The Valkyrie's Daughter

Helheim Prophecy, Book 1

De: Tiana Warner

Narrado por: Suzy Jackson

Paste Magazine Pick for Best New Fantasy Books of July 2022

From the time she was born, Sigrid has only ever been ordinary. Being paired at birth with a plain horse—instead of the powerful winged mare of a valkyrie—meant there would be no warrior path for her. No riding the skies, no glory among the nine worlds. Just the simple, unremarkable life of a stable hand.

Everything changes when a terrible enemy ambushes Vanaheim and Sigrid sees a vision of herself atop a mythical stallion, leading the valkyries into a harrowing battle. Finally, she can grab her future with her own two hands and become the hero of her own story … if she dares.

But her destiny is tied up with Mariam, a fallen valkyrie who’s allied herself with the very enemy Sigrid is trying to stop.

Now Sigrid has left ordinary behind as she begins a journey with the beautiful—if treacherous—valkyrie, each step bringing her closer to answers … and to awakened feelings for Mariam.

But the life Sigrid left behind is starting to look a lot like paradise … especially when her destiny lies in the one place no mortal should tread: the gates of Hel.

©2022 Tiana Warner (P)2022 Recorded Books

Sigrid.....

Absolutely love the journey the author takes us on in this beautiful Norse mythology. It gave me a nostalgic feeling, like experiencing the Percy Jackson series for the first time.

I found the story a bit predictable and strange. I found myself sympathizing with the general...Sigrid can be a bit of a pick me(but that's no excuse for bullying lol). Over the course of the story, you will sigh and say, "Sigrid,...why?" lol.

The romance between Sigrid and Mariam felt off. Dare I say she had more chemistry with Fisk?

Norse mythology rewritten but in a good way!

My first experience with Tiana Warner was Fan to Forever, a wish-fulfillment book that may not qualify as "good" but is fun just makes me happy. To see something with more meat intrigued me and I'm so glad I read this series and I eagerly await the next book.

Yes, this is a young adult story with a teenage protagonist, Sigrid is 16. Yes, she's incredibly indecisive. Yes, her indecisiveness can be vexing. May I reiterate: she's 16. She has her first crush and isn't quite sure how to act or what to do about it. She wants more out of her life, knowing she's destined for greatness and doubts herself along the way. She falls for obvious traps in the hopes of fulfilling childhood wishes of a loving family. She's devastated when she realizes it's all a lie. She gets exactly what she wants and then backtracks, wanting none of it. She's 16.

Warner captures the insanity of being 16 within a story as equally tumultuous. The only grounding for Sigrid is the loyalty of Hestur, her beloved gelding (Hestur is the bestest boy and deserves all the apples); Fisk, a dark elf ally; and Mariam, her enemy-turned-ally-turned-crush.

Fantastic story, easy to relisten to, and worth the time.

Finally adventure with women loving women!

I think I've been waiting my whole life for this book! There's not much out there with adventure fantasy representing lesbians who are in love. I feel so happy to be taken on this journey! She really captures a 16 year old who is naive really accurately and I love the morals in this story. I would like to go back in time with this book and give it to my teen self!! Highly recommend, more people should read or listen to this. Also the reader Suzy Jackson does an amazing job!

Not well thought out

I liked the premise, but the story devolved into a series of obviously bad decisions made by a somehow increasingly naive MC. Isn’t the character supposed to develop and mature, not move backward?
It’s definitely YA, but not all youngsters are idiots, and it’s too bad that there weren’t better, more compelling sources of drama that didn’t make the MC look so foolish.
I’ll be frank, I got to about 2 hours from the end and stopped. I don’t want to put in spoilers, so suffice to say it’s dead obvious what is going to happen and she’s dumb. Also, she’s weirdly entitled. Going from a stable hand who is belittled her whole life to immediately being something more elevated would make anybody second guess and take some time. But she’s kinda just like, “Oh, cool, yeah that works for me. I’ll just pretend I’ve had the training to make these kinds of decisions that could have world-ending ramifications. I’m totally prepared for this.”
I just couldn’t root for her as a person.
The narrator did a really good job of distinguishing different character voices. Good job on most of the word pronunciations (Helle notwithstanding), but it would’ve been rad if there were some rolled R’s to make it more authentic.

An enthralling tale

I enjoyed the twists, turns, and suspense of this tail. Great world building and story telling.