Your next epic Norse and Viking fantasy reading list for 2023 (Part 2)
We’re back with yet more Norse-inspired fantasy! Check out all the newest and best Viking-style stories in the list below.
This is Part 2 of my collected Norse fantasy reads. You can find Part 1 of the list here.
For now, let’s grab an axe and hop on the longship—it’s time for your next Norse tale!
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless
They think they've killed the last of us...
981 AD. The Viking King of Dublin is dead. His young widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions for her son – and herself – but Ireland is a dangerous place and kings tend not to stay kings for long. Gormflaith also has a secret. She is one of the Fomorians, an immortal race who can do fire-magic. She has kept her powers hidden at all costs, for there are other immortals in this world – like the Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of warriors who are sworn to kill Fomorians.
Fódla is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann with the gift of healing. Her kind dwell hidden in a fortress, forbidden to live amongst the mortals. Fódla agrees to help her kin by going to spy on Brian Boru, a powerful man who aims to be High King of Ireland. She finds a land on the brink of war – a war she is desperate to stop. However, preventing the loss of mortal lives is not easy with Ireland in turmoil and the Fomorians now on the rise...
Queens of the Wyrd by Timandra Whitecastle
Raise your shield. Defend your sisters. Prepare for battle.
Half-giant Lovis and her Shieldmaiden warband were once among the fiercest warriors in Midgard. But those days are long past and now Lovis just wants to provide a safe home for herself and her daughter - that is, until her former shield-sister Solveig shows up on her doorstep with shattering news.
Solveig's warrior daughter is trapped on the Plains of Vigrid in a siege gone ugly. Desperate to rescue her, Sol is trying to get the old warband back together again. But their glory days are a distant memory. The Shieldmaidens are Shieldmothers now, entangled in domestic obligations and ancient rivalries.
But family is everything, and Lovis was never more at home than at her shield-sisters' side. Their road won't be easy: old debts must be paid, wrongs must be righted, and the Nornir are always pulling on loose threads, leaving the Shieldmaidens facing the end of all Nine Realms. Ragnarok is coming, and if the Shieldmaidens can't stop it, Lovis will lose everyone she loves...
Fate is inexorable. Wyrd bith ful araed.
Truth and Other Lies by Lyra Wolf
Nothing is trickier than the truth.
All Loki the trickster god of Asgard wants is a peaceful life where he’s free to stir up a bit of harmless mischief. But when he’s struck by a painful vision of blood, ash, and death he knows his fun has run out.
Refusing to have his life obliterated by some stuffy prophecy, Loki feels he must save Asgard. Except the gods stand in his way. They don’t trust the God of Lies—which means his only hope is to return to Odin, the man he wished to forget thanks to their complicated history.
When Loki meets a mortal woman, his plans hit a snag.
Sigyn is delightfully stubborn and quick with a blade. She also, inexplicably, possesses a divine element found only in a god.
As Loki falls deeply in love with her, he never expects their bond to fulfill the prophecy threatening all their lives.
Forced between honoring his oath with Odin or protecting the woman he loves, Loki will discover that the only thing crueler than truth are the lies behind it all.
And the truth changes everything.
The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector
Perhaps you know the myths.
Furious, benevolent Gods.
A tree that binds nine realms.
A hammer stronger than any weapon.
And someday, the end of everything.
But few have heard of me.
Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else.
Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love.
But there’s no going back.
We were happy once.
And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.
Cold From the North by D.W. Ross
Driven by the promise of an ancient prophecy which will bring the dark ways of an old god back to power and prominence, an army of invaders swarms Ogulf Harlsbane’s homeland slaughtering all those who oppose them.
Along with his people, Ogulf must seek refuge from this savage force. In his search of sanctuary, he is tasked with finding the one person who can put a stop to the onslaught.
Doing so will send him across lands and seas, have him and his closest friend navigate the intricacies of a civil war, and try to win the help of the princess fighting for her throne.
If he fails, darkness will prevail and the reign of the Onyxborn will begin.
Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long
Hessa is an Eangi: a warrior priestess of the Goddess of War, with the power to turn an enemy's bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess's command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.
While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa - the last Eangi - must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess' favour.
Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa's trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.
Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up.
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.
Angrboda's story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.
Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin's all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.
With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she's foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.
In Darkness Cast by Jonathan Shuerger
When Hell’s legions invade his homeland, a desperate warrior turns to the only mentor he can find – a bitter champion of the Everlasting Dark.
Gideon Halcyon wants nothing more than to save his people from the forces of Hell. Demons and cultists run roughshod over his home, slaughtering and sacrificing to a trifecta of fallen angels on the cusp of destroying the kingdoms of Man. Hope seems infantile in the face of extinction itself...
...until Gideon meets Ashkelon.
Coming from the Void beyond the world, Ashkelon alone survives the world he left in ruins. Cynical and ruthless, the dark sorcerer seethes with millennia of hatred, and his cursed sword Acherlith shrieks with the last screams of a thousand failed heroes.
Ashkelon makes Gideon an offer – to train him to be a hero of the Light beyond the failures sealed within his blade, a peerless warrior exceeding even the exacting standards of the Everlasting Dark. Reluctantly, Gideon accepts, and is thrust into a world of infinite cruelty under Ashkelon’s black fist where the slightest misstep will see him dead at the sorcerer’s hand.
As Hell consumes the hopes of Man, a hero is forged in Darkness.
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker
Two nations at war. A prize beyond compare.
For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.
The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.
Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.
Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller
How do you kill a god?
As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year—or die trying.
The Skald’s Black Verse by Jordan Loyal Short
Brohr needs out of his village before they put a noose around his neck.
The unwanted son of a conquering soldier, Brohr will soon discover that he is cursed, haunted, a berserker. When a strange murder sparks unrest amongst his people, Brohr becomes the prime suspect.
Hunted by invaders from another world, Brohr must uncover the truth of his brother’s death, and lead a desperate revolt against an empire that spans the heavens.
But a fallen god lurks in the shadows, intent upon a rebellion of its own.
The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke
Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies—girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life.
When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies' one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.
Once again, I’ll throw my own Norse-inspired series into the mix: The Runewar Saga. Read more about it below!
The Runewar Saga by J.D.L. Rosell
Thrones burn. Crowns shatter. Rulers rise and fall...
Enea, a land once ruled by mythic giants, is now fractured by the conflicts of man. Yet total war is just beginning.
An ancient magic awakens to strike at the heart of Oakharrow, the city ruled by the Mad Jarl. His mourning heirs, Bjorn Borson and Aelthena Of'Bor, are left with a terrible decision: fight for their birthright, or pursue vengeance for their kin.
One wrong choice, and the throne will fall. And with Oakharrow at the center of the rising Runewar, Aelthena and Bjorn's actions will seal their land's fate...
For fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, The Shattered Sea, and The Bloodsworn Trilogy. Enter the war-torn world of Enea for an epic inspired by Norse mythology.
Have some favorite Norse or Viking stories of your own? You can add them to the list on Goodreads! Visit it here.
Check back in the future for more lists like this geared toward other niches within high fantasy. I’ll see you then!
- Josiah, aka J.D.L. Rosell
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