River of Shadows

Underworld Gods Series, Book 1

By: Karina Halle

Narrated by: Jo Raylan

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In order to save my father, I have to marry the God of Death.

When twenty-four-year old Hanna Heikkinen's estranged father dies, she reluctantly makes the trip to Northern Finland for his funeral. Being in the enchanting land of ice and snow feels miles away from Hanna's busy life back in Los Angeles, especially under the complicated circumstances.

But when Hanna discovers that her father's body is missing, that's when things really get weird. A mysterious man, Rasmus, tells Hanna the truth: her father was a powerful shaman who went into Tuonela, the Realm of the Dead, in order to barter for more life, and has been held captive by Tuoni, the God of Death. The only way her father can be freed is if she travels with Rasmus into the mythical underworld to rescue him.

Willing to do anything to have a second chance with her father, Hanna accompanies Rasmus into the dark and bloody realm, traveling via the River of Shadows, stalked by dangerous creatures, monsters, and the living dead, until they finally come into the haunted kingdom ruled by Death and his family.

Only for her to be captured and held prisoner by the God of Death himself.

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Karina Halle (P)2022 Tantor

Love this storyline!

I love the lore and world building in this story. Personally, I have a hard time reading books (especially fiction/fantasy) that are written in the first-person present tense. It can make listening to the audiobook a little difficult as well, because it’s hard to separate dialogue from narration at some instances.

That being said, the Finnish folklore/mythology aspect of this story is AWESOME and the dynamic between the characters is steamy and so fun to get into. I just finished book 1 and am going straight into book 2! This is a really easy and fun series to read so far.

Better than expected

I was completely impressed by this book and the story like. Definitely will be recommending it to friends.

Wonderful

I didn’t know if I would like this one but I absolutely love it and can wait for more!

If the world of Tolkien and Spirted Away had a baby❤️❤️❤️

I already read the book physically and loved it, and the audio did it justice the second time around. Fly little bird, fly

Good so far, narrator irks me a little

So far it’s a good story but it nags a bit at me that the narrator sounds like she’s mid stroke in a good portion of her reading that I almost can’t finish the book with.

Not a fan of the narrator

Plot had a lot of filler and tbh the narrators voice irks me. Not sexy at all.

LOVE IT! CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!

Spice, romance, suspense, fantasy! it's got it all in spades and is automatically one of my favorites. can't wait for the next book!

God of Death

This story is not for everyone, but I love the story and Death.
Hanna is thrown into another realm and leaves you with the mystery of who or what she really is.
The spice is just right when you read the book instead of listening to it.
The narrator is not the best. Everything that is read sounds like a question or making portions of a sentence sound like an incomplete sentence. The narration ruins the sex scenes.

It was a B

It wasn’t 100% for me, I was really really excited when I started it cause the reviews were so great, but for me it was ok…. It is a beauty and the beast meets mythology retelling, in theory, that’s amazing, however, I didn’t ever fully lose myself in the story. The romance never really seemed authentic to me, I wasn’t rooting for them to get together, it never seemed genuine. It wasn’t for me but I can say the writing was great and a beautiful world builder.

Great Voice but...

i loved the story itself and the voice narrator was good, but she didnt have a lot of variety in her tone, and couldnt tell if she was talking to someone or if it was just narrative in her thoughts, the male voices all sounded pretty much the same also.