A cool-looking fantasy I stumbled upon in the library. Spoilers ahead.
In a Viking-like northern setting, the father and sister of a girl named Finna go missing. Time passes, and her entire clan thinks them to be dead, but Finna herself is being tormented by dream visions telling her otherwise. Eventually she is forced to set out on a journey to locate her missing family memers, joined by her boyfriend Jor, a black wolf named Loki and one of Odin's ravens, Mu. On her way she'll have to learn to master her dream gifts, as well as avoid evil creatures such as trolls and giants.
I really liked this book. I don't read too many non-xenofiction fantasy books, but this one I genuinely enjoyed. I liked the characters, I liked the setting, I liked the lore and I liked the creatures of this world. They all felt rather unique, while clearly drawing upon Norse mythology for inspiration.
Finna's journey was rather interesting and I liked all the steps she took to get closer to her sister and father. She already wanted to go looking for them before being banished, but when she was banished she just instantly got up on her horse and looked for them regardless of the fact that she didn't even know where to start. She's a neat determined main character and I liked following her journey.
The other characters were good, too. I wasn't too fond of him, but I do like Jor to an extent. I also appreciate that he and Finna get together early in the story rather than there being a love triangle between them and a character who later joins them. She and Jor have already known one another and had feelings for one another for a while before the book starts, so it feels natural that they both get together pretty early on. I'm not a big fan of endless "will they, won't they"'s in romances, so them deciding that they do love one another and becoming an item early on worked well. I liked seeing how much they cared for one another, though Jor could be a bit of an ass to others sometimes.
As for the talking animals, this is where I'm a big mixed. If you've even taken remotely a look at this blog and the books I review here, you know that animal xenoficion is my main genre of interest, mostly animal xenofiction with talking animals such as Watership Down, Warrior Cats, Wolves of the Beyond, etc. So normally I don't really mind talking animals in books at all, even if they're not the central focus and the book is about humans instead. But that said...I just didn't vibe too much with the animals when they talked here.
I was okay with Mu, since he's one of Odin's mythical ravens, but Loki the wolf completely changes his personality once he starts to talk in Finna's dream visions. Before he talks, he's described as an awkward gangly and somewhat goofy teenage wolf who was raised by Jor, but as soon as he starts to talk in Finna's dreams it's as if he's a wise and patient wolf with years of experience. Which is just...not how he was previously established. He just does a bit 180 degree turn and for the rest of the book, even when he's not talking in her dreams, he just feels more serious and less like this playful and juvenile wolf. I just think this sudden shift is a bit weird, and it also would've been fun if Loki had stayed in character. Have him be wise but also still act like a goofy enthusiastic teenager. And, generally, I just didn't vibe with him talking too much. I was kinda okay with Mu as said before, he's an animal of legend. And I know magic is in the mix: the animals can't talk outside of Finna's dreams. But still, it just didn't work for me as much as I'd hoped. And as you've probably seen, it works a lot for me otherwise.
I really liked the world and lore of the world. I think that this book is just set in ancient Norway in a different reality where magic, trolls, gods, dwarves and giants are real rather than an outright made-up fantasy setting inspired by Norse mythology, but I'm not 100% positive of this. Still, the world that Pietjouw built is very interesting and I can't wait for more. I wonder if we'll get more context on the main villain, Ymir, in the next book. He was pretty standard for a main villain, but interesting nonetheless, with him being a half-troll with magical abilities dead-set on wiping out all dreamwalkers like Finna.
Overall this was a good fantasy story with enjoyable character relationships (except one or two), an interesting setting, lore and mythology and a thrilling journey to find two lost family members. Book two seems to be following Thora rather than Finna, so I'm definitely interested in seeing things from her POV this time now that she's recovered.
Rating: 4/5
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