Review: Between The Blade and The Heart

Between The Blade and The Heart
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Valkyries have one great responsibility: to return immortals to the afterlife by slaying them. As a Valkyrie, Malin has always known that the balance of the world rests on her ability to carry out orders. But when Malin discovers that her mother spared the life of an immortal who was destined to die, her world is thrown into chaos. 

Malin not only wrestles with the knowledge that her mother might not be who she thought—she’s also thrust into the path of a gorgeous blue eyed guy named Asher who needs her help slaying the rogue immortal who destroyed his family. The balance of the world is at stake. And, as Asher competes with Malin’s ex for her love and loyalty, so is her heart. 

You guys know me, you know how much I freaking love mythology of all kinds, so naturally I jumped all over this because yaaaay Norse Mythology! This book was kind of a mixed bag for me so I'm going to cover the good and the bad in my review! 

First off, while the book was slow to start, the mystery started to build up nicely with some sprinkles of action. Like there where intriguing plot twists throughout, and the ending was super action packed! I loved the setting it was dark and gritty and kinda reminded me of the aesthetic for Gotham or Arrow with a futuristic twist to it all regarding the technology and so on. 

The characters are an interesting group and they have fun personalities and interactions with each other. Malin, our MC, was a badass and she's been dealt kind of a crappy hand with her mother and what her mother did and the mess she has to clean up and so on. I can't say anything about the accuracy and how good it was etc, but Malin is Bi so it was nice to see some LGBTQ rep in this book, plus Malin has a modern attitude to relationships, you could say. I actually really liked Asher  but I also liked Quinn too and I wanted to shake Malin when it came to Quinn. 

Now, my issue with the romance is that from the back of the book I assumed it was going to be all Malin and Asher and I'm fairly sure it still is judging by the end of the book. My issue is that when it comes to Quinn, I feel like Malin being Bi and Quinn being there was largely thrown in just to get points for having LGBTQ rep. Because I'm not sure if there's actually going to be a love triangle or if Malin's all about Asher now. If there is a love triangle them I'm so here for that, if it's done well, but if there's not it just seems like something thrown in. The other thing that bugged me was that I didn't really see how the romance developed. Malin broke up with Quinn for a ridiculous reason and yet still pined for her, and then she suddenly decided she liked Asher, it all seemed a bit superficial. Not to mention how the world was going to hell in a hand basket and Malin couldn't control her damn hormones for five minutes. 

Now, I was expecting Norse Mythology but there was actually a lot of different representation with cultures and mythology from multiple different places which was totally cool...but at the same time felt like a bit too much and I think that was one of the things that slowed the book down. Along with the excess of detail for things that didn't actually need to have that much detail. For example, I was so confused about the world of the book because I couldn't mentally picture the world or where Malin was in it. Malin talking about her assignments which where you know...everywhere all over the world, as if each location was just a stroll down the road. Which makes no sense. 

I have to say, some things seemed a bit too convenient too. However, the ending did leave me wanting more as things had picked up by then, and finally gotten interesting!