Between the Blade and the Heart

I HAVE THOUGHTS. SO SO MANY THOUGHTS. I hadn’t heard about Between the Blade and the Heart until a lovely publicist from St. Martin’s Press pitched me the book as a part of a Blog Tour invite and the minute I read the word Valkyrie, I WAS SOLD. If you haven’t seen me tweeting UNENDINGLY about just how brilliant Thor: Ragnarok was, YOU DON’T KNOW ME. I have seen that movie THREE TIMES in theatres, and I would’ve been there a fourth time if they hadn’t taken it off screens. If you have seen the movie, you’ll know that one of the main characters is a part of an ELITE FEMALE WARRIOR ARMY, the Valkyrie. And so, I went into Between the Blade and the Heart with HIGH expectations. As I actually read the book, I found that each thing I loved also had an aspect that I didn’t like, which feels as confusing as it sounds, but let’s break it down: 1. THE MYTHOLOGY: As soon as I heard that this book was about a Valkyrie, I assumed that it would be filled with Norse mythology. And yet, there were so many OTHER cultures coming into play, including Indian, Sumerian and Indonesian. While I LOVED the diversity, I feel like if the book acknowledged all the different cultures, I would’ve enjoyed it more, instead of feeling like I was reading about X culture and an intruder Y showing up. 2. THE CREATURES: This book was FILLED with paranormal/ supernatural and mythical creatures ranging from fallen angels to vampires. While these are some of the well-known creatures, there were SO MANY MINOR MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES THAT I’D NEVER HEARD OF, and it resulted in me DESPERATELY wishing for a glossary and reaching for the dictionary. I loved the fact that they were there, but it resulted in me being one CONFUSED reader. 3. THE WORLD BUILDING: In relation to what I just wrote above, what I was expecting was Norse Mythology (most of my knowledge comes from the Thor movies) but I was drop-kicked into a world where paranormal and mythical creatures lived side by side, there was advanced technology, schools for children of mythical creatures and I just NEEDED a foreword or some kind of introduction before I was thrown into the deep end. Of course, it all made sense as I read on but STILL. 4. THE LOVE INTERESTS: I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THAT MALIN, OUR VALKYRIE MC WAS BISEXUAL and I loved that there were male and female love interests. It made this book so much more interesting because YAY for diversity. HOWEVER, I am NOT A BIG FAN of love triangles (well, more of a love square/ flowchart) with one minor and two major love interests. It made me groan, because didn’t we all get over love triangles/ squares/ flowcharts after Twilight? 5. THE ENDING: I LOVED THE ENDING SCENE OF THIS BOOK. I made me flail in excitement and scream out loud and just that ONE scene has me so excited about what is to come next! Will I be picking up the next book? YES. That ending was fodder for my fangirl heart. Between the Blade and the Heart was a diverse book filled with mythology and I’d definitely recommend digging in, even if it has its flaws! 3 stars.

Some missing pages and letters, a few things didn't flow well either.

The author did not do enough research so the content of the book was inaccurate