Snowblooded is a gaslamp fantasy novel, which represents the traditional debut of Emma Sterner-Radley, published by Solaris. A thrilling story about assassins and conspirations in a Scandinavian setting, with an excellent cast of characters and featuring queer romancing as part of the plot.

Valour and Petrichor are top members of the Order of Axsten, an assassins' guild under the orders of Vinterstock leader that is tasked with keeping the order in this cold city; both were raised in competition with the other, creating a strong sense of rivalry between them. Two different ways of act: Valour solves her task with brawn, while Petrichor leans toward a more gentleman approach.
Things get especially difficult when both are tasked with their biggest job: killing Brandquist, the leader of Vinterstock's illegal magic trade. A job whose reward is enough to allow them to pay their debt with their order and start new lives; but their rivalry is just the first obstacle on that path. At the same time, Valour is practically forced to protect Ingrid Rytterdahl, an attractive aristocrat whose father owns the hotel where Valour stays, putting the mission in a more precarious position.

Sterner-Radley takes this premise and elevates it to create a really entertaining story, with space for banter while not losing the seriousness of the task our characters are trying to deal with. Particularly, I find relatable how Valour and Petrichor can be described as different faces of the same coin: both raised by the guild, similar pasts, and always competing for the approval; however, as a consequence, both have developed different ways to cope with that trauma. Valour and Petrichor are prone to confront each other and often end insulting each other, bringing us many fun moments; but it is proven that, with time, they can grow over their differences, as most of them were just created by the influence of others.
While Ingrid seemed to be just a secondary character, she ends having a more prominent role than I expected in the plot; and honestly, her chemistry with Valour ends evolving into a dangerous romance which gifts us some steamy moments that certainly help us to keep with the glacial setting of Vinterstock.

Talking about Vinterstock, it is refreshing to have a gaslamp fantasy which is inspired by Scandinavia; idioms and expressions imported from them, and even in the mythology you can guess the inspiration. Said that, Vinterstock is a brutal city, where the power is corrupt and difficult to stop; the order of Axsten is just a reflection of what we could expect from the city.
The pacing is a bit slow for what you might expect for this kind of story, but that allows for a better character developing, warming our hearts and making us care about them; tension is well managed, and we are gifted some great action scenes, which creates a really enjoyable reading experience.

Snowblooded is a really powerful debut novel; a delight of read if you like ambitious characters, conspirations and complex plots with a touch of mystery. A standalone, but a world that I wouldn't mind to return again!

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for my digital review copy

3 Stars

Overall, I found this book to be okay. There were a lot of witty lines that made me laugh, and I loved the interractions between Petrichor and Valour, and Valour and Ingrid but the plot was relatively simple for a heist plot and managed to confuse me.

The chapters were short and it took about 30 percent of the book for me to get with the worldbuilding.

I would recommend if you want a light read with sapphic representation.

I absolutely adored this book. Magical and full of mystery and norse aspects this kept me intrigued from start to finish.
I loved the 'six of crows' aspect this has previously been received on as with the assassins of axsten, and especially how deep it dives into Valour and Petrichor as people and through their life's experiences having grown up together in assassin-hood.

Ingrid was an unexpected but beloved character and i fell for her and valour so hard. Their sapphic love throughout the chaos of the city and its secrets was truly unbreakable no matter the costs and that dedication was truly something else.

The plot twists in this with Branderquist and the 'ness trades were truly unpredictable and the intrigue and darkness behind it all was extremely engaging. I was fortunate enough to recieve this as an arc from Solaris and am so glad I did. Their advertising this as a Scandi-romantasy with such chaotic dynamics was successful and I can only hope it woo's others just as much.

The whole thing was incredibly well written, descriptive and engaging with great world-building that helped you truly feel in that historical Scandinavian setting amongst the religious, mythological, political and general chaos. I have never read Emma's books before but after this I certainly will be keeping an ee on her in future for more wonderful addictive tales.

Fantasy novel set in 18th century Sweden - enjoyable novel.

Valour and Petrichor are assassins employed to eliminate targets given to them by the Order of Assassins. Their lives are turned upside-down when embarking on a mission to kill a notorious criminal in the city. They encounter a lot of danger and there's a fair amount of duplicity, treachery and revelations. They also develop a bit of a bond, considering their different and rival personalities. The characters, few in the book, are well-developed and the plot moves along briskly in short chapters although the final denouement is perhaps a bit rushed and convenient. There's not a huge amount of fantasy elements to the book but it's an engaging read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately it was clear to me in the first few pages that this book wasn’t going to be for me. Far too much telling instead of showing in the world-building, and the main character spoke like a 21st century American even in the historical setting.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review, I’m disappointed I didn’t enjoy this one more.

Welcome to the brutal city of Vinterstock where assassins roam and drug use destroys what little hope the populace had left...

