Well behaved women seldom make history, but they still end up as the monsters of folklore. Faline Frey is a bounty-hunter, more comfortable relying on perp files and handcuffs than using her huldra powers to take down a suspect.No sense in catching the unwanted attention of her local Hunter authority, those holy soldiers born to keep supernatural Wild Women like her in check.All that changes the … her in check.
All that changes the night she heads out for a date, hoping to get lucky. Instead—she gets screwed.
Now her sister is missing, as are Wild Women from all over the country.
The Hunters are on her tail and the one person offering to help is her ex-lover, Officer David Garcia, who has just enough ties to the supernatural world to be dangerous.
To unite her enemies against their common foe, Faline will need to convince the Wild Women to do the one thing she fears most—exhume their power buried deep beneath centuries of oppression.
That is, if she can keep them from killing each other first.
“Freyja’s Daughter is a rare treat for urban fantasy fans.” – READERS FAVORITE ★★★★★
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Q: Why do you write?
A: I write because I’m compelled to create worlds and stories that introduce new kinds of archetypes, men and woman who defy their gender roles to be their authentic selves. I write with the hope that my readers will come away feeling a new sense of empowerment and self-worth.
Q: What do you write?
A: I write adult and young adult novels featuring empowered anti-heroines, usually in a paranormal or urban fantasy setting.
WILD WOMEN
- FREYJA’S DAUGHTER (book 1)
- LILITH’S CHILDREN (book 2)
- ISHTAR’S LEGACY (book 3)
Q: Why should readers pick up your books?
A: My books are crafted with care to think outside the box of societal norms to include history and “herstory” as well as marginalized people, because to me, a tapestry woven with unique and different fabrics is the most beautiful sight to behold.
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The Wild Women revolution is coming. Huldras, mermaids, harpies, and succubi and rusalki have lived in oppression for centuries, controlled by male Hunters who keep them in check under the guise of keeping society “safe” from them. But these women are about to rise, and you don’t want to miss it!
Rachel Pudelek’s debut novel, Freyja’s Daughter, is based on an interesting premise: groups of supernatural women have been forced into submission. A group of men called Hunters control these women, terming their care as “protecton” them but more truthfully, keeping the women “tame”. These women are subjected to punishments if they don’t adhere to monthly and random check-ins and follow the Hunters’ rules. The women are forced to suppress their abilities.Any use of their powers is revealed on their monthly check-ins, and if positive, the Hunters won’t hesitate to punish them.
Worse, their history and much of their past has been expunged by the Hunters, so in many ways, like human women, they have lost their rightful place in the world as well as their trust of each other.
Pudelek does a great job giving each of these tribes of women—huldras, mermaids, succubae, rusalki, and harpies—different personalities and traits. The protagonist, Faline, a huldra and one of these wild women, and her journey to self-realization and her growth as a leader of the various tribes is well-developed in this book.
I recommend this book despite the fact that I can’t figure out how a tribe that reproduces with men and can only bear female children (the huldra) hasn’t died out over the centuries.
If you love books that uplift women, and have women working together to fight the patriarchy, you’re going to love this book. If you love mythology and folklore, you’re going to love this book. If you love both of those things, you’re REALLY going to love this book!
This is not your typical Fantasy. It’s that and so much more. It has folkloric figures, wound together with a kick-ass heroine and a tribe of fabulous magical women, that all work together toward a common goal. I fell in love with the author’s storytelling abilities as she successfully pulled me in from the very first scene, and kept me glued to the pages until the last moment
What an exciting book!
FREYJA’S DAUGHTER takes the battle of the sexes and gives it a spin that’s both literal and folkloric in nature, introducing us to a world where mythical creatures known as the Wild Women have been forced to hide away from human society by the Hunters, their masculine nemeses. Our heroine is Faline, a huldra whose long-suppressed powers start bursting out after she’s manipulated into a dangerous situation. Things escalate quickly from there, as the kidnapping of Faline’s sister sends her on a quest to gather information from the other knots of Wild Women across the country: succubi, mermaids, rusalki, and harpies, all of whom have their own goddess-given powers.
Pudelak has written a faced-paced, thrilling tale of women reclaiming their power. The feminist themes are particularly resonant in our current political climate, and the various Wild Women face a considerable challenge, not just in their religious-fanatic opponents, but in learning to work with and trust each other. I’m looking forward to the rest of the Wild Women series! There’s clearly so much more to explore about this world, its history, and its shaping future.
“Well behaved women seldom make history, but they still end up as the monsters of folklore.”
Meet Faline Frey, bounty-hunter and huldra. Like her sister tree-women, Faline is under the thumb of the Hunters, the holier-than-thou soldiers tasked with ensuring that “wild women” like Faline don’t given in to their wild impulses and get out of control. And like her sisters, Faline chafes under their control, but the women feel as though they have little choice but to bow under the Hunters’ yoke.
In this first book in what promises to be a truly fantastic series, someone is kidnapping wild women, and when Faline stumbles upon their plot, she is determined to find out who is targeting her sisters. To do so, she enlists the help of a very sexy and very disillusioned former Hunter–but that’s the easy part. She also needs to unite the very different–and very combative–groups of wild women: sirens, succubi, mermaids, harpies, and rusalki. That might be even more dangerous and unpredictable than taking on their mutual enemies. To solve the mystery and free themselves from centuries of oppression, the wild women must unite–a prospect that rightfully terrifies their Hunter overlords.
I absolutely love this series-in-progress and I’m waiting for Book 3. This series is totally original and like nothing else I’ve read. The author, Rachel Sullivan, describes it as “fun feminist fantasy” and I totally concur. What a fantastic story and awesome characters. I love Faline and her fierceness and I can’t wait to see where this series goes. I have a feeling it will just keep getting better and better.
Grab Freyja’s Daughter and Book 2, Lilith’s Children, and go wild again.