Review of Black Ice by Susan Krinard

Title/Author: Black Ice (Midgard #2) by Susan Krinard
Publisher/Date published: Tor Books, August 12th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Centuries ago, all was lost in the Last Battle when the Norse gods and goddesses went to war. The elves, the giants, and the gods and goddesses themselves were all destroyed, leaving the Valkyrie known as Mist one of the only survivors.

Or so she thought.

The trickster god Loki has reappeared in San Francisco, and he has big plans for modern-day Earth. With few allies and fewer resources — but the eyes of the gods and goddesses of an old world upon her — it’s up to Mist to stop him before history repeats itself.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES***

So I love mythology and I enjoyed Mist, the first book in the series. So I had my heart set on more Norse mythology goodness!

And while I did get some of that, I felt like Black Ice suffered from second book syndrome. It just feels like it's a build-up to major events happening in book 3 and while there are several battles taking place, it never really felt like the stakes were high. I didn't feel like either of the main characters was actually threathened by the events and it wasn't exciting as it should have been.

We do meet a set of new characters, which I liked, well most of them. There are is a monster that I could have done without knowing, cause he's nasty! But I liked getting to know more of the Valkyries. I did guess pretty early on that there would be a twist about one of the new characters and what it would be, but it's pretty well done.

I felt like Black Ice didn't give me all that many answers to questions I had and I get that it can't give me all the answers as it's not the last book in the series, but I would have liked just a little more knowledge about where this is headed. And OMG I just wanted to shake Mist and Dainn and their non-relationship that's the big elephant in the room and tell them to just KISS ALREADY and stop worrying about the beast or what the beast will do or just STOP IT WITH THE BEAST OK. There was so much talk and thinking about the beast. It was kinda getting on my nerves.

I do still very much like the richness of the Norse mythology and Mist and Dainn are kinda awesome, but I just wished Black Ice would have been a little more exciting than it was.

My rating: 2 stars