Unfortunately there is minimal character building at the beginning which made me feel very detached from the story, especially as you're introduced to two different perspectives so quickly. The reader is slowly introduced to small details about Petrichor and Valour, and as I learned about their hardships I began to feel a little more connected, but they are both so horrible to each other it was hard to stay sympathetic. Their harsh words and violent reactions made it hard to be fully invested in their outcome until about halfway through the book.

The horrific things these two have been through have warped their worldview and made them distrustful of everyone and everything, including themselves. This created an effective tension and fit the atmosphere of the plot really well - all interactions are suspicious and have an edge of danger. Paired with the grotesque tunnels and frequent bloodshed, the book remains dark to its core.

The writing style often relies too heavily on telling rather than showing, but as the story continues the dialogue and internal thoughts help bring the world and characters to life. It is a bit drawn out, so the action doesn't come across quite as exciting as it could. In fact, the story is strongest when Petrichor and Valour are having moments of internal reflection after important events. This is also when hints of a larger mystery at play are dropped, and I really liked seeing how everything came together.

Overall, the second half is much stronger and the ending was rewarding - it felt true to the characters and to the broken city in which they were raised.

What a brilliantly entertaining book. A pair of (legal ) assassins forced to work together to achieve their assigned objective. Their interactions not always amiable but highly entertaining. I will definitely seek out more of this talented authors work.

The story of Snowblooded follows two assassins, Valour and Petrichor as they are tasked to hunt down and kill a powerful drug lord dealing in a dangerous tonic. This, however, isn’t your average run-of-the-mill assassin story, Valour and Petrichor are a part of the Order of Axsten, a state-approved guild made to keep their city of Vinterstock clean.

I first rated this book a 3.5, but after taking time away from it, I decided to up the rating. I enjoyed this book, and the story was very interesting. I adored the relationship between Valour and Petrichor and their split point of view. The rating comes about because of a few small things and the pacing of the first half of the book.

Valour and Petrichor, my loves. I loved their relationship, how they hated each other completely, would argue every minute of every day but would also kill and die for each other. They had a true sibling-like bond which developed over the book. Although Valour had a romantic relationship with Ingrid, it felt like the main purpose of this book was about these two and their friendship which I loved. Their personalities are such stark contrasts and having the split point of view helped show that and gave the reader a brief respite from Valour’s energy and Petrichor’s need to be perfect.

The romance between Valour and Ingrid was a bit fast-paced for my liking. Although there had been some moments between them before the book, it felt like they were introduced and then suddenly clothes were off. I understand that this was how Valour usually rolled, not wanting to dive deep into feelings so to speak and rather keep it physical. I did like how their relationship developed after that though and how they slowly but surely opened up to each other. Something else I enjoyed was how Valour didn’t immediately forgive Ingrid for what she had done. They spent the night together and would work together, but it would take time for them to get back to what they had. I’m sure they would get there, even through a door.

I did not see the ending coming. Ingrid being the Brandquist was completely unexpected and yet I loved it. She was portrayed as a sweet lady, who may have had a bad streak but just wanted to run her hotel with her father. Then out comes that actually, she’s a crime boss trying to tear down the production and selling of ‘Ness from within. Badass. I also was shocked that Valour and Petrichor had had their memories erased and that the actual end-game villain was a past member of their order. It had gorgeous storytelling and beautiful points that made you hit your head in an ‘of course’ way.

The first half of the book did seem to take forever, but it could be down to having to explain the city, the rules of the order, and what ‘ness is. Either way, I did struggle to get through that first half. Once things got going though, it was a breeze, and I couldn’t wait to continue.

To finish, Snowblooded is a gorgeously dark Scandinavian story about love, loss, and what you truly want out of life and living it. It’s about friendship, moving on from the past and most importantly; being the change you want to see in the world. With incredible storytelling and the ability to visualise scenes easily, Snowblooded is a perfect read if you want something cunning, dangerous and something a little sexy.

Character-driven book with great potential.

This has a very cosy fantasy feel to it, despite not being a cosy fantasy at all. The plot is engaging, if a bit predictable, and I greatly enjoyed the interactions between Valour and Petrichor.

Fun, casual, very Sx of Crows-esque. I recommend it

4.25*. One of the MCs is asexual and the other is a raging lesbian, and combined with the atmosphere of Six of Crows, I couldn't not love Snowblooded.

This was by no means a perfect book, but it had a great balance of plot and relationship-building, with subtle magical elements were nicely interwoven into the story. Though predictable at times, the plot was fun and had the sort of fantasy/adventure flair that I love in the genre.

Going into this, I really expected to love Valour and Petrichor's dynamic but it fell slightly flat for me, mostly because Petrichor was so unnecessarily awful to her at the start. Also, I guess I'm just a sucker for angst because I was living for Petrichor and Halcyon's relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF.

Unfortunately, I'm having to DNF this book. It has a really strong concept - rival assassins being forced to work together, sapphic side plots - everything I usually love, but I'm really not enjoying this book.

From the start, I found the characters incredibly unlikeable. I don't think the characters are intended to be perfect - and nor would I expect them to be early on in a novel - but I found absolutely no attachment to either of them and found them to be quite two dimensional, with Valour's only defining trait being her lust for women, and Petrichor's only defining trait being his grumpiness.

