As you step back into the past, you enter the world of the Norse, a time when the Goddess Freyja and the God Odin influenced the world. Freyja commands the ranks of Valkyries, immortal women that bring those slain in battle to the afterlife of Valhalla. The Lifeblood of Ill-Fated Women revolves around the story of two of these Valkyries, sisters Astrid and Yrsa. The sisters are from a Nordic area called Birka, they raid and plumage for wealth and entertainment. One night their home is attacked and Astrid believes she has died. Astrid awakens in a strange land with no memory of how she arrived there. She is found by a farmer named Warren that is kind to her and goes out of his way to help her having no clue either about her past or what she really is. This novel tells the story of how Astrid finds her family and discovers a life can have more meaning than how many villages you conquer.

Kevin James Breaux brings readers into a distant world where people are stilled ruled by the Nordic Gods. Times of war are ending and settlements are turning more to farm towns and less militant. Astrid arrives in one of these small farming towns called Gromstad. She is convinced Warren is her captor and she must escape, frightened by her lack of memory, she cannot comprehend that her home Birka is long gone and far away. Breaux does an excellent job bringing the reader into Astrid’s mind and seeing her paranoia and fear, her confusion and inner struggles. Even once the secret of her past as a Valkyries is revealed through her sister, she is still faced with even deeper struggles and decisions. Like all great epic tales, this one delivers the deep character development and inner conflict to match the action that is going on outside of the character’s inner struggles. The relationship of Warren and Astrid is hot and cold. There are some graphic sex scenes but their love and passion is a contrast to Astrid’s warrior goddess nature. The world they live in is being sieged upon by demons and Astrid must use her powers as a Valkyrie to save herself, Yrsa and the town. Typical of hero’s in epic tales like this, things are not so easy. Astrid must make sacrifices and choices that will impact the rest of her life, and the lives of the people she cares for. Breaux shows this inner struggle and lets Astrid’s personality take over the story driving it forward. The other characters react to Astrid and further the plot along showing their own personality traits and allowing them to be dynamic characters not just filler for novel. The overall development of plot and characters is well balanced making it appealing to people looking for an adventure as well as a love story.

Astrid is the focus of the novel, but her interactions with the other characters brings forward additional stories for Kevin James Breaux to add to the series. He already has the next book in the works and I am sure it will continue this epic journey and bring more characters to life as he did for Astrid.

Pages: 409 | ASIN: B01MU9F5JX