Book Review of A Flame in the North by Lilith Saintcrow

Name of Book: A Flame in the North

Author: Lilith Saintcrow

ISBN: 978-0-316-44033-2

Publisher: Orbit

Part of a Series: Black Land's Bane 

Type of book: Elemental magic, hostage, secrets, legends, myths 

Year it was published: 2024 

Summary:

An elemental witch and her shieldmaiden journey into a world of ancient myth and unexpected destiny in this sweeping Norse-inspired epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow.

The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.

That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.

The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.

With only her loyal shieldmaid and her own wits to reply upon, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.

They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…

Characters:

There are a lot of characters but main one is Solveig and her shieldmaiden. Solveig is best described as a fish out of water and someone who is trying to navigate the complexities of being a hostage versus real life. She has a magic power in fire and it's she telling the narrative. Her shieldmaiden is best described as hardy, brave and extremely loyal. The mysterious men, I am sorry but I wasn't able to tell them apart, except pretty much all of them kept very fascinating secrets. 

Theme:

Stories are not what they seem

Plot:

The story is in first person narrative from Solveig's point of view. One of the things that didn't work for me is the fact a single character told the entire narrative. While first person narrative can work in a lot of stories (For example in COVENANT OF STEEL trilogy, or SHEPHERD KING duology) in this case it didn't work. For me the main character was not likable, and she hid a lot of what could have been fascinating tidbits about the stories or what is going on. The story itself seemed to follow a formula of travel then fighting then travel then fight. I did find some parts interesting, such as the true identities of those who were demanding Solveig as weregild. I also would have appreciated an index or appendix when it came to characters and some of the words and their meanings because I had little to no idea what some words meant. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Lilith Saintcrow was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as a child, and fell in love with writing stories when she was ten years old. She and her library co-habitate in Vancouver, Washington.

Opinion:

So one of my favorite fantasy book series happens to be HOSTAGE OF EMPIRE, written under Lilith Saintcrow's pseudonym S.C. Emmett. When I found out that the author will be writing a new trilogy, I could only begin to count the days and months until I could get back to an all too familiar world of politics, backstabbing and complex relationships. Thus the book arrived and I begun to read it, only to find myself...disappointed. I understand that this is a different world, that the characters will be different and so forth, but I couldn't find myself connecting with the story whatsoever. From the summary it sounds quite a bit like HOSTAGE OF EMPIRE with the young lady and her servant being forced to become hostages to a hostile empire and their attempts at survival, but A FLAME IN THE NORTH is so different than HOSTAGE OF EMPIRE trilogy. I expected attention to politicking, I also expected more attention to customs and to at least know what is going on and why, especially when we begin our path in traveling towards the legendary land. Instead, its just hints that aren't expanded on and its a story that I found more frustrating than likable. Perhaps I'm the wrong audience for it and perhaps other readers may enjoy it much better than I did. 

This was given for review

1 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)