Cover Image: Ragnarok Unwound

Ragnarok Unwound

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Member Reviews

I simply love the Norse mythology and all the interpretations of it that our culture brings forth. This one is another unique one. With great humor, sass and wonderfully flawed characters, Kristin Jacques tells the story of an unusual heroine: a fate cipher, whose job it is to unravel people from the unjust threads of fate laid onto them. But then she is asked to unravel the biggest fate of them all, Ragnarok itself, and needs a ragtag team of friends to help her tackle this task.

The characters really shine in this modernized fairytale. From the very beginning, the voices are fresh and funny. Despite their various powers and godly pedigree, the characters are very human, down to earth and therefore relatable. This book tells its story with the usually overlooked heroes, instead of the same old Thor and Odin. Nevertheless, it is everything but boring. From the sass to the magic to the story telling and colorful world building to the truly epic action scenes, to the many unusual budding romances and friendships, his is a great book. I loved the message of the dangers of messing with fate and the interesting concept of the physicality of the threads of fate literally binding people to be unable to speak or act in ways that go against their fate. The only tiny problem I had with this novel was the ending, which was a little too much of a set-up for the sequel and takes to story out of the Norse realm of myths. And I don't know if that works out as well as this book did, but I am willing to give it a try.

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This is a mythological story that follows our main character Ikepela Ives, who has the ability to change fate, as she tries to discover who has changed the Fate regarding Ragnarok and how she can put it to rights.

I really enjoyed this story; I don’t recall ever reading a book that uses mythology as a tool for writing a fictional story rather than just re-telling the actual myths themselves (and if I have, they clearly didn’t resonate with me), so I am very glad that I had the opportunity to read this book.

I have read a fair few books on various mythologies, so I did go into this knowing the basic premise of Ragnarok, however I did find the first few chapters a little confusing with all the different characters being introduced and trying to remember who was who. But when it finally clicked I really got into the story and I loved every moment of it!

I found it really interesting how the author, Kristin Jacques, wrote some of the relationships between the characters and I am hoping that we will get to see more of these develop in any future books which I will certainly be reading. I also sense that there could be future spin offs with certain characters, there is so much possibility in the world that Kristin has created here.

This book is due out on January 8th 2019 and I am very excited to see it in all its finished glory! I will definitely recommend this to all of my friends!

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This work is an exciting and surprising amalgamation of Norse and some Hawaiian mythology. Jacques uses a simple main character that anyone can relate to as the center of real apocalypse avoiding story. She does not utilize the tired understanding of Norse mythology to advance her story but instead introduces a story around and through the typical story.

Jacques leaves us with a story that can easily continue and expand to other mythologies and people. I look forward to what I hope is a series of mixed mythology fiction.

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I recently joined NetGalley, where you can receive books for free if you review them, which sounds like heaven to me! This is the first book that I've received, I read it pretty quickly, and so here is my review!

On the day of her 18th birthday, Ikepela Ives gained the power to unwind the fates of gods, goddesses, and other demi beings, and lost the woman who could have taught her how to use the power, her mother. It's been three years since then, and she has only used her powers once since then, and resisted every other attempt to get her to use them.

But now, Ragnarok has begun, and Ives is called on to help stop it. And so begins a mission to save the world, with Ives gaining allies as she goes.

This was an enjoyable fantasy story, with good pacing throughout the book, a good plot, with twists and turns, and Norse mythology liberally sprinkled throughout, and I do enjoy mythology!

I've given this book 4 out of 5 stars for it's readability, and how it draws you in (I read this in a day).

Ragnarok Unwound is due to be published on 8th January 2019, and I would really recommend you have a read!

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I loved this book! It pulled me in from the beginning and wouldn't let me go!
Ives meets her destiny in a bar, and no it's not a romance. As the Fate Cipher, Ives has tried to brush off her power and ignore it; she doesn't need or want the responsibility. But when Ragnorak becomes imminent, she has no chose. Accepting her blood given gift, Ives see the whole world in a different way and makes friends she would never have imagined.
The book has dashes of Christopher Moore and a sprinkle of Rick Riodiran while being completely unique, fun, and enchanting. Kristin Jacques gives a spin on the traditional Norse lore while weaving in other religions and pantheons that all work together.
I love the characters and I love the twist on the story. I look forward to the next book and finding out what happens to these characters!

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Absolutely love this book. Immortal beings, mortal heroine, and ingenious world building had me committed to one very long read through.

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I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book. It started off a little slow but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down

It does have some issues, Ives is just a little too OP and seems to be rescued in just the nick of time and the dialogue was a bit clunky in some parts.

Ives has had a bad breakup and just wants to be left alone when a Valkyrie accosts her in a bar and demands that she help stop Ragnarok.

I really enjoyed the meshing of Hawaiian and Norse culture.

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This is a good little read! The story is fast-paced and action packed. Suitable for the YA it is pitched at. Although the writing feels a little unsteady in the opening chapters, this soon leads into a gripping tale about making difficult choices and ultimately doing what is right. This being said the story doesn't feel overly moralistic as there are plenty of characters and action. The story is set within the confines of Norse mythology, but brought up-to-date (although at times I found the use of language clunky - I suspect a younger audience wouldn't). Filled with strong female leads, I wouldn't hesitate recommending this to a 12year old girl.

I was very pleased with the incorporation of the character of a Brownie. Although this book use of language and somewhat adult themes towards the end of the book make it not be suitable for any GirlGuiding Brownies. This is a real shame, as the character of the Brownie, is very apt and would be a great role model.

I have marked this book down a star, as I was disappointed in the choices Kristin Jacques made in the last chapter as for me these undermined the strong heroine character that the author had spent a whole book building.

