This book started out very promising and I was enjoying it very much, but I did not appreciate the turn it took about three chapters in and I quickly lost interest. The author is extremely talented and I'm sure this book will do very well, but it was not the sort of content I enjoy reading.

Brodsky's understanding of mythology is unbelievable-and the way she seamlessly combines Norse and Inuit mythology is an award-winning feat in itself. Add her thorough exploration of gender and a slow-burn romance more than worth the wait, and you have a historical epic masterpiece in your hands.

This is a remarkable book. I requested it because I was a fan of the author's Olympus Bound books, but this is a whole new level of writing compared to those. She takes her time setting the scene, a world that's alien but familiar at the same time, and then ties it all together with a fascinating exploration of mythology from two very different cultures. This book was everything I'd hoped it might be when I read the description. I was a fan of the author before, but now I'm definitely going to be checking out whatever she comes out with next.
(Advance copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review)

Jordanna Max Brodsky's The Wolf and the Whale (Redhook 2019) is a saga of life before man was the unequivocal alpha on the planet, when Nature still thought she could defeat us. This is a time when man protected barely survived the coldest weather, when food was a treat to be relished when available, when only the tough had any expectation of surviving. If you weren't tough, you weren't valued.

Omat is that person. She suffers mightily from hunger, bad luck, and deaths of the hunters within her Inuit tribe. Her life has been difficult from an inauspicious beginning when she was left to die in the snow, saved only by the kindness of a great white wolf. Her tribe struggles to survive in the arctic cold of North America, only to be kidnapped, raped, and enslaved by invaders who are later destroyed by the arrival of the Vikings. She is a seer, able to talk to the gods, until they reject her, leaving her wondering at her purpose. Many times, she wants to give up but something within won’t allow it. And so she continues.

From Amazon:

"The Wolf in the Whale is a powerful tale of magic, discovery and adventure, featuring an unforgettable narrator ready to confront the gods themselves."

The characters are strong and well-developed, mostly likable. The setting is so cold, I am there, my hands freezing to hard white knobs, my stomach long past growling from hunger when the caribou can't be found. The plot itself is intricate and well-developed, taking me well-beyond a story of survival or the history of the earliest North Americans.

"...watching the story fly before me like a cast harpoon. I moved to follow it, my"

Where did it lose a point? There were places it dragged, where I wanted to move ahead but we were stuck in backstory and detail. For some, that could work fine.

--to be reviewed on my blog, WordDreams, 2/4/19

This is an original and imaginative novel that follows Omat, a shaman of the Inuk people, from birth to parenthood. Freely speculating on encounters between First Nations peoples and the Norse explorers of North America, Brodsky weaves a powerful story of identity, survival, rivalry, and enduring bonds among ice-sea hunters and the men and women of the Norse expeditions, delving into shamanic powers, the spread of religions, and the desires of the gods. Well-researched and written, The Wolf in the Whale is a powerful and gripping book.