Helpful Score: 2
I was given an advanced copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
First off, let me say I am a huge Shelly Laurenston fan. Whether she's writing as Shelly Laurenston or G. A. Aiken, I have loved all of her previous books and have always had them on my "must buy" list. I was excited to get to read this book since it is the first in a new series--or is it?
Laurenston had previously released a book called Hunting Season, and while I did like it, I did not find it to be as strong as her other series books. This book takes place in the same world as Hunting Season, where the main character Kera has died and become a Crow in the service of the Norse pantheon's Skuld. She falls in love with former Viking and current Raven Vig, and learns to fight and protect the world while maintaining her honor and moral compass.
Overall, while Laurenston's trademark humor is present, the chemistry between the main characters is not as hot as what I am used to from her other books. Also, Laurenston's characters usually have a healthy dose of crazy in them, and while Vig has potential as a crazy character, Kera just wasn't crazy enough for me. I found myself liking her mentor Erin or the leader Chloe much more as they seemed much more typical of the type of characters Laurenston usually writes.
Potential was shown for a sequel with Erin and Steig possibly getting togther, and I will most likely continue to read the series because I love this author so much. However, I do not think this was as strong a start to a new series as it should have been for fans already familiar with Laurenston's work.
First off, let me say I am a huge Shelly Laurenston fan. Whether she's writing as Shelly Laurenston or G. A. Aiken, I have loved all of her previous books and have always had them on my "must buy" list. I was excited to get to read this book since it is the first in a new series--or is it?
Laurenston had previously released a book called Hunting Season, and while I did like it, I did not find it to be as strong as her other series books. This book takes place in the same world as Hunting Season, where the main character Kera has died and become a Crow in the service of the Norse pantheon's Skuld. She falls in love with former Viking and current Raven Vig, and learns to fight and protect the world while maintaining her honor and moral compass.
Overall, while Laurenston's trademark humor is present, the chemistry between the main characters is not as hot as what I am used to from her other books. Also, Laurenston's characters usually have a healthy dose of crazy in them, and while Vig has potential as a crazy character, Kera just wasn't crazy enough for me. I found myself liking her mentor Erin or the leader Chloe much more as they seemed much more typical of the type of characters Laurenston usually writes.
Potential was shown for a sequel with Erin and Steig possibly getting togther, and I will most likely continue to read the series because I love this author so much. However, I do not think this was as strong a start to a new series as it should have been for fans already familiar with Laurenston's work.
I didn't love it like her other books but there were a few laugh out loud moments. It also is a cliffhanger and not a standalone book. Ends very abruptly.
While I will agree with the other reviews that the hero and heroine of this story didn't come across as over the top as her characters usually do I liked the contrast between their "normal" and the crazy going on around them. I think it helped the "crazy" around them to stand out a little more. It was also interesting to watch Kera try to adjust from a controlling former marine to working with the crows who have NO organization or scheduling. Kera has to make adjustments to fit into her new life and world and Shelly Laurenston does a good job of showing that growth and eventual understanding. I could relate to Kera in the aspect of her getting along better, and understanding better, the all male ravens than her own all female crows, since I get along better with men than women as well. They just make more sense to me, just like they do to her. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Shelly Laurenston's ever present humor that often leaves me laughing out loud. I will definitely be watching for the next book in the series.
I would have to agree that this series is not like most of her other books. Those are a bit more light hearted and easy going. This book had a bit of a darker tone, or at least I though so, which balanced out the humorous and funny situations in the book. The thing that made this an awesome book for me is that the characters fell "real" to me. With a story set in a world like this it would be so easy to come up with characters that we couldn't really relate much to, There were A LOT of times in the book that I caught myself thinking "I would sooo do that", or that one of my friends or family members would react the way a character did. I have a sister that is a hypochondriac just like one of the crows and I could so see her doing some of the things that character did and said. The part of the book where Kera lectures the girls about proper dog ownership and her reactions when they bring the dog back wearing a tutu or things I could easily see myself doing if it were my dog. Those kind of things just made me appreciate this story all the much more and the slightly darker tone to this story-line really appealed to me as a change of pace. I though the author maintained a good balance between closure for this particular couple and not completely resolving the issues of the bad guys to be continued in other books. I didn't feel that the ending had any more of a cliffhanger than say one of Lora Leighs breed books or one of JR Ward's Black dagger Brotherhood books. I thoroughly enjoyed and have even re-read it once already. This is going on my keeper shelf.
