This wasn't quite what I was expecting. I liked Sigrid. I actually liked most of the characters. The story was a bit slow at times. I was expecting a cliffhanger ending since Goodreads has this as a series but while there are a few loose ends, it could easily be a standalone. I wasn't super thrilled by the ending but I do understand it. I thought there would be a bit more on the valkyries, but Sigrid was mostly separated from them. (but this might be different in the next one).

The Helheim Princess is an adventurous and fun young-adult fantasy romance title. The chapters were quick to get through and I did like aspects of the romance between our leads. It was full of yearning, initial judgments, and some enemies to lovers excellence, I always love some more wlw. I think the concept is enticing, there are attempts at giving the characters flaws, but sometimes it read a bit juvenile. More so than young adult fiction.

It excelled with the bond between the horses and the women in this book.

I was not hugely into some of the tropes, like a lot of the girl-on-girl disliking sentiments. The conflicts and plot points felt simplistic, the writing wasn't bad but it wasn't amazing either. I just wish parts of it held a bit more depth. The plot was predictable, I wish some of the characters were more dynamic like the mother and Fisk and everyone but our leads to be honest.

Overall, I enjoyed it fine, I don't think it is a title that will particularly stick with me but I think there is a definite audience this book will appeal to.

I was saving The Helheim Princess to be one of my last five reads of the year simply because of the stunning cover. Behind the cover is exactly what I was expecting, a sensational YA adventure wrapped in Norse mythology and then some. Warner bent the myths beautifully to support her narrative of two young outcasts, one trying to redeem herself and the other following her destiny. The epic adventure story is told in a scintillating fashion sure to hold you spell bound.
The Helheim Princess offers readers who are questioning their identity a positive place to explore and visualize their future. This is a queer utopia for burgeoning LGBTQ young readers. 
Sigrid is a lowly stable hand who always wanted to be a Valkyrie riding her winged horse to protect her kingdom. Mariam is an enemy valkyrie tasked to stealing a Seer’s stone and bringing Sigrid to Helheim.
The Helheim Princess is everything I would want if I was a YA reader and as an adult reader it is pure entertainment.

I received a free advance review copy from Entangled Publishing and NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher. This was a wonderful book of a young girl finding out who she is and learning what she is capable of doing. I can’t wait to read the next book and find out what new adventures Sigrid and Hestur goes on.

I absolutely loved this underdog story that is set in Norse mythology. Sigrid longs to be a Valkyrie but as she lacks a winged horse it's never going to happen . However when she gets involved in trying to stop the theft of a mystical object she has a vision that shows her anything is possible !
I'm not going to be long winded but will say this story of a young girl finding her place in the world was fun to read and had action, emotion and of course delightful horses. I was a tad nonplussed that the Valkyries don't seem to kill their enemies and only wound but its aimed at teenagers so perhaps that explains it. A good story and just the beginning of Sigrids adventures.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

Thank you Net Galley for giving me a free ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This book had me pulled in from the beginning due to Sigrid's ambitious personality. In that she wants more than anything to be able to help the nine worlds. She will do anything to prove herself to the valkyries. One day all that changes when she sees a vision from the eye that will alter all nine worlds. This story was easy for me to follow and enjoyable as well. I found Sigrid and Mariam to be very relatable and likable characters. However I had a hard time liking or relating to any of the other characters besides the horses. This book told a great story it just fell a little flat when it came to some of the more minor charector building also some of the action scenes seemed a little slow for me.

Rating 3.5

I really fell in love with this book. Within a few chapters I could tell it was going to be amazing. The story begins with Sigrid who wants to be a Valkyrie but has not been bonded with a winged horse. She is taunted and belittled by the Valkyries but it doesn’t stop her training and trying relentlessly to prove herself. Sigrid is strong, determined and the whole story gave me warrior, bad ass vibes. I love the Norse, warrior, sapphic narrative and it’s done really well.

There is an attack where we meet Mariam and the story becomes really interesting quickly with lots of action, heartbreak and an epic adventure of Sigrid finding herself.

Really recommend it and looking forward to reading more from this author. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up.
This was a good book! It is very slow to start though and the first third in particular feels a little on the wordier side. I understand there is a lot of set up to do, I just feel it could be tightened up a bit. That being said the last third or so is so enjoyable.
We have Sigrid, the want to be Valkyrie who doesn't understand her place in the world. She's an orphan with no clue where she comes from. She wants to be more than a stable hand, to be able to be someone special and believes her destiny is to do just that. She's a fierce character who loves her horse Hester, and is great with horses in general. The author obviously has a lot of knowledge about horses and I loved it.

