I bought a physical copy. The design is absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC.

This lush, captivating story captured my attention immediately and never let me go. I'm still thinking about this! The relationships here are built with sensitivity, honesty, and great affection, which helps move the story forward. Rath is masterful storyteller, and her skills shines here. I was reminded at times of one of my favorite storytellers, Katherine Arden and her Winternight Trilogy, but like that story, North Is the Night is a fresh version of an old tale. Will be recommending this one everywhere.

Stunning story. I read it start to finish in 3 days, with a break at the last 100 pages because I was terrified the ending couldn't follow through on the majesty of the rest of the book. I should not have worried. The author weaved a masterful story of love, betrayal, friendship, and hope that blooms no matter how dark the world becomes. Loved the twists and turns and the dual POV/alternating chapters. These characters are fierce and determined, and they absolutely blew the story right up into one of my favorites. In a world of gods and monsters, it would seem that mere mortals don't stand a chance.
Think again.

I loved this book - the setting and the story managed to keep my attention all the way to the end. The mythology this book is inspired by creates a fantastic world and a very unique magic system. I think it has some editing issues, but the story is good enough for me to overlook them. It delivers on the action and on the romance too. I totally recommend.

This was a fresh, inventive romantasy—I loved the relationship between sisters fueling the plot, and the journey into mythology and the underworld was lush, intricate, and well-paced. I had a blast!

This book ended up being quite different than I expected. I thought it was a sapphic romance through and through, but it's more like a high fantasy with a splash of a romance toward the end of the book.
This was a middle of the road read for me. It took me a pretty long time to read it. I think I was expecting more of a folklore-feel (I'm not sure if that makes sense). I did like the setting of Finland, but parts of the story fell flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley and and Kensington for the chance to read and review this book.

There was a lot that I liked about this book, and a few things that really frustrated me. I love the setting and the Finnish mythology, which is woefully underappreciated compared to that of its Nordic and Slavic neighbors. I loved Siiri's journey, and I loved Aina's some of the time but not others. Her motivations seemed to wobble every chapter or so -- as soon as she committed herself to a course of action, she would immediately change her mind again. This is particularly irksome since she's surrounded by so many wonderful characters like Tuoni and Loviatar. By the end of the book, I was more frustrated with her chapters than excited for them.

I enjoyed this book but definitely think it took a bit more patience since it was a bit slow. I do like the spin of this being a Finnish folklore inspired fantasy! I am curious how her other books are since they are different genre than this one.

I absolutely loved Emily Rath's Jackon Rays series. The depth of the characters, the genuine connections you could feel between them, and the whole universe was just so easy to get lost in. So I went into North is the Night with high hopes. Sadly, for me, it fell short of my expectations. Multiple times I found myself questioning the main characters as they seemed to switch mindsets very quickly or their actions didn't seem to match their thoughts/feelings or previous choices. I couldn't feel the connection between the two female main characters, however I love the relationships that they each make separately after they're separated. I will keep reading the series as it comes out, because I know Emily is a fantastic writer and I did enjoy the FInnish mythology and all of the interesting creatures.

I inhaled the first 40% of this book and had a phenomenal time! But then it kept going. This book had no business being nearly 600 pages. Character alliances shifted constantly in a way that was clumsy instead of clever. Aina and Siiri both got information in the same boring way. Bombard another character with questions, receive a new piece of information, and then the perspective would switch. The other girl would get that same piece of information the reader just got, it would be treated as a revelation for a second time, and it would be slightly expanded on, only for the same thing to happen again in the next chapter. Aina's perspective suffered from having the same arguments over and over. The middle of this book dragged immensely. I also feel like, for an allegedly feminist book, everything happened because of a man, whether it be death god or shaman. Finally, I loathed the prophecy angle at the end of the book. It was so lame and one of my least favorite tropes. Overall, a book that started incredibly strong tripped over itself and limped to the finish line.

This was a dual POV take on a Finnish fairy tale about two women who leave home with degrees of unwillingness, both to save the other.

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DNF @21%. I don't normally pick books like this up but it looked so pretty--- however, I should have gone with my instincts. This is not the type of title I enjoy reading as it is very heavy handed and in-your-face about the criticisms it is trying to lay and I was very bored. Christianity invading, bad. Religious zealots, bad. Sexist men, bad. Trusting the gods, bad. Colonizers, bad. I felt like there was basically no world building or magic system to actually support this as a fantasy story, instead relying on the folklore and culture of the Finnish people (and apparently doing so quite badly since I continued to hear people criticize the audiobook's pronunciation). I don't know anything about Rath as a person but I feel like this wasn't really the kind of slam dunk deep criticism that she wanted it to be. It's surface level morality and very black and white and I'm disappointed.

I needed Siiri and Aina to stop telling me over and over how important the other woman was to them. It got so tedious, which is a good word to describe a lot of this book. The concept is super cool, but I found the execution to be lacking. There was simultaneously too much (everything in Tuonela with Aina) and too little (everything with Siiri) going on and it made the book drag. I also have some concerns with the only representation of the Sami being an obstacle to the main character, it felt tasteless at best. Overall, it was fine.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

North Is The Night is the first book in a Nordic folklore inspired duology by Emily Rath (The Tuonela Duet). An evil demon comes to take Siiri to the land of the dead, but her best friend Aina, sacrifices herself instead. Siiri, embark on a journey to find a shaman of legend - who visited and returned from the underworld to help her travel to and from Tuonela herself to rescue Aina. North Is The Night has many different threads going on - Siiri's quest, the threat to the Finns of the land-grabbing Swedes and their new god, and a crumbling underworld that's descending into chaos told from the POVs of the two girls.

While the book feels Sapphic-coded between the two friends, but ultimately their relationship is *platonic*. I struggled a bit with this book and how many of the women are treated in it.

This book was too good.. I didn't know what to expect but Emily Rath is a master of her craft, this romantasy was beautiful .

This is not the typical book I usually reach for, however I'm glad I gave it a chance! North Is The Night is a finnish folklore inspired fantasy. I listened to the audio and was thoroughly entertained. Both narrators did a great job bringing this story to life.

The plot was interesting and unlike anything I've ever read before and I honestly wasn't sure where the story was going to go for much of the book. Given that it is a duet, I'm very much looking forward to the second half to truly get the full extent of Siiri and Aina.. and to see where they go from here.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC! I loved this book - a great reimagining of Finnish culture and lore. Very atmospheric and a great winter vibe!

Thank you so much to Kensington for the arc.

I was a little daunted by this book. Between the size and the new to me Finnish lore. This did not come across to me as a sapphic story. Only one character seemed to be “in love” where the other just loved. There were a lot of complicated parts, people, and storylines to keep track of and I really liked learning more about Finnish lore.

This was a 4.5-star rating that I am rounding up to a solid 5. The world building and Finnish lore were incredible and woven in so well that I didn't even need to refer to the beginning of the book. Everything was vivid and so well written that I felt like I was there alongside the characters. I wish we got to see more interactions between our two MFCs, especially towards the end but I am looking forward to more of them in book 2!

I would say this is a sapphic story but there is MF content in this book and the focus of the story is more high fantasy than romantasy.