
North Is the Night
With the dark, mythical magic of the Winternight trilogy, and the slow-burn romance of Spinning Silver, NORTH IS THE NIGHT is a feminist fantasy adventure that shows the power of female friendship and how love - both romantic and familial - can conquer even death itself.
In the harsh interior of the Finnish wilderness, best friends Aina and Siiri are inseparable despite their opposite natures: Aina is gentle and cautious while Siiri is headstrong and brave. But their friendship is put to the test when Aina is kidnapped by a death goddess and taken to the mythical underworld Tuonela.
Determined to save her friend, Siiri embarks on a dangerous journey north to seek out Väinämöinen, the only mystical shaman to travel to Tuonela and return alive. As the dark winter looms, Siiri uses all the strength she possesses to survive her journey, which is plagued by trappers, a band of roving wolves, and a cunning snow witch with her own quest for power. But finding Väinämöinen is only the beginning. Siiri must convince him to share his magic so she can sneak into Tuonela and save Aina.
In Tuonela, Aina is forced to play the sadistic games of Tuonetar, the cruel queen of the underworld, alongside other captured maidens. But Aina's kindness allows her to make allies in the dark, harsh environment. She soon discovers that Tuoni, the god of death and king of Tuonela, is also a victim of Tuonetar's spells that can only be broken when he remarries. To save him and the other girls, Aina offers herself as his bride.
As she spends more time in the underworld, Aina falls in love with Tuoni and must make a decision that will alter the course of her fate forever . . . not knowing her fearless friend is on the way and plotting a daring escape.
'Beautifully weaves together elements of Finnish mythology' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
'Has everything you could ever wish for, all wrapped up in a fantasy masterpiece. I didn't read this book, I devoured it!' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
'Beautifully crafted, utterly captivating, drenched in folklore, drowning in danger and dripping with emotion . . . wondrously enchanting' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
'Truly magical . . . packed with action, magic, love and Finnish mythology, this tale is perfect to get lost in' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
'The core of it is all Emily: excellent visuals, compelling writing, slooooow burn, and complex characters you are rooting for' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
'I absolutely LOVED this book! Everything about it is fantastic' ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄
An extraordinary story of love, of courage, of friendship and of magic, NORTH IS THE NIGHT is the stand-alone first novel in an incredible duology.
Pages: 592
ISBN: 9781645661658
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1 rating
Charlene M.
So the good:
I liked Siiri's parts the best. She was a fun character and I liked her education as a shaman and her adventures.
There was some nice descriptions of places and the deities.
The God of Death is a freaking cinnamon roll lol.
The bad:
Lumi did not have to be Sami. It *never mattered* and just opened the author up to a lot of criticism about how the Sami people were portrayed. There was no reason for the Sami to even be involved in this.
Aina. Dear god I wanted to smack her. Now, likely some of this was genre convention but oh dear Gods woman, pick a *lane*. She would make a choice and then spend the next two chapters being mad about it! No one tricked you stupid girl, L told you what was going on! And that prophesy caught everyone off guard and for someone who kept talking about coming into her power, she kept trying to give it away!
You know how you could have kept Tuenelo safe you dumb chit? By *using your powers!*
(Sidenote: By about 60% in, Aina's theme song had become that I think Katy Perry song: You're hot, then you're cold/you're yes then you're no/you're in and you're out/you're up and you're down.