<i>"She wanted the reverence that came with being a guardian, a protector, a valued member of the best warriors in the cosmos. Most of all, in her heart, being a valkyrie was her destiny, and without parents to confirm or deny this, it pained her to think she was missing out on her cosmic purpose."</i>

Sigrid goes through a ton of growth throughout this book. She starts truly feeling like she deserves more and that her cosmic destiny is more important. But she becomes this tough, yet tender leader who is able to listen to others, admit her mistakes and lead when needed. I enjoyed her journey. The love story felt forced to start with but grew into something sweet. I appreciated lesbian pairing and thought that was done well. I agree with the author, I too wish that all relationships were more accepted in our world and that one didn't have to worry about what others would think, only what they feel for a person.

<i>"Don't be so hasty about reaching your destiny that you forget the most important part of life discovering who you are by living moment to moment."</i>

I liked the Norse world created here, I thought it was pretty well thought out. I never realized how little concrete information was around about Norse religion and liked how the author explained that in her note at the end of the book.
I look forward to reading the second book when it is out. It looks like the story will be moving in an interesting direction.

Thank you to Entangled Teen for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

<I>The Helheim Princess</i> is a sapphic, Norse mythology adventure. I am a huge sucker for any book with mythology – and that also has horses and is sapphic. This meant that I was so excited to read it! I was really pleased when I finally got the chance to dig into this book. This is an enemies to lovers book FYI! I enjoyed the book overall!

First off, I generally enjoyed the writing style. However, at some points I felt that it leaned a bit juvenile. I also felt that some of the dialogue felt a bit stilted but overall, I think the writing was good, and lent itself well to the book. This is because the book itself is fast paced. There is adventure abound in the book, and so the story keeps its flow.

There were a few slower paced parts (like the very beginning of the book, but that was more setup).

The world building in this book was excellent. I like Norse mythology, but I will admit that I don’t know all that much about it. I was fascinated with the fact that the Valkyries took the lead in this book and were strong and fierce warriors. This book also involves a prophecy and a bit of a “chosen one” type of book, but I think it works well with the context of the book!

The plot of the book was good – mostly based on adventure and finding out where Sigrid comes from is a subplot as well. Everything was interwoven together to make the book work.

Sigrid and Mariam were good characters, and I liked their relationship with each other. It felt well done overall, and they were just cute. Hestur the horse is one of my favorite characters as well. This book also deals with friendship and family relationships – so I liked that aspect of the book as well.

Overall, I think this is a book that is going to find an audience of wide appeal!

