Tiana Warner

The Valkyries Legacy by Tiana Warner is the third book in the Sigrid and The Valkyries series. This series has been blowing my mind, so I am happy to be back in the saddle again with Sigrid.

We open with immediate action and I love it. Will I get a chance to catch my breath along the way? No, I won’t. The action and danger are intense and non stop. The vivid descriptions of Sigrid’s fantastical world draw me in, deeper and deeper.

Loki is creating havoc across the nine worlds.

I love that show more Sigrid is more warrior than princess. A badass female main character is always at the top of my list of desirable characters, especially when there will be many battles fought. Sigrid would rather everyone learn to work together, but sometimes others refuse. I also love that we have a lesbian heroine and I love an author that is not afraid to share diverse characters.

I love all the creatures.

The nine worlds are in danger and Sigrid has tasked herself with the dangerous journey to the Norns in the hopes of creating a new Eye of Hnitbjorg, thus restoring Vanaheim’s gods given magic.

In Chapter 27, Tiana may have thought she could sneak one by me, but I am on my toes. I love what she did and I read even faster to find out the end result.

Sigrid and the Valkyrie’s series is amazing. Each and every book kept me enthralled, waiting for the next book to be available, having to know the story. I raced through the pages, heart in my throat, a white knuckled grasp on my ereader. I am sad to see the series end, but Tiana Warner wrapped it up in a spectacular fashion.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Valkyrie’s Legacy by Tiana Warner. show less

ohhh, i don't know how to properly explain my love for this trilogy. i think the best compliment that i can offer, is that i've never been more grateful that 10 year old me will get to grow up to read this one day. (i mean, i'm an adult now and i already read it... etc. but it's a metaphor or whatever, you get what i'm saying).

10 year old me loved mermaids. so does 28 year old me. but neither of us ever thought we'd get to read a story about two mermaids falling in love and having an show more adventure. one that makes no big deal about that queerness. it's just another part of the girls who are having an adventure and saving the world. it's important, because it's a part of them, but it's not the only thing the story revolves around. and it's doesn't end in tragedy. 10 year old me never could have imagined that, because she didn't see any other girls like her in anything she was reading, she had no idea for years that it was even a possibility. but now, after slogging through hundreds of stories revolving around that queerness (which, we're important and formative for different reasons) it's just... so lovely to be able to get to read an epic story of sea adventure, mermaids, warriors, power struggles, coming of age, all wrapped up in a beautiful love story between two girls.

10 year old me got a mermaid love story, and for that, she is innately grateful. show less

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.


Content warnings:
There is a death of a horse and some moments where horses are handled badly, bordering on being mistreated.

I have always been drawn to books based on mythology and folklore, and the gorgeous cover for The Helheim Princess drew me in just as much as the title did. I’ve become quite familiar with the goddess Hel and Helheim through various fictional interpretations, and I was curious to see what this one was like!

I wanted to like this show more book more than I did because it has a beautiful sapphic love story, some great characters, and wonderful Norse world-building, but the sad reality is that it is chock-full of YA tropes. The first problem straight out of the gate is that the title and the synopsis gives the plot away immediately. You’re probably thinking, hold on a second, The Helheim Princess is for teen readers, and you’re a thirty-something year old woman. Of course, it seems obvious to you! Sorry, but teenagers aren’t idiots. This novel is listed as being for 12 to 17-year-olds on Amazon, and while I can see readers of the younger end of that age bracket not piecing things together, I can tell you from experience that older teens definitely will.

Despite the predictable plot, The Helheim Princess was an enjoyable read. I feel that it suffered from what I call ‘first book syndrome’, where the author sticks to a very basic plot to get the protagonist’s original story out and get them in position for book two. In this book, Sigrid finds out who she is, follows her destiny and decides who she wants to be, while falling in love, making friends and learning a few hard lessons along the way. It is a very typical coming of age story, so what made The Helheim Princess different enough for me to give it a decent rating? Well, that would be the world-building.

Warner has created a unique and magical interpretation of Norse mythology and the nine worlds, and offers an insight into her creative process at the end of the book. It was interesting to see where her path took her from original sources and academic texts as she explained how one of the few two sources we have of Norse folklore was written by a Christian, and the other, a primary source, is filled with gaps. The world she has created in The Helheim Princess is her interpretation of these sources and an attempt to fill in some of the gaps, creatively. The result is a fantastic world where baby Valkyries are born at the exact same time as a winged mare, rather than them being the traditional “chooser of the slain”. Instead, they are guardians, warriors who protect the nine realms. For the most part, the nine realms are the same, with a few changes here and there.

This is also a book for horse lovers. Warner is a lifelong rider, and it shows in every scene. She brings all that experience to provide authentic, fast-paced action scenes with the horses, and they are probably the best I’ve seen in a fantasy novel.

An easy read with lovely characters and a great romance, The Helheim Princess might not have scored high for me as an individual book, however it definitely put The Helheim Prophecy series, and it’s author Tiana Warner on my radar. I’ll certainly be keeping my eye out for book two because I want to see where Sigrid and Mariam’s story goes, and spend more time in the world Warner has created.


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WHY did it take me so long to read this? Spoiler alert: I’m a dumbass, that’s why.

Not to be dramatic but this was everything I could have hoped it to be? I was wanting a gruesome violent mermaid horror novel with lots of death and a mermaid hunter in love with a mermaid and oh boy did it deliver. If you love mermaids as a concept but want something a bit darker than what a lot of mermaid fiction has to offer, this is a good choice (especially if you want it to be gay).