A queer romance fantasy novel set in a world heavily inspired by Norse mythology, where some kids save the entire world and the adults are either absent or completely useless, just to give kids reading the story a false sense of empowerment. Everybody can do everything they put their mind to, no one ultimately fails to do anything, there’s no limit to our individual powers, our love will never go unrequited and all our dreams will come true. It’s an uninspired premise, predictable story, basic storytelling, and the author’s particular use of metaphor feels repetitive and tiresome. I have never in my entire life read a story more drenched with basic metaphors for feeling good or excited. I mean, heart soaring, heart barrel-rolling, heart jumping, heart dropping, heart leaping - Sigrids heart is a superhero! But that’s not the only body part of hers on a strict training regimen. Her stomach is churning, tightening, tumbling, fluttering, shuddering, clenching and shivering. Let’s not forget that her gut can churn, her mouth can drop, her chest can tighten, her cheeks are often flushing and both her hands tend to clench, while her thoughts are tumbling in her mind and heat is rising to her cheeks. Even her midsection does various things. Sigrid is too obsessed with Mariam. I get it. She has a crush, but it’s referenced in a way that becomes very disruptive for the reading experience after a while. Too much tell and too little show.
That said, it was more enjoyable than not. I don't usually read young adult novels, but I had an open mind. It must be mentioned that I'm from Norway, so the Norse mythology aspect of the story appealed to me a lot, and I did find that the author treated it with respect and used a lot of different elements in a good way. I identified with the main character's struggle as "the other" and her kind of desperate, but understandable, passion and ardor to fulfill her destiny, which I believe a lot of other people might identify with as well. I also liked the way Mariam makes Sigrid confront her own privileges and the author’s attention to detail when it comes to horsemanship. She clearly has done her research, and the horse felt more believable than any of the other characters in the story. I also liked the author’s note about Norse mythology. There were very few dull story moments, so I'd call the novel an entertaining action-packed page-turner. Barely. Just barely.