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Prophesies have a tendency to make life difficult for those involved in them, but in Ragnarok Unwound by Kristin Jacques, having the job of untangling those prophesies is even more daunting. 

Fate Cipher Ikepela Ives has shied away from using her abilities to unwind people's fates, mostly because she hasn't gotten any training in doing so. Her mother, an immortal who also carried this skill, has been gone for most of Ives's life, leaving the frustrated Ives to figure out the place for these immortal skills in her mortal life. When a Valkyrie suddenly shows up in Ives' life, she becomes entangled in the mess of trying to prevent the fated Ragnarok from coming to pass. In the company of her long-time fae companion, the Valkyrie, and three of Loki's children, which includes the goddess of death Hel, Ives undertakes the massive feat of trying to save the world from a brutal demise.

The story incorporates Norse mythology well and works toward developing a complex world where various gods, goddesses, and myths coexist. Rapid-fire events kept the pace moving swiftly, although so much happened in a brief amount of time it was difficult to maintain a reasonable level of suspension of disbelief. While the story and characters have incredible potential, particularly as it was a quick and entertaining read using a topic that many people have a cursory understanding of, there were some flaws to the narrative that pulled me out of the story. For example, the ARC I read from still needed some editing for grammatical issues strewn throughout the text, such as missing punctuation and missing prepositions; plus I found it strange to have both American and British English phrases used somewhat interchangeably throughout the narrative, especially as it wasn't always ascribed to a particular character.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

*Cover art is not yet available

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I requested this one after reading the synopsis and thinking that it was definitely up my alley. Monsters, Norse mythology, and a prophesied power have all been great loves in my reading life.

First, the good. I like what I could tell about the characters. They seem like they could be a good cast that flows well together and make sense. Also, the overall concept has a lot of potential to be a fun ride of a read. There are segments that are reminiscent of Kim Harrison (The Hollows series), Janet Evanovich, and Jennifer L. Armentrout. All are authors that I enjoy for the fact that they are quite simply fun with paranormal twists.

Now I am going to split my review into two parts because there was a disconnect with the first part of the book and the second:

1st 33% of the ebook:

Unfortunately, I really did not like this part. As this is an ARC I expected it not to be perfect but the formatting on my Kindle was so bad that I could not follow who was speaking or when and I have numerous sections highlighted simply because there was an error in the grammar or the wrong punctuation was used. This just about broke my proofreading heart.

On top of this the execution of the story felt very much like a first draft and I repeatedly was reminded of Stephen King's On Writing where he lectures about avoiding an overuse of adjectives and to say things simply. The use of synonyms and flowery prose was distracting and made the story line difficult to follow.

Aside from this there is a complete lack of focus in the narrative. It is almost like you are trying to have a conversation with someone that is constantly distracted and goes off on an incoherent tangent. The placement of random details that could easily be edited out of the final cut make the story nearly incomprehensible. Along with this there were moments where I feel like there was information left out that would have been crucial in world building.

Do I believe this story has potential? Absolutely. Would I recommend it in its current state? No.

Remaining two thirds:

At this point the story really began to come back into a more coherent flow and the writing felt like it had been more thoroughly edited. There is a good amount of energy as the tale moves along and some humor.

My favorite character had to be Hel with her quirky personality and fashion sense including unicorns and My Little Pony. However, characters sometimes felt as if they were sharing a single personality whenever they had dialogue and did not give enough of a unique feeling that I always knew who was speaking.

Overall the book ended up being enjoyable enough and it took less than 24 hours to read. With some more editing for the minor mistakes that were driving me crazy while I was reading as well as the occasional jumping of the story line that left massive holes in understanding it could be a good book.

I would mostly recommend this for someone looking for a lighter read, fans of Loki, and mostly readers that already have a firm grasp of the basics of Norse mythology.

Link to blog:https://obsessivereadingreviews.blogspot.com/2018/09/ragnarok-unwound-by-kristin-jacques.html

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Pretty good! A typical YA paranormal / supernatural fare with focus on the Norse mythologies.

It suffers some of the typical flaws of the genre, ie, an overpowered (minimally flawed) protagonist, who is not nearly as scared as she ought to be.
I often find that nonchalance amusing in these novels - it is never explicitly stated the the novel is set in the supernatural world. We have to assume it is set in the mundane; and yet the protagonist often shrugs off the mind blowing information of gods and deities and magic, something that is so unbelievable. Its a tried and true cliche of the genre, but it never fails to amuse me. Ives was told on her eighteenth birthday about her magical heritage, we assume she was brought into the supernatural world then, having lived all her life as mundane. So two years later (we are told she 'avoided her responsibilities'), she is remarkedly unawed by a literal immortal Valkyrie just dropping into the bar to see her. It's one of those things that you just have to suspend your disbelief for, and, to be fair to the author, she manages to make it relatively easy to do that.
However, it's always a niggle at the back of my mind the lack of these protags just freaking heck out!

I did enjoy the fact that the author blends two very different mythologies. Whilst Norse mythology is pretty rife in popular fiction, Hawaiian is not. So it was nice to have an indigenous protagonist, and some cultural exploration of Hawaiian myth. It was an unusual blend that I enjoyed.

I'd recommend this book easily for a quick pleasant read. It's very much of its genre, but is not badly written and I would expect the author to only get better as they progress. I'll even keep an eye out for future releases.

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Great book about a derivation of Viking mythology. Ives, is the Fate Cipher, but is born mortal. She uses her limited power to try and stop Ragnarok. It's a well written book, thoughtfully laid out. It is fast paced and a very enjoyable read! Can't wait for sequel!

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