Winter’s Maiden by Morgan L. Busse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Winter’s Maiden is the first installment in the Nordic Wars, a Norse-inspired fantasy brimming with compelling characters, intense action, and fascinating worldbuilding. Fans of John Gwynne, rejoice! This novel scratches the same itch as Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen in terms of mythos, and his Bloodsworn Saga in terms of setting and characters. I was swept away by this epic tale from start to finish, and I immediately dove into the second installment, Winter’s Chill, as soon as I read the final page.

In the frozen North, war is imminent. Resources are scarce and skirmishes are already breaking out along the border. The Hrals of the five Clans—Bear, Stag, Owl, Eagle, and Wolf—see no choice but to take the fight to the south lands, pushing back against the invaders and claiming new ground and new resources to feed their starving people. In order to strengthen their odds, the Clans promise reward and potential clanship to any of the clanless masses who join the war effort and survive. Among those volunteers is Brighid, the young clanless woman who serves as our main character.

“Do not waste your life wishing to be who you are not. Instead, let us continue to find out what kind of hands you were given. There is a reason for every birth. We will discover yours.”

Brighid was orphaned at birth and adopted by the old midwife who delivered her. She feels death all around her, making her a poor midwife’s apprentice as she comes of age. That awareness of death blossoms into fear with age, and Brighid will do anything to keep herself from its grasp. Including fight any and all who threaten to take her life from her. She discovers that she is a brilliant fighter, one who quickly becomes an infamous warrior viewed as death personified by those who witness her in battle.

“If only death was corporeal, then she could fight it. She would throw everything at it and stop it. But it was invisible and moved like the wind, coming one moment, leaving the next.”

I found the Clans and their affinities intriguing, and am really hoping to delve more into the lore behind them in future installments. Of the five, the Bear Clan is of the greatest importance to Brighid and the future of the series. It was through the clan structure that the largest theme in the novel came into play: identity. How important is family or clan to identity, and how can you find your purpose apart from it?

“Healing comes with pain…Open your heart a little today. Then a little more tomorrow. Open your heart to the Word and to humanity. It won’t come all in one day. But if you keep at this, you will change. You will heal. And when you need to take a step back, rest. Your healing is a journey from this point on. But you’re not alone.”

I was even more fascinated by the Eldaran—nonhuman entities imbued with powerful gifts by the Word, the portrayal of God in this world—who come into play later in the novel. The presentation of the Word is beautiful, and makes me eager to go back and read the trilogy (Follower of the Word) that came before this story. Their gifts, and the way those gifts are meant to be used to aid mankind while also costing the welder of said gifts pain, were entrancing. It was through the Eldaran that the faith element was most clearly present. Kaeden, our main secondary character, is an Eldaran, one who was cut off from his power after the murder of his healer parents. Grief and trauma can make you feel wholly disconnected from your identity and your relationship with God—or the Word. As with all such power, there is a dark twisting of the Eldaran, known as the Shadonae. They have abandoned the Word, but have found a way to keep and twist His giftings into powers for their own good and gain. But even still, they come with a cost.

“They possessed gifts beyond the human race. Attributes of the Word himself. His truth, His words, His strength, His healing. They were His representatives. If they forgot why they were here, it would be easy to claim that power for themselves. Perhaps that was why Mathias was always insistent about their mission to serve humankind. Because if they forgot, they could become monsters.”

Winter’s Maiden is a tense, fast-paced, action-packed story supported by a stark, frozen world, fantastic worldbuilding, and a sweeping narrative populated with a compelling cast. I was enraptured from the first page to the last. I can’t wait to see where the story takes Brighid and Kaeden from here. On to Winter’s Chill!

You can purchase a copy of this book directly from the publisher, Enclave, or from Amazon, Audible, Blackwell’s, Bookshop.org, or Libro.fm.

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