Struck - Book Review

Struck (Phoebe Meadows #1)
by Amanda Carlson

What is it about:
When Phoebe Meadows gets struck by a strange light in the stockroom of Macy’s, life as she knows it flies out the window. As if being hit by lightning isn’t bad enough, she’s accosted in the subway by a man with a missing hand, arrives home to find a raven on her kitchen counter, and her neighbor, Ingrid, shows up dressed like a gladiator hell-bent on protecting her.

Before Ingrid can shuttle her to safety, Phoebe is kidnapped and tossed into one of the Nine Worlds where she’s quickly forced to come to terms with what she is: A valkyrie. The only problem is, she has no idea what that means.

After a narrow escape, she finds an unlikely ally in Loki’s son, Fenrir. Together the valkyrie and the wolf must battle their way back to New York City and reach the valkyrie stronghold where Ingrid is waiting for her. But with danger and obstacles at every turn, she might not live long enough to learn the full truth about who and what she really is...

What did I think of it:
I really like Carlson's Jessica McClain series so I wanted to give this series a try as well.

Now I will confess that for some reason I assumed that this series was YA, so color me surprised when Phoebe turns out to be 24. Luckily this is mentioned very early on in the book so I could readjust my expectations quickly.

And soon I was engrossed in this story. I love the Norse mythology, so I very much enjoyed the world building and all the creatures and people Phoebe encounters. She is lucky enough to find an ally in Fenrir, because she's in big trouble.

There's a lot of action, with only a few moments of reprieve where Phoebe can recover from events and can try to discover what's happening. The only thing I can say against this book is that with all the action at times character building is overlooked. Phoebe and Fenrir get enough screen time to get a feel for the both of them, but one other character (who will play a bigger role in the next books I'm guessing) didn't feel real in how she reacted because there was almost no character building.

That aside I very much enjoyed this read. The book ends with lots of things unresolved, but not in a frustrating cliffhangery way. I will most certainly get my trotters on the next book. I will also have to pick up Pure Blooded one of these days.

Why should you read it:
It's a very entertaining Paranormal read.


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