My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Although this book is a sequel to The Shadow of the Gods, The Hunger of the Gods “fixes” the main issues that I had with the first book. First and probably most important, there is a real conclusion to many of the plot conflicts where as I felt the story just ended in the first book (surprise, some bad guys get what they deserved). Ideally I was say that these two should just be one book, but each are already fairly long stories, so unless you have a high tolerance for a long plot build-up (or you DNF’d the first book), don’t feel guilty jumping in here because you will catch up pretty fast. If you are even remotely a fan of Norse history and mythology, you won’t regret it … because that is what this story is all about.
The world building is deep and rich, leveraging the world of the Norsemen/Vikings and is well researched and relatively authentic. That is probably because the author is a self proclaimed member of a viking re-enactment group (which is boss … I so want to do that). Just change up the gods a bit and pick up the story after Ragnarok (or the fall of the gods in this story) and you have the basic milieu found in the Norse sagas so well done the you could feel it (and it is GOT style brutal). The main character introduced in book one continue their adventures here; but the narratives begin with over lap and actually move the plot forward now with a coherence that was hard to find in the first book. Orka is still my favorite as the mama bear in search of her stolen cub, while Varg evolves from his thrall/slave roots into a drengr (norse knight or noble warrior). Even Elvar becomes a lot more interesting and relatable … so where I had a hard time connecting with the main characters in the first book, no such issues remain in this one and I am looking forward to reading book three.
I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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