The Weight of a Soul Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

The Weight of a Soul
Author: Elizabeth Tammi 
Genre: YA Fantasy/Historical Fiction
Release Date: December 3, 2019
Publisher: Flux

Synopsis:

When Lena's younger sister Fressa is found dead, their whole Viking clan mourns—but it is Lena alone who never recovers. Fressa is the sister that should've lived, and Lena cannot rest until she knows exactly what killed Fressa and why—and how to bring her back. She strikes a dark deal with Hela, the Norse goddess of death, and begins a new double life to save her sister.

But as Lena gets closer to bringing Fressa back, she dredges up dangerous discoveries about her own family, and finds herself in the middle of a devastating plan to spur Ragnarök –a deadly chain of events leading to total world destruction.

Still, with her sister's life in the balance, Lena is willing to risk it all. She's willing to kill. How far will she go before the darkness consumes her?

The Weight of a Soul is an intriguing young adult novel that is centered around Viking culture and Norse mythology. I'm always excited to read any books that have mythology in them and I don't really know much about Norse myths, so this sounded perfect. The author did a wonderful job of bringing Lena's Viking village to life. It was like going back in time and watching their daily lives and routines play out right in front of me. I enjoyed learning more about the culture, history, and people from that time. The other major part of the book - the mythology - was incredibly fascinating for me. I absolutely devoured all of the stories of the gods and goddesses, the different worlds, and various myths that are talked about. I feel like I learned a lot about it from a sociological angle as well as a much more first-hand belief system. Since the story is told from Lena's point of view, we learn everything right along with her as the story goes on. It made the gods and goddesses and these places seem so realistic and easy to believe in. I really love that we get an up close look at Norse mythology from a couple different angles throughout the whole book.

That was probably the aspect of the book that I enjoyed most. The plot had great potential and the author wove a good narrative that kept me intrigued and engaged for the most part. The one big thing that bugged me was Lena's basic obsession with her sister Fressa. Fressa's only in the story for like 2 chapters, but it felt like the whole book was actually centered around Lena's obsession with her and bringing her back from the dead. And I completely understand that they're sisters, best friends, and all of that - but it felt like the story took it a couple steps up from there. I feel like 90% of Lena's thoughts, emotions, memories, and actions all had to do with Fressa. I was okay with it at first when she decides to make a deal with Hela to get her back, but then it just started to annoy me. Honestly, it bugged me so much that I almost had to stop reading. The only thing that made me keep going was the mythological aspect of the book. 

Lena was a great main character and I grew to really love her during the story. She's realistic and filled with tons of varying emotions all the time - love, hate, rage, sadness - and she has both good and bad traits just like all the rest of us. Another big thing for me is always the writing style - mainly the point of view the story is written from. I basically always prefer the first person POV. I think it lets the reader get a deeper and more personal connection with the narrator and it pulls you into the story itself. Sadly, this book was written in the third person from Lena's perspective. That was kind of strike two for me. Without having that connection with Lena and getting lost in her world, I couldn't connect on a level that I prefer. It just makes me feel like I'm reading a story - not actually losing myself inside of one and feeling like I'm experiencing everything right alongside the narrator. The other characters were pretty flat and stereotypical, which was a bummer. Again - these are my own personal thoughts and opinions and obviously not everyone is going to feel the same way. I do recommend it for fans of historical fiction, historical fantasy, Viking culture, Norse mythology, and stories about quests and journeys.

 

Elizabeth Tammi was born in California and grew up in Florida, but is currently double-majoring in Creative Writing and Journalism as an undergraduate at Mercer University in Georgia. When she’s not writing, you can probably find Elizabeth at work for her university’s newspaper and literary magazine. Her other interests include traveling, caffeinated beverages, and mythology. You can find Elizabeth online on Tumblr at (annabethisterrified), Twitter at (@ElizabethTammi), Instagram at (elizabeth_tammi), and at elizabethtammi.com.

Win (1) of (5) finished copies of THE WEIGHT OF A SOUL by Elizabeth Tammi (INT)

Starts: December 3, 2019

Ends: December 17, 2019

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