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A review by thenovellush
Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter
2.0
Meeeeeeeh. The world seemed kind of haphazardly thrown together and the rules were all over the place. 'We're vikings! No wait, futuristic space vikings! Just kidding, this is actually 1300 years in the past.' It was an attempt at a different take on lore/mythos that already exists by creating Vikings who travel using bifrost and fight in an All War to gain control of Midgard, so sounds a little Thor/Avengers-esque yes?
Sorry, don't get excited. Vikings is actually a general term to mean 'not natives' but I didn't read far enough to see what the natives were called, and the rules of this world seem to shift based on how conveniently a character needs to be or do a thing.
Speaking of characters...
There were so many character issues that drove me crazy that I couldn't even force myself to finish this one. I'm all down for a smutty read and characters being "caught in the moment" so to speak, but Vale was kidnapped but Knox who'd just ruthlessly murdered someone who was trying to help him, in a moment amidst battle that was totally unnecessary, (We figured by now that he was ruthless, this was overkill) and snatched away from her sister who apparently desperately needed the medication that Vale carried or she would go into severe withdrawals, but 2 seconds after Knox refused to take her to her sister even though Vale said that it was basically life or death, along with threatening her every other breath, her entire inner monologue amounts to: "Dooooo meeeeeeee! *pants*"
There was no chemistry whatsoever, and well before Knox showed a single 'maybe he's not actually an ax murderer' redeeming quality, she was like a cat in heat.
She also waxes on and on about how she prayed for and dreamed of being needed by a male. Gag. Not a person's head I want to be stuck in for 400+ pages.
Knox, for his part, was all the bad parts of a hate to love trope. He didn't care if her sister lived or died, no matter if he was attracted to Vale or not, and that's just not one of those things that someone so adamant about taking care of her sibling would overlook because he's hot. NOTHING about his personality warranted the rampant cornball cat in heat behavior of the 'heroine', but no worries, we'll fix that! She accidentally killed a several centuries old warrior and inherited not only her status in an interplanetary war (of which that seemed like a random af rule, but okay let's let that slide), but the warrior's pheromones that will now make Knox a Tom Cat to match her inner cornball. Hurrah! -_-
Sorry, don't get excited. Vikings is actually a general term to mean 'not natives' but I didn't read far enough to see what the natives were called, and the rules of this world seem to shift based on how conveniently a character needs to be or do a thing.
Speaking of characters...
There were so many character issues that drove me crazy that I couldn't even force myself to finish this one. I'm all down for a smutty read and characters being "caught in the moment" so to speak, but Vale was kidnapped but Knox who'd just ruthlessly murdered someone who was trying to help him, in a moment amidst battle that was totally unnecessary, (We figured by now that he was ruthless, this was overkill) and snatched away from her sister who apparently desperately needed the medication that Vale carried or she would go into severe withdrawals, but 2 seconds after Knox refused to take her to her sister even though Vale said that it was basically life or death, along with threatening her every other breath, her entire inner monologue amounts to: "Dooooo meeeeeeee! *pants*"
There was no chemistry whatsoever, and well before Knox showed a single 'maybe he's not actually an ax murderer' redeeming quality, she was like a cat in heat.
She also waxes on and on about how she prayed for and dreamed of being needed by a male. Gag. Not a person's head I want to be stuck in for 400+ pages.
Knox, for his part, was all the bad parts of a hate to love trope. He didn't care if her sister lived or died, no matter if he was attracted to Vale or not, and that's just not one of those things that someone so adamant about taking care of her sibling would overlook because he's hot. NOTHING about his personality warranted the rampant cornball cat in heat behavior of the 'heroine', but no worries, we'll fix that! She accidentally killed a several centuries old warrior and inherited not only her status in an interplanetary war (of which that seemed like a random af rule, but okay let's let that slide), but the warrior's pheromones that will now make Knox a Tom Cat to match her inner cornball. Hurrah! -_-