"Flawed and conflicted, generous and passionately ethical, Juva is a deeply engaging protagonist for our time."

– Kirkus Starred Review

"Vast in scope, intricately plotted, and utterly original ... Pettersen’s richly textured, Norse-infused saga features comprehensive worldbuilding studded with well-developed architectural, cultural, linguistic, and historical details and compelling characters."

 

– Kirkus Starred Review

"Her worlds and intense, scary, beautiful, and gorgeously gritty."

– NetGalley Reviewer

"Pettersen's style is something that makes me tingle with happiness. Her sentences are beautifully written, but without all that flowery and 'oh-im-so-smart' baroque-esque style you see in so many fantasy books. It has something of LeGuin's in it--short mentions of emotions that hit you stronger than any page-long description could. Love it."

– Goodreads Reviewer

The creation of the world still delights with a thousand small details, from Náklav itself, perched on the edge of a cliff, and its dark streets, where the sound of the Horn of the Dead can be heard, through the street of red lights, to Juva's cluttered family home, full of memories, dust and props that read blood. Pettersen can create images so vivid, so beautiful, dark and fairy-tale-like, that it is enough to close your eyes to see them come to life under our eyelids. [...] Juva remains a great main character--lost in a too-big world into which she was suddenly thrown, full of conflicting feelings and exposed to subsequent moral dilemmas. She is far from the typical super strong, ideal, always-finding-the-best-solution archetypal character. But despite the adversities, she tries with all her might, and there is some charming beauty in her features and breakdowns.

– Goodreads Reviewer