Loved this book! I've not read anything by Den Patrick before but I'm a definite fan now. I loved the Scandinavian setting, it's a unique fantasy setting I've not encountered before. Great voice. Brilliant story. Now onto book two.

So I gave this 5/5 stars. I was in a reading slump but I still wanted to pick this up at every chance that I could. It was fast paced as it really kept you really wanting to read more, but it wasn't too fast paced where it felt rushed. As it is the first book in a trilogy there was a lot of history and world building that needed to be introduced. I thought this was done so well as it wasn't just one big info-dump at the beginning. The history and world building was spread throughout the story and only reveals things when they need to be revealed. I always had questions and the answers were nicely sprinkled throughout. This meant plot twists. This meant plot twists. One of my favourite parts of the story is the mythology. A lot of the mythology is based on Norse mythology. There are gods/goddesses, magic and amazing creatures. I just thought it was brilliant how everything tied in and it really made the story work for me. And also the dragons. Because Oh yea, there are dragons.  As well as loving the story in general I also loved the characters. I can't think of a single character that I didn't like. There are two POV's. These are from Steiner and Kjellrunn and they are brother and sister. Usually with two POV's I have a favourite and one that I would rather read. This was not the case with Steiner and Kjellrunn. Although I loved Steiner and his journey I couldn't not love Kjellrunn because she is such a badass gal. Steiner is one of my fave types of character, 'The Chosen One Who Is Not Actually The Chosen One'. I wish we had more of this trope in fantasy honestly. He did what he had to do for his family and for his village. He wasn't immediately badass and suddenly amazing at everything. He had to learn and adapt and I loved seeing that from him. I hate it when characters are suddenly amazing fighters and are instantly the best swordsman after picking one up for the first time. Kjellrunn was so strong even though she was so young and she was very headstrong and took control of her own life. I loved this about her. She did what she had to do and followed her own morals instead of not being told how to act and what to do. Kjellrunn isn't the only strong female in this book. There are so many women and they are all so strong in their own ways. They are all different and all important for so many reasons. There are pirates and princesses and priestesses. Also none of them were described by their figure or through 'the male gaze', which was nice as often women are sexualised for no particular reason. As a female myself, I really enjoyed reading about these female characters because they felt so real to me and that I could connect with them. I've been trying to think about anything that I didn't like/wasn't a fan of but I honestly can't think of anything. More dragons? More magic? More dragons?! That is all I can say really. Overall, I think that this is a very promising first book in the Ashen Torment series. I can't wait to see where this story is going and how the characters develop over time. Also I will be adding the rest of Den Patrick's books to my tbr because I need to read more of him!

Loved this book! I've not read anything by Den Patrick before but I'm a definite fan now. I loved the Scandinavian setting, it's a unique fantasy setting I've not encountered before. Great voice. Brilliant story. Now onto book two.

I haven't responded to a book this well in a long time. There are so many things in here that I love from the world to the characters to the themes of family, friendship, destiny, responsibility, and oppression. I would definitely recommend this to people who are looking for something darker and on the border between YA and adult fantasy.