I saw a tweet from Timandra Whitecastle about how she loved Kings of the Wyld but it got her thinking about how there are rarely stories like that about mothers, and how that sort of started the idea of Queens of the Wyrd. I instantly preordered based on one tweet alone (take that social media doesn’t sell books skeptics!). I absolutely loved it, and it very much surpassed my expectations of “ a fun KotW but with women vikings”, going full speed on the feel train. I saw other reviews talking about it being a fun romp, but I connected with it a lot more than that description implies.

The plot of Queens starts with Solvig the Golden, a retired Shieldmaden, coming to ask her old friend, Lovis, for help with rescuing her daughter from a siege at Sivrig. Lovis is the main character, raising her own daughter in a small fishing village, trying to make people forget she is a half giant. A lot of the initial plot points seem a nod to KotW, but the story grows apart pretty soon, and the characters are all its own.

One of my favorite things about this book, my many favorite things, was how multidimensional the characters are. Duality is a recurring theme whether it shows up in Lovis who is both a mother and a woman, a carer and a fighter, a giant and a human, Sol struggling between her former glory and her current role, Eira, always cheerful but capable of a righteous fury, even the gods show more than one of their face. 

Another thing I loved was the setting. I really like Norse Mythology, and Queens is all in for it. We not only meet Valkyrie and gods, but travel through 3 of the 9 realms using the World Tree, battle all sorts of mythical creatures, and see Lovis struggle to come to terms with her half-giant nature, and how she helps Birke relate to hers. 

And then there was how intense it was, both emotionally and battle-y. I thought I was ready to read mom books, 11 years after my mom died, I was not. I got all weepy midway, but I pushed through and I’m really glad, cause I loved the book. Towards the end there is a big final battle, and there’s a part where Lovis is exhausted, and it’s so well written, all the sights and sounds and the confusion of battle. It’s very sensory and immersive, I usually see scenes pretty well in my head, but I felt that one. 

I found the writing both fun and powerful, I have 56 highlights ranging from funny and witty to gut wrenching.The tone and language is more modern that one might expect from the setting, but it worked really well for me. I was surprised to see the raw ways she wrote about motherhood, especially the very hard parts that people so often glaze over. I loved how Lovis and Sol talked about what they had given for their children, and how they still wanted things for themselves, how Lovis kept trying to make herself fit in to be able to raise Birke safely, how Lovis always wanted to protect her daughter, but at one point had to learn to trust her. 

Although it started out looking like a fun little adventure, getting the band back together etc, Queens ended up complex both in scale, and in all the little ways it called out various bullshit, both between the characters, and general perceptions.