I also found the writing to be incredibly heavy-handed. I love a book that will address political and social topics, but this book is just too heavy-handed and blunt with it, it takes away from the immersion of the story. The prose could definitely benefit with more polishing and better editing. I found the dialogue incredibly forced too, and that only made the characters more unlikeable, and again, took away from the immersion.

This book definitely wasn't for me, and unfortunately definitely needs some more reworking and editing.

I loved the setting and magic system of the book.

Petrichor and Valour were everything you could ask for from the two main characters.
Both are assassins raised since children to fulfil their destiny.
They work so differently and that maybe was why it was so fun to watch them having to work together for once even if they are rivals and they kinda “despite”

I loved that for once the main characters were not the love interest. Also that PLOT TWIST? excuse me !

It was an enjoyable read. It had an almost cosy feeling that was quite pleasant. The plot had a little mystery to it and that was to my liking. I did not connect with the characters at all but it did not matter at the end, because of the interesting plot. And the writing made up for this as well; it was engaging and had some bits of humor.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

thank you to the publisher for an arc of this book!

DNF @ 71%

this book started of well and seemed like it had a great premise — two assassins who can’t stand each other going on a mission to find a drug lord. at first, i really enjoyed the banter between the two mcs, but it slowly got quite boring. it felt like they were continuously arguing childishly, and it felt like the story was not developing at all. they just kept moving from place to place and talking loads about nothing.. i feel like things only really started happening about 60% into the book, but by that time my attention was no longer in the book.

i was excited for this book because it’s been compared to six of crows, but it is honestly not like soc at all. the only similar thing is that one of the mcs, petrichor, sometimes has panic attacks. apart from that, there was no tension and excitement or any heist like features that exist in soc so i'm not even sure why the comparison has been made.

another thing. initially, the relationship between the mc, valour and another character, ingrid was quite fun, but after a while it got a little boring - there were so many endless chapters of them just talking and wanting to have sex, and it felt really mundane after a while.

overall, it was so repetitive and boring and nothing was happening that by the time the big twist came, i just was no longer interested at all. i had to force myself to keep reading this book and i just couldn't keep going. i’m so disappointed cos it was an anticipated release for me. there was just no flow to anything and none of it really made sense. 😭

. This was an enjoyable historical romp with a smattering of fantasy.It feels quite humorous despite being about assassins, and I enjoyed the setting. The pacing was a little off in places and overall the book felt longer than it needed to be. The relationship between Valour and Petrichor became a bit much after a while and felt pretty childish. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

The premise of Snowblooded really stood out to me, and I was really intrigued to read the book. I enjoyed the world building, most of the plot, and found the characters to be interesting.
Some parts of the book felt overdrawn and unnecessary, and some more high level action would have been enjoyable to read.

Thanks to NetGalley at the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the premise of this book and I thought it was an interesting idea to tell the story of two rival assassins, who are forced to work together on the same project. I would say that for the most part it worked and it delivered what it promised, but I still found this book a bit lacking. I'd say I liked Valour's and Ingrid's scenes the most when it came to characters, although it seemed that their romance started as insta love. Valour's and Petrichor's dynamics weren't what I expected either, because for the most part it didn't seem like they were real rivals, let alone enemies. The story itself felt predictable and although most of the time I'm fine with that when it's well-executed, this time it didn't feel that interesting. I liked the fact that the story had Scandinavian setting, but I would've like more references related to that when it was essentially presented to the reader. Overall, I enjoyed parts of this book, I liked the snarky dialogue, but, unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the book overall.

Thank you to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions!

Snowblooded tells the tale of two assassins given an impossible task. Throw in the fact they can't stand each other and it takes place in an icy climate.

it was predictable but I enjoyed it. a fun book that perhaps could be shortened but nevertheless, enjoyable

Snowblooded by Emma Sterner-Radley is a hilarious and bloody Nordic-inspired romp full gruesome sword fights, devilish betrayals and vicious banter.

Both Valour and Petrichor are incredibly interesting, unhinged and tortured characters. I enjoyed the way their armour was slowly peeled back so that we could better understand the root of their harsh demeanours and brutish ways. Their constant verbal sparing was definitely a highlight of the book.

I enjoyed the Scandinavian backdrop, however, the mystical elements that alluded to interference from the Gods and their magic system seemed a little out of place. I much preferred when the focus was uncovering the cities gritty underground criminal belly and the political intrigue that followed.

At times, the pace did feel a bit slow and, for a book about master assassins, there was surprisingly very little action until the finale. That being said, this book contains some excellent character work and is full of unexpected twists that kept me thoroughly entertained throughout.

I've sadly ended up dnf-ing this book. I just could not get into it and found myself struggling multiple times to get into it. It almost got to the point where I could feel myself falling into a reading slump because of it.

I really wanted to love this one as I was compared to The Princess Bride and Sic of Crows but it just wasn't for me.