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marzandme's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death
lady_valhella's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death
feri_ne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Minor: Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
ezwolf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I'm going to start with the positives. I really love any fantasy book that includes horses. I am still a horse girl at heart, so I'm always sold on that, especially when it's queer. And I loved Sigrid's bond with her gelding, Hestur. Mariam was my absolute favorite character (though I did like Fisk as comic relief and a good nudge for Sigrid's teasing) and honestly I was probably the most invested in Mariam getting Aesa back than anything else. I loved the queer rep with sapphic and trans characters (I'd have loved to hear more about that though!).
Now the negatives. I was incredibly intrigued and engaged with everything going on...up until the last like 20% where the book kind of lost me. Hilariously, this is when a lot of the actual battle started and should have been the most interesting, but I let myself stop reading to go to bed for the night with 12% of the book left (to be fair, I'd driven across an entire state that day but I hardly ever let a book go unread that close to the end).
With all of this I still probably would have given the book a 4 star rating, but when Sigrid decided to paint her face to make her look more like a warrior or leader, it really pulled me out of the story. I am not an expert on Norse mythology or viking history and I do not claim to me, but to my knowledge and the brief Googling I did just to do a little double check, "viking warrior face paint" does not seem to have been a real thing is just really Indigenous cultural appropriation more than anything. So to include that was disappointing to me.
Including my last grievance at the very bottom since it does contain a spoiler.
***SPOILERS***
I also knew what the big reveal for Sigrid's would be the second Princess Helena was mentioned the first time and honestly I really didn't like the "evil mom" plot.
Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Graphic: Animal death and Violence
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying
poppywarphan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The positive:
Sapphic
A bit of Norse mythology and worldbuilding
Perfect for horse girls?
Non-significant trans character?
I don't really know what I liked about this book. The last 20% was the best part but simultaneously the hardest to read because I just wanted it to be over with. Sigrid finally got some character development: gained some awareness and stopped acting only on her desires and chasing her destiny. As for the other characters, they were underdeveloped. Summary that turned into a spoilerish rant:
Elina obviously wanted her to use the army to seize Vanaheim’s throne. Mariam wanted her not to raise it at all. Sigrid only wanted everyone to see it for long enough to decide she was worthy of becoming a Valkyrie.
So, literally raise an army of the dead just to prove a point? OK.
“Trust me, Sigrid.” Trust me. Like she hadn’t permanently lost Sigrid’s trust sixteen years ago. Yet, here she is. Elina, her mother, tells her she doesn't look like a strong leader, insert the 'girl cuts her hair to be more badass and smears mud on her face' trope.
Insulting word choice aside, what did the man mean, to claim Vanahalla? What did he think they were going to do?
Maybe she’d misunderstood.
Or, perhaps she's just stupid to not notice the obvious.
Elina hadn’t denied it. She’d lied this whole time. Who would've thought.
“If you want to succeed, you need to put yourself first.” Just like she had up until now.
How could Elina have done this? She claimed to care about Sigrid while sending her friends off to die. She’d promised Sigrid an army as a means to become a Valkyrie, but these warriors were clearly not ready to serve her.
See? Only to reach her dream of becoming a Valkyrie. Elina turns out to be a power hungry bitch who doesn't give a damn about her. At least she gains a little self awareness when she realizes what's happening. They battle Elina for the eye of Hnitbjorg and Sleipnir, return to Vanaheim and Sigrid finally gets her recognition.
Gah, OK, I didn't hate it. I just felt incredibly stupid reading it. Can you notice where I started to get really annoyed?
Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Blood, Antisemitism, and Abandonment
olivialandryxo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was so excited about this book when I found out about it, and even more excited to be approved for an ARC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. While the characters and relationships—both platonic and romantic—were well-written and developed, I was able to predict many of the plot twists. That predictability took away the element of surprise in most situations, and in a fantasy story like this one, that was detrimental to my reading experience.
Despite that, I wouldn’t call The Helheim Princess bad or say I didn’t enjoy it. I did like the use of Norse mythology in the story and world-building, as it’s more common to see stories using Greek myths and this was a nice change of pace. It was fun to see the characters’ adventuring across multiple worlds and the different ways they were challenged on their journey.
I would still recommend this book; I think the reason I found it predictable was due more to the number of fantasies I’ve read than any real problem with the book itself. I also think that plenty of teen readers will enjoy it, as it has a good amount of action while still being fairly lighthearted and easy to understand.
Representation
- sapphic protagonist + love interest
- sapphic romance
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty
Animal cruelty is tagged because there are a couple of scenes in the final third of the book where a horse’s bit is used to cause pain and demand obedience. This isn’t done by the protagonist.foreverinastory's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rep: Sapphic female MC, sapphic love interest, trans female side character, two BIPOC side characters.
CWs: Abandonment (mother/child), alcohol consumption, animal death, blood, bullying, death, violence, fire/fire injury, grief (from loss of companion animal), toxic relationship (mother/child).
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury