was numb, I swore I felt his fingers trail across it, and the sensation caused me to shiver. “There is no less honor in them.”

***

There was comfort in his touch, a safety that I’d never felt with a man before, and my sluggish mind slowly turned over why that might be, given I hardly knew him, before landing on the reason. It was because there was no demand in his touch. No sense that he intended to take anything from me or to use me the way so many others had. A touch entirely without agenda beyond chasing away the cold.

Snaps to my man Bjorn. A man who gives you safety to discuss what you need to discuss, feel what you feel, is worth his weight in gold.

Only, Freya is so torn over guilt, she doesn’t fully process Bjorn. When he fully lays those feelings out, albeit it with bad timing attached, it’s seemingly too late. I know a lot of readers believed he betrayed her but if you didn’t see it coming, and I’m not sure why, what he’s primarily guilty of is being a poor communicator who is also conflicted by his own life and Family of Origin circumstances. Also, she is supposedly his father’s wife now but we all know they did not consummate that. They played some fuckery around the fine print of the Hlin-Freya-Snorri contract. 

There is action in this book. Jarl Snorri didn’t take Freya as a another mouth to feed. She was prophesied by a seer as a god-gifted shield maiden who would unite Skaland under one king. Snorri sees that king as him. Just ask him, he’ll tell you. However, if you read the details of the foretelling – it’s in the blood, not in the name. Snorri hears what he wants to hear. He puts Freya out there to kill and work her shield maiden mojo to produce fear amongst other raiders and jarl’s who won’t align with him. All this means is there is plenty going on. Including, but not limited to, tripping balls on shrooms, fighting when tired and injured, a spectre that no one but Freya can see, fighting Nordic-esque undead, and so much Freya-guilt. You also get Bjorn as a two-dimensional but still very likeable MMC. Freya starts out quite strong but loses her way with her continued belief the whole world is on her shoulders. She enables the things that occur by taking responsibility for every. Single. Event or person that crosses her path. Even when she realises her bio family use her, she still has to carry the guilt. I was like, give it a freaking rest!! 

The things that took me out of the story include –

Freya sweats. She is in the freezing cold and she just sweats. A lot. Every second situation causes sweating to occur. It was enough that I noticed it throughout. It’s used thirty-five times. 

Sweat ran in rivulets…

(…) sweat dampening the hair clinging to my temples

I swallowed hard, sweat trickling down my skin seemed to freeze to ice…. 

Then there’s the contemporising of an old world Nordic fantasy with words like – fuck, piss off, bitch. And things like, hit upside the head, the etymology is not Nordic. It’s a very American saying, and freeze your tits off. An Aussie saying. None of this vocabulary fits the world this book is set in. Also, someone please explain to me, because I may be missing something, how did Freya find herself in the sea swimming back to land when she was literally just on a drakkar tied to the bed with a whole bunch of people surrounding her? How did that happen?!  

You might think I didn’t much like this book. That wouldn’t be correct.

• It’s enjoyable, middle of the road romantasy reading.
• Plenty of action occurred, I like action
• Freya has the scaffolding of something fantastic. She just wasn’t fully potentiated in this book. I wanted more. Maybe the next book will deliver.
• I really did like Bjorn although, once again, he’s not fully realised. I liked the fact he wasn’t misogynist. I just wish he was given more overall time. He pops in and out so real depth wasn’t possible.
• I read to the end with no hardship and never felt like abandoning it at any stage. 
• If you like, or are in the mood for, your romantasy to be less substantial in its worldbuilding then this could appeal.
• There are some nice pieces of writing threaded throughout the story.   
• If you prefer a slower burn sexual romantasy this could be for you. The author did take time with sex. It’s a stretch to call this book a sizzling romantasy (as is touted in the blurb) because it isn’t sizzling. It’s more a slow burn, low heat book, outside of the thirsting that goes on, with some touching. I actually liked the build.
• I thought it was smart that the author used Hlin as the goddess that mostly contributes to Freya’s gift. There isn’t much on her mythologically so Jensen had licence to play with that. Could she have done a bit more? Yes. But again, this is fantasy light.   
• I’m a cover whore and that cover really spoke to me.

The last thing I’m going to mention is the price. This book is pricey. It cost me over $16 AUS for an e-book. I personally wouldn’t advise fellow Aussies to pay that much for this e-book unless they believe they’re going to love it. The exchange rate right now, and the foreseeable future, is diabolical. Will I pick up the second book in this duology? Unknown. I’ll see how I’m feeling. I am fond of Bjorn so I’ll see. For A Fate Inked in Blood, it’s 3 Stars!