The Helheim Princess by Tina Warner
“A measure of wisdom each person shall have, but sharing it must be restrained. For the wise person’s heart is seldom content, if wisdom too great he has gained”
~~~
This is my first time reading something from Tina Warner and I couldn’t put it down. Warners writing is great for when you’re flying; got it done in my whole stretch of delays and air time! Absolutely loved the descriptions of the characters, layout, and the plot was easy to follow.
Loved, loved, can’t express this enough how I loved the representation of LGBTQ+ in the book with the main character!!
Seriously if you love Norse mythology, twisted with LGBTQ+ representing. Pick up this book when it hits shelves on January 4,2022; Warner’s book was magical.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen Publishing for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Content warnings: girl-on-girl hate, animal death

Rep: sapphic relationship, animal horse companion(s)

Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:
I did appreciate the fact that the chapters were short. I am a big fan of short chapters overall, so it was nice to have them. Sometimes they were a little TOO short as it would a scene short when it should have been longer. But it did overall help with the suspense of the book

I overall just felt very MEH about this book. I think that this is a good book for anyone teen or person who liked YA Fantasy, and norse mythology & wants to follow a girl try make something of herself in a world when she has been constantly been looked down upon when she has the potential for greatness.

Pros:
The writing is super simple & easy to get thru.

I really loved the norse mythology that was integrated into the story & learning about all of the different creatures.

The animal companions in this book? WERE. SO. CUTE. I was never a horse girl, but I can still appreciate reading about a girl and the bond she has with a horse/horses

I really liked the characterization of Sigrid. She was naive, being that she’s only 16 when the story starts, but she really grows as the story went on. She’s stubborn, passionate, and trying to make her mark and prove her worth to those around her & while it is VERY messy, she still tries her best.

Gripes:
(Because I am a 24 year old adult, I just thought that these characters were very underwhelming & I just couldn’t really relate to them as much as I could have if I was 15/16/17 reading this for the first time)

Cute idea and premise. Loved the take on Vikings being a tad bit mean girls with a redemption arc. Definitely explored Norse in a good way. Giving it 4/5 star since it felt rushed in some places and slow in others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange of a sincere review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

At first glance, the plot of The Helheim Princess won’t seem much different than a lot of YA fantasies out there. It follows an outcast, somehow different from all her peers, trying to find her place in a world that shuns her for being who she is.

But it takes a closer look to spot the uniqueness in this story. One thing I really liked was how realistically our main character, Sigrid, reacted to her environment. At times she doubted herself and her abilities because the other valkyries looked down on her, at others she was determined not to let the taunts sway her resolve and set out to prove that she was just as good as any valkyrie if not better.

Perhaps, being somewhat of a mythology nerd, I’m slightly biased, but the best thing about this book was how the author drew from the elements of Norse mythology. There was enough about it to make the reader comfortable, but not enough for the world building to be called an info dump. I can only imagine how hard this delicate balance is to achieve; I’ve seen books go wrong both ways of this scale.
I can assure you that I went in with nearly zero prior knowledge about Norse mythology, and emerged as someone who could save face if ever asked the basics.

Other exciting things about this book were fierce female characters, sapphic slow-burn, and of course our beloved quest-to-retrieve-a-stolen-relic trope! The animal lover in me deeply appreciated the bond between Sigrid and Hestur (her horse), the way their love for each other never faltered through the ups and downs of their journey.

I do have some misgivings though. The pacing felt slightly off, too slow in the beginning and then quite rushed in the second half. Then there was the ending. It all felt too easy somehow, and maybe that has something to do with the sequel, yet it felt that there was this rush to wrap it all up.
The twists and reveals were sort of predictable and I was not a fan of a particular toxic parent child relationship.

Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read. I’d recommend The Helheim Princess to anyone looking for a mythology-driven epic fantasy with a dash of adventure!

I absolutely love a good Norse book. Give me mythology mixed with bad a** fighters and I will be happy.
This book is amazing. We get a look at the Valkyries and what a society adjacent to Valhalla might look. The main character is definitely not straight but it is never really said which way she leans. There are also a ton of queer characters thrown in. Basically in this society you can be whomever you want and no one cares.
Overall it's a great adventure and I love the bond between Sigrid and her horse!

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Teen for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Enemies to lovers.
Valkyries.
Sapphic romance.
Animal companions.

All of these fantastical ingredients should have made for a great story but fall just slightly flat. I did like the book overall and thought the romance between Sigrid and Mariam was done very well. With this being published by Entangled, you really can't go too wrong in the romance department. I like the animal companions, the Valkyrie aspect and friendships. What fell slightly flat was the pacing. The beginning is very slow and I did have a hard time getting through it but after the hump, I was able to read right through and enjoy this creative story.

4 stars

An excellent sapphic Norse inspired fantasy that is well-written with interesting content. The mythology is great and the book itself is intriguing.

4.5
(Excited chanting and pounding fists on tables) LESBIANS! LESBIANS! LESBIANS!

I didn't realize just how badly I was wanting some LGBTQ+ in fantasy books until I read this. It was natural and perfect, which I adore and appreciate.
YA enough to where there's no graphic sex scenes or anything, so great for all ages.
I loved this book and the world that it was written in. The author did a wonderful job at creating a vivid, pleasant, and exciting world that was wonderful to lose myself in.
Sigrid was written in the fail proof troupe of underdog becoming badass, and I love it the same every time. She was also an extremely likeable and brave character (strong, badass women characters is also something I never tire of). The secondary characters were awesome and seeing them become a chosen family was heart warming.
Even in my mid-20s, this was a very enjoyable read. It was a fast paced, non difficult read. I wish I could have read back in highschool, but I believe that any age group would love this
At times, it was somewhat predictable, but there were still moments that had me at the edge of my seat.

Overall very enjoyable read that I would recommend! Can't wait to read the rest of the series one day!

I am speechless. The Helheim Princess is a phenomenal book! Sigrid is such an easy character to love, she stands out so strongly from everyone else, and through this book is her journey of realizing that it's okay that she isn't like everyone else. It's a wild rollercoaster ride, filled with adventure after adventure. One of the best books I've read this year!

*3.5 stars rounded up

Overall, I really liked this book. Sigrid was likable, as were her friends, and the story was overall interesting. There wasn’t a lot of depth to a lot of it, but I really enjoyed seeing how the characters moved forward. The relationship between Mariam and Sigrid was really well-developed.
If I had to critique one thing, it would be that the book doesn’t really elaborate on mythology. Sigrid herself doesn’t really know much about what goes on in the Nine Realms, which is fine, but I don’t love reading books inspired by mythology where the lead doesn’t even learn much about what’s happening besides what’s relevant to her. Also, Sigrid isn’t a valkyrie but she is equally obsessed with horses, so she’s just a horse girl (not a bad thing just funny).
I’d probably recommend this to people who like subtle mythology. It’s all there, just not with the intensity of other mythology-inspired books. This was definitely a really readable book and a positive experience, it just didn’t feel very special.

Thank you Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

When I saw this book is about Valkyries and winged horses I thought count me in!
The writer has knowledge of horses which is very refreshing and nice to read about! Sigrid, the main character wishes to become a valkyrie, however her horse doesn’t have wings so the valkyries make sure she knows her place, which isn’t with them. Sigrid however decides not to let this stop her and make her own destiny by making sure she will become a valkyrie with her horse.

This book has Norse mythology, enemies to lovers and action. The beginning is slow, like really slow but further on the action takes place and takes the reader to another level in this story.