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A review by spiringempress
The Viking's Chosen by Quinn Loftis
3.0
"Sometimes, yes. But then, sometimes, we come across a person means more to us than ourselves. Sometimes we do anything for that person. Then there is no hardship.”
This book has been on my TBR forever. Ok, two years. Since 2020 has not been the best year, I have decided to work through my TBR and make a concentrated effort to read the titles on it. Luckily enough, I stumbled across a free copy of this book from Amazon when I was researching what books from my TBR list were available from the library/other digital collections.
The Viking's Chosen follows two characters from contrasting worlds; one resides as royalty in England and the other is a Viking. Torben is a general in the clan Hakon ruled by Magnus, who is becoming increasingly bloodthirsty and as a result, makes questionable decisions. His mission is simple, Torben must launch against England, but he is prophesized to take a foreign bride, who is a healer like his mother, and make clan Hakon more prosperous. Princess Allete, however, is promised to the cruel King Tara and has no idea that a Viking is coming to claim her heart.
While the premise was promising, I found the execution to be entirely lacking. This is supposed to be historical fiction, but the characters constantly used vernacular that was anachronistic and disrupted the setting. It is hard to picture these characters in Medieval England when they use modern slang or fail to be written in a way that seemingly represents historical accuracy. Listen, I am fine with authors taking some liberties, but please try to capture the historical atmosphere and do some research on how people would have talked or reacted to certain situations.
The romance was forgettable. For me, I thought the book was going to be a historical romance with some conflict between the English and the Vikings, but the romance was lackluster. One minute the characters had never met and then the next second they were in love. There was absolutely no buildup and Torben was not charming whatsoever. In fact, I felt that his behavior was creepy and over possessive for someone, who barely knew Allete even if there was a prophecy. Like excuse me, my dude, would you at least try to seduce the woman before you start calling her your mate? Thanks.
Lastly, the plot was all over the place. It went from being entirely about Torben and Allete overcoming the cruel King of Tara to be together and brought back Magnus with no warning. Sure, there were conversations between Brandt and Torben about how their leader was unstable, but the plot focused heavily on the King of Tara and suddenly changed directions in the last few pages. There was a random focus on Allete's healing skills, which also felt out of place. Personally, I'm not a fan of historical fiction that deals with witchcraft or supernatural powers, but this felt added on instead of being seamlessly blended into the story.
This book has been on my TBR forever. Ok, two years. Since 2020 has not been the best year, I have decided to work through my TBR and make a concentrated effort to read the titles on it. Luckily enough, I stumbled across a free copy of this book from Amazon when I was researching what books from my TBR list were available from the library/other digital collections.
The Viking's Chosen follows two characters from contrasting worlds; one resides as royalty in England and the other is a Viking. Torben is a general in the clan Hakon ruled by Magnus, who is becoming increasingly bloodthirsty and as a result, makes questionable decisions. His mission is simple, Torben must launch against England, but he is prophesized to take a foreign bride, who is a healer like his mother, and make clan Hakon more prosperous. Princess Allete, however, is promised to the cruel King Tara and has no idea that a Viking is coming to claim her heart.
While the premise was promising, I found the execution to be entirely lacking. This is supposed to be historical fiction, but the characters constantly used vernacular that was anachronistic and disrupted the setting. It is hard to picture these characters in Medieval England when they use modern slang or fail to be written in a way that seemingly represents historical accuracy. Listen, I am fine with authors taking some liberties, but please try to capture the historical atmosphere and do some research on how people would have talked or reacted to certain situations.
The romance was forgettable. For me, I thought the book was going to be a historical romance with some conflict between the English and the Vikings, but the romance was lackluster. One minute the characters had never met and then the next second they were in love. There was absolutely no buildup and Torben was not charming whatsoever. In fact, I felt that his behavior was creepy and over possessive for someone, who barely knew Allete even if there was a prophecy. Like excuse me, my dude, would you at least try to seduce the woman before you start calling her your mate? Thanks.
Lastly, the plot was all over the place. It went from being entirely about Torben and Allete overcoming the cruel King of Tara to be together and brought back Magnus with no warning. Sure, there were conversations between Brandt and Torben about how their leader was unstable, but the plot focused heavily on the King of Tara and suddenly changed directions in the last few pages. There was a random focus on Allete's healing skills, which also felt out of place. Personally, I'm not a fan of historical fiction that deals with witchcraft or supernatural powers, but this felt added on instead of being seamlessly blended into the story.