When Lena’s younger sister Fressa is found dead, their whole Viking clan mourns–but it is Lena alone who never recovers. Fressa is the sister that should’ve lived, and Lena cannot rest until she knows exactly what killed Fressa and why–and how to bring her back. She strikes a dark deal with Hela, the Norse goddess of death, and begins a new double life to save her sister.But as Lena gets closer … closer to bringing Fressa back, she dredges up dangerous discoveries about her own family and finds herself in the middle of a devastating plan to spur Ragnarök -a deadly chain of events leading to total world destruction. Still, with her sister’s life in the balance, Lena is willing to risk it all. She’s willing to kill. How far will she go before the darkness consumes her?
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I wanted to like this book, I really did but I can’t rate it higher than 2 stars in Goodreads and 3 stars in BookBub because “it was ok” was literally my first thought when I closed my Kindle.
I liked the premise of the story, I think the way it all started was intriguing and exciting and I also liked some of the things we discover in the end, even though I did guess two of the revelations early on (one thing that had to happen and who really was one of the characters, sorry about being vague but I’m trying not to spoil the story), the writing is actually really good but the characters seemed flat to me and the pacing was weirdly off.
Lena is a hard character to like, I get that she was grieving but a lot of her actions didn’t make much sense and her inner thoughts are all over the place. She’s described as very smart but honestly I think she never truly showed how smart she was, most of her actions are impulsive and almost irrational at times. I didn’t actually felt/saw the bond between Lena and her sister because there aren’t enough significant moments between them that showed it, I think it might have worked better if Fressa died a little later in the story or if the flashbacks had focused more in their relationship and significant moments between them. There was so much of Lena in the story that it became very repetitive, another POVs might have softened this, especially Fressa’s. I didn’t care much for any of the characters, in my opinion Loki is the most interesting character but we only get glimpses. The mythology is an interesting aspect and I did enjoy the way it’s entwined in the story. Like I said the pacing was weird, it started out ok, then the middle was very slow, it seemed like nothing was happening and then the ending was a bit rushed. There were some loose ends at the end but I think there’s going to be a second book so it makes sense.
Overall, it was ok. I don’t think I’ll pick up the second book but I’ll keep track of the author because I definitely liked the writing.
I received an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Hmm this is a hard book to review because I just didn’t connect with the characters. I did like that the author chose to give us Vikings because Norse mythology is not used often enough in books in my opinion . The overall plot of the story sees Lena desperate to release her younger sister from Valhalla but you just know that Odin would need a price to be paid so she instead seeks help from Hela the daughter of Loki. The price is a soul that’s equivalent to that of her sister Fressa which obviously is not something anyone would happily give because yep death is the only way ! Then the author adds in even more desperate times because Lena is expected to marry the man who loves Fressa !
This was a quick read and it was terribly obvious what would happen at the end but boy the author did lead Lena on a dark path. I thought the way it ended was a surprise in someways though because someone came into the story which meant there was a truly ingenious twist but sadly that all seemed very rushed. I couldn’t sympathise with Lena and that obviously colours my opinion so I rate this a three because I wish there had been more about the person who was revealed at the end.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair
What a disappointing read. The Weight of a Soul follows Lena, daughter of a Viking Chieftain who makes a deal with Hela, the Norse goddess of Death and Hel, to bring her sister back from Valhalla in exchange for another’s soul. This bargain forces her to ask the question of what determines the value of a soul and makes her question what it means to take a life.
The story has such an exciting start to it, and the representation of Helheim and Hela leaves the reader with a strong impression, but the rest of the characters, fall flat. Moreover, even though Lena is given the most time to develop as a character, she still does not have a strong enough personality to connect to the reader. After the loss of her sister, she loses herself, and while her grief is understandable, her path to the end of the novel alienates her from the reader. Her progression and development is well done, of that, there is no doubt, but her personality is not enough to carry the novel.
As for the other characters, they do not bring anything to the table. Amal and his mother, well his mother is wholly unlikeable in the way she changes her mind. Yes, it is due to her age, but she makes no apologies for it. Then Amal, he is pretty docile, and the fascinating thing to come from him is the fact that he was from somewhere else and can read runes. Yes, this is only used for the opening pages and never fully realized for later on. It is just an interesting tidbit. As for Lena’s mother and sister, well, her sister does not get enough time to develop and her mother; she is another frigid character.
These characters do not make the reader care about them.
Moreover, while the focus of the story is supposed to be about Ragnarök, as hinted at in the book blurb, there is hardly any build to it. The Norse Gods are hardly in the novel, even if they play a significant part in the overall plot of the story, it would have been nice to see more of them and how integral they are in the storytelling.
The story eventually leads to a predictable ending and does an excellent job of presenting Lena with a strong challenge, creating just enough tension to make the story interesting enough to read ultimately.
Rating: 3.5
Character and plot development was good. It was very slow at the start, but the climax and ending really pick up the pace and wrap the book up together nicely.
I loved Lena, and I was so sad at her ending. I think she deserved more, the poor girl had been through hell and back for her sister.
My one, and biggest gripe about the story were the GODS. I am not familiar with Noors legends, and I feel a good backstory and explanation of the gods would have been very nice. We get a few stories here and there, but at the end of the day I still don’t know very much about any of them and they are such key parts of the story I wish the author had delved into that more. Plus I just love mythology, I wish the author had breathed life into the Gods.
I think this was a very touching story. In the end, I enjoyed it. There were a couple slow parts, like the wedding was not one of my favorite scenes, I thought it was overdrawn and long. I wish there had been more storytelling and life in the gods. But it was an entertaining read, and it kept my attention well. I would recommend!