A Warrior's Fate (Wolves of Morai)

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The only thing that I didn't love was the struggle to get a good idea of what time period the setting was based on. I think it's more modern? There's mention cars and some other modern inventions, but for the longest time I was picturing the common vaguely medieval fantasy setting. What was wrong with Aslaug offering the stranger dinner, shelter and letting him know all the men were gone? Woman are you insane? Siggy's face was priceless. bookshop after hours 🍷and shenanigans (yes this is niche but it gets its own dot point because I WANT THIS 😂. Applications for real life bookshop meet up friendship group open!) Even with the points listed above, I rated the book 4.5 stars and rounded up to 5 stars because I just couldn’t rate it 4 stars, it was too good for that.

Did King Ecbert just introduce Paris as a challenge to lead the Northmen out of Wessex? It certainly seems like the main players on Vikings have their own little Game of Thrones going on. I'm very curious to see how things between Ragnar, Ecbert and Lagertha play out. Was anyone else turned off watch our heroic shield maiden kiss the English King? A Warrior's Fate is the Adult Paranormal Fantasy Romance and its first installment in the The Alpha and The Warrior series.Which we see when Floki, without Ragnar soliciting his opinion on the subject, expresses his own misgivings in a far more passionate manner, calling Ragnar deluded. Why, he asks, are they fighting for the Christians? But what Ecbert’s men only imply—that the difference in religions makes the two cultures incompatible – Floki calls out directly: “There can be no reconciliation between our gods—the true gods—and the god that they worship.” Thus, he suggests, there is no way to reconcile the followers of those gods. His next statement seems almost ripped from the mouths of modern-day zealots. Religious tolerance is unacceptable. “One or the other must prevail.” And his prophecy that “the triumph of the Christ-God will mean the death and destruction of all of ours” was both historically true and echoes the contemporary fear that underlies intolerance: if a belief system is not fiercely defended, it will be annihilated. I really love how A Warrior's Fate twisted some tropes and added some new surprises. I also like how Isla and Kai decide to ignore their bond, which is something I haven't seen before. These two just mutually decide that they have too much going on to worry with accepting or rejecting a fated mate bond, which is honestly a whole mood. And the slow-burn between these two is fantastic! From the mysterious deaths to the entertaining battles this book keeps you on the edge of your seat and has you on a rollercoaster of emotions! On the night she’s to enter the Hunt, a perilous trial to earn her title of warrior, Isla meets her fated mate. Handsome, arrogant, and frustratingly captivating, Kai is everything she could want, but nowhere near what she needs right now. Because he is the king of the enigmatic Deimos…which makes Isla their rightful queen. On the night she's to enter the Hunt, a perilous trial to earn her title of warrior, Isla meets her fated mate. Handsome, arrogant, and frustratingly captivating, Kai is everything she could want, but nowhere near what she needs right now. Because he is the king of the enigmatic Deimos...which makes Isla their rightful queen.

Some will always believe that mutual religious tolerance is impossible. The tension between the Christian Saxons and the Norse Vikings has begun to create problems on both sides as we are shown early on in parallel scenes in the episode. Two of Ecbert’s court (somewhat) hesitantly call their king out for his willingness to ally himself with the Northmen, even to the point of evicting his own people from their lands and giving it to the new arrivals. The fact that they feel strongly enough about this to admit the content of their muttering to him speaks a great deal to how serious a problem his people believe this to be. While any king rules, on one level or another, by the consent of the people, an English court of the time did not have the democratic tone that tended to be more true of a Viking one where anyone could, in theory, speak his mind. This author is absolutely talented and I can't believe that this is her first book ! The plot has unexpected turns and has you constantly on your toes ... the story itself flows so easily and the amazing thing is that it seems to have its own category ! I've read a lot of werewolf books - it's nothing like the classic "bad boy alpha and poor damsel in distress". The world Melissa built in my mind was etherial, the writing was cohesive and didn’t distract from the story. The elements of mystery, the suspense and romance made for a well balanced plot. I really enjoyed how she left us Easter eggs throughout, piecing them together added to the mystery. She wrote unique, three-dimensional characters with depth, personality, and clear motivations. The side characters were the perfect dash of humour and lightness - Seb & Jonah I am looking at you. Overall the plot was all consuming, the characters and their dynamics well rounded and the romance was scorchingly swoon worthy. The Vikings begin climbing the mountain to meet with Princess Kwenthrith's brother and his army. Princess Kwenthrith asks Ragnar to spare her brother. When they are unable to see over a cliff of the mountain, Torstein volunteers to go first to make sure Princess Kwenthrith's brother and his army are there, and dies valiantly. Fighting ensues, Þórunn is severely injured, and eventually, Princess Kwenthrith’s brother surrenders. As someone who dislikes the omegaverse ranking system that is prevalent in werewolf / wolf shifter romances, I actually didn't mind the system in AWF. It might've been because the Greek letters were used interchangeably with other terms, such as alpha and king, beta and second-in-command.This is more than a fantasy romance because the relationships between all the characters are so nuanced. There is more than romantic love here. There is the love between siblings, the relationships between best friends, parents, coworkers. Relationships and bonds being strained because of circumstances, but still holding true.

I loved the way mental health struggles around trauma were presented. It was so visceral and deep. Chaotic and yet, so easy to follow. It felt like my own brain quite frankly. Another irritant through the series - the whole storyline takes place over a couple of years. It is not an "evolutionary" timescale. So this whole "variants evolve" business is just annoyingly wrong. But I understand why the author thought it is needed. The "monsters" otherwise would be too dull of an enemy.The side characters were also well flushed out. They felt like people, and I was invested in everyone's story. With the initial storyline begging for other talented storytellers to tighten their belts and weigh in on their interpretation of the Variant problem and the changed character of the survivors. This branch of the masterwork brings survivors from all walks of life and range of talents. While old soldiers live on in the lives and training of those that follow, the farmer, the cook and the handyman will be the ones to craft new lives from the ruins of the old.