Series: The Ære Saga #2
Author: S.T. Bende
Age Group: New Adult
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Mythology, Urban Fantasy
Elements: Deities
Publisher: S.T. Bende
Format: Electronic ARC
ASIN: B017T02N8U
Published: February 9th, 2016
Source: S.T. Bende
Rating: ★★★★
Series Reviews: Perfekt Order | The Asgardians
Rule the realms.
Brynn Aksel is a valkyrie—a battle goddess tasked with protecting both the God of War and the future of Asgard. She fends off giants and dark elves with an iron fist, a glossy smile, and no less than perfekt control. She’s focused one-hundred-percent on rising through the valkyrie ranks, and not at all on her lifelong crush on Henrik Andersson—the one guy in all the realms who could be her undoing.
Henrik serves as War’s other bodyguard, and he’s too focused on protecting their shared charge to realize that Brynn’s a girl. When an unprecedented surge of darkness abducts the Goddess of Love, Brynn’s already-steely focus is singularly directed on her new assignment—accompany Henrik to recover the realms’ source of light before the cosmos descends into chaos.
While battling demons, dragons, and the not-quite-dead, it becomes clear that immortality does not equal invincibility. And when Hel herself puts a hit on Brynn, the valkyrie has to decide if staying in control is worth losing everything . . . or if it’s time to rule the realms.
In this second book in the Aere Saga, we get to learn more about Brynn and Henrik, more about the different Realms, more about the super-brain that is Brynnrik and the tech that they create. With Freya missing from the light realms, the dark realms are gaining more power and some strange changes are happening in each species. But what really took center stage was Brynn's battle within herself. There are so many things coming at her at once that her perfekt control is slipping, which isn't good within a Valkyrie.
I really enjoyed the more indepth look into the world the Aere Saga. Incidentally, I liked the description for Helheim the most. At the center, Helheim is the most dark and terrible of the dark realms, but it's descibed as incredibly beautiful, more like what you'd expect a light realm to be described. It makes me think about how so much evil can be hidden behind something beautiful. I loved the dilemma that Brynn had concerning her feelings for Henrik and how they conflicted with her Valkyrie oath. And I loved how their HEA happened. I wasn't expecting it to come about the way that it did. I also really enjoyed the Brynnrik moments. I think that only one who might understand half of what they were saying is Mia, since she helps them develope some of their tech. Oh, and I liked how we saw more of Elsa and her healing abilities. I think that was a really good set up for her story in Perfekt Balance. This latest addition to the Aere Saga really developes the world of this series, while also giving us more insight into Brynn and Henrik.
When we met Brynn in Perfekt Order, she was always upbeat and energetic. But for reason you'll find while reading Perfekt Control, Brynn isn't as happy and bouncy as she usually is. I'd even go so far to say that Mia seemed more energetic than Brynn in this book. Being a Valkyrie under the command of the Goddess of Love, Brynn has a lot that she needs to work out and she needs to choose whether she'll let her fear rule or if she'll let her love rule. Henrik is the other half of the Brynnrik super-brain and the object of Brynn's affection. I loved seeing more of Henrik. He's just as charming as he was in the first book and we even see this really sweet side to him, not to mention a more sexy side to him. I also really liked how competitive he is with Mia concerning their cooking. Brynn and Henrik make a perfekt team. They think the same and fight well together, which make them the perfekt bodyguards for Tyr.
So all in all, S.T. Bende has done a great job in expanding the world of the Aere Saga and has given us in depth descriptions of the realms and their people. Also the way that we are show how Elsa heals is a great set up for the next book, Perfekt Balance. It's also really nice that Tyr and Mia's story continues in this book and I liked how there's this kind of foreshadowing of Mia's possible future with them. While Perfekt Order set up the Aere Saga, Perfekt Control expands it outside of the Midgard realm and into the bigger universe. I have a feeling that some really amazing things are going to be happening in the future books in the series.
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Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, S.T. Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of McVities cookies. Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired the books of The Elsker Saga and The Ære Saga. She hopes her characters make you smile, and she dreams of skiing on Jotunheim and Hoth.
Find S.T. on Twitter @stbende, her website (www.stbende.com), or send her an e-mail. While you're at it, introduce yourself to @UllMyhr and @TyrFredriksen—when they’re not saving the cosmos from dark elves, they love meeting new friends . . . especially the human kind.
Want to connect with fellow Norse god fans? S.T.'s readers have created a Facebook group! Head over to the RagnaRockstars page to chat with other readers, talk with S.T., and get access to exclusive content . . . including Ull POVs and sneak peeks at upcoming Ære Saga books!
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Skål, y’all!
Disclaimer: This review was originally posted in 2015 to my book blog, Once Untold.
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