Half-giant Lovis and her Shieldmaiden warband were once among the fiercest warriors in Midgard. But those days are long past and now Lovis just wants to provide a safe home for herself and her daughter – that is, until her former shield-sister Solveig shows up on her doorstep with shattering news.

Solveig’s warrior daughter is trapped on the Plains of Vigrid in a siege gone ugly. Desperate to rescue her, Sol is trying to get the old warband back together again. But their glory days are a distant memory. The Shieldmaidens are Shieldmothers now, entangled in domestic obligations and ancient rivalries.

But family is everything, and Lovis was never more at home than at her shield-sisters’ side. Their road won’t be easy: old debts must be paid, wrongs must be righted, and the Nornir are always pulling on loose threads, leaving the Shieldmaidens facing the end of all Nine Realms. Ragnarok is coming, and if the Shieldmaidens can’t stop it, Lovis will lose everyone she loves…

Have a quick glance at the synopsis for Queens of the Wyrd, Timandra Whitecastle’s new Norse-inspired fantasy novel, and you might be feeling a little bit of déjà vu.

Wait, isn’t that….doesn’t that seem a bit like…?

Yes, for sure. The premise for Queens of the Wyrd certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to Nicholas Eames’s Kings of the Wyld. But honestly, once you get into Queens of the Wyrd, you realize the two books are not that similar at all.

This is the second book I’ve read by Timandra Whitecastle, the first being Touch of Iron (the first book in her Living Blade series, one of the approximately 3,471 series I need to finish).

When we meet Lovis Shieldmaiden, she’s living somewhat of a quiet life. A half-giant, Lovis enjoys her work as a bouncer at the World’s End tavern. The place also doubles as a fight club of sorts, so someone of Lovis’s size & strength is a valued asset to the tavern’s owner, Tyrbald. Lovis is also a single mother to an awesome little girl named Birke.

But the quiet life can only last so long, and one of Lovis’s old war bandmates, Solveig, turns up looking for help. Solveig’s daughter, Astrid, is away & stuck in the midst of an awful battle, so Solveig is desperate to get the Shieldmaidens back together & rescue her. And also, you know, prevent Ragnarok, and the actual end of the world.

This book is…oof…written with so much heart, and warmth, and it’s like…just this funny, emotional, action-packed love letter to both the fantasy genre, and to motherhood. I fucking adored Queens of the Wyrd, and the tone of it was exactly what I needed when I read it.

The characters are delightful, and Whitecastle gives so much depth to all the individual friendships in this book. This is definitely a super fun Viking/fantasy adventure, but it is also VERY character driven.

Queens of the Wyrd really feels like one of those deeply personal books, where the author poured their whole entire soul into its creation. And there’s a TON of Norse mythology worked into the story, which I loved.

Badass lady Vikings, magical weapons, mythical beasts, lots of laughs, and more than a few scenes that had me in tears…Queens of the Wyrd is an absolute treasure, and deserves a spot on any fantasy reader’s TBR!!

Huge thanks to Timandra Whitecastle for sending me a copy!!