Name: The Unleashing
ISBN: 9781617735066

Shelly Laurenston

Winging It Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn't for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die. In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig "Vig" Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life--but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines. But Vig can't give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera's discipline, Vig's loyalty... and the Crows' sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

The Unleashing

After being stabbed in an alley, former Marine Kera Watson is brought back from death by a supernatural warrior and transformed into one of the Crows, a group of women assassins loyal to a Norse goddess.

Jennifer Eggleston 

Crows, Ravens, Vikings and others ...Oh myyyy! 

Book on sale and a fave author = win. I can appreciate an author who can create a new world and this is what Laurenston has done. It was so much that it made my head spin. Hoping as I read more that I can stop the spinning. This story is action packed and of course contains snark and humor ... Which I love, apocalypse with a side of humor and romance.

Lauren Sullivan

Definite "first-book-in-a-series" syndrome. Very info dumpy, and the fact that I have zero experience with Norse mythology made it much more confusing. I kinda hated all the characters in the beginning, but most of them had grown on me by the end of the book, which felt startlingly abrupt.

Becky

This is the second time I've read this book and this time I need to review it.

I remembered this being a bit of a chore to get into but an enjoyable read and a book I didn't want to put down by the end. This time around it took me no time at all to get into and I couldn't stop reading. Sure, it took me a few days but it was just so good from start to finish. I loved Kera and the world of the Crows and Ravens. I still know absolutely nothing about Norse mythology but I've got Neil Gaiman's book for that. 

Kera was a total badass and the perfect woman to introduce us to the world of the Crows. She was not morally ambiguous like so many fo her Crow sisters and we'd needed her moral compass leading us into this world otherwise I could have easily hated each and every Crow. The Crows are mercenaries the Norse gods send out to do their dirty work and these women are a big mix of personalities but each and every one of them have had a hard time in their first life and have come back to live their second life as their best life. These woman range from models to nurses and businesswomen to writers. They are brilliant and totally there for their sisters, but they also crazy.

Kera enters this world after being murdered in her last life trying to save someone. She is a former marine and she has no idea what's happening but as long as she has her dog there for back up she's cool. I have a lot of respect for a woman who rescues a pit bull who has obviously been used for dogfighting, calls that dog Brodie Hawaii and then refuses to be saved from death unless her dog gets to come with her. That is a woman after my own heart right there. She was amazing and what's better is that she is brought to this world because Vig (a big hulking Viking man who looks terrifying but is a big old softy most of the time) begs for her to be saved because he loves her and they've barely spoken.

The romance kind of wasn't the focus here but the romance between Big and Kera was utterly lovely. Big was both a total softy and also a mighty Viking warrior and the perfect balance to Kera. They were so good together and I was loving their romance, but I kind of loved how Kera's sister crows talked about them as well because that is how you want your friends to be making fun of you and your new boyfriend and how ridiculous you are.

Honestly, I think I was here for this book because of the camaraderie between Kera and the rest of the Crows. Sure, I kind of disliked the other women's attitudes at first but as you got to know them I loved them too. They were so damn fun and crazy and I can't want to read some more of their stories.

This book will not be for everyone, I loved the humour and fun to be had within the pages but I will admit the book was confusing as hell to keep track of the characters as there were so many! And there were a lot fo different POV throughout and this took a little while for me to get used to. But the story was damn fun and had me laughing on public transport so it's definitely a good read for me.

Kelly Casey

I'm not sure what to make of this story. The writing was a bit rough. It jumped all of over the place from many perspectives, did a bit of info-dumping, and just generally was a bit rough. However, I liked the characters. Vig is very much a silent, lethal viking but he's also just a big old cuddly puppy dog in love. Kera's character was interesting, but I'm not sure her character changes always made sense. She would go from beating the shit out of people to being incredibly moral and incapable of killing to brutally butchering whoever she was fighting (didn't fully make sense to me). The humor was pretty enjoyable, and so were the smutty scenes. The plot was very interesting and there was a slight cliffhanger that makes me want to continue asap. I would say give it a try, and you'll be able to tell if it's the right book for you.

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Shelly Laurenston, The Unleashing is a romance novel that follows Kera, a woman who recently died and came back as on of the human representations of a Norse god – a.k.a a Crow, and Vig the same only a Raven. There is a lot in this book, and it’s a romance between the two of them and that might be the best way to describe this without spoiling absolutely everything.

This novel was recommend/given to me by one of my local librarians when we were talking about finding a happy book, as many of the books I have been reading lately have been bitter sweet (The Friend Zone, The Home for Unwanted Girls) or just flat out dark (Stillhouse Lake, and the current one I am working through, No Exit). And this was a fun novel. Not the best, but it was exactly what I needed.

A romance this is, but it isn’t the hottest or the heaviest. The downfall of this book for me, which I have found is very common in a lot of romance novels and the real reason I don’t enjoy them, is the supporting female characters. They just… they are really annoying. And, yes, there are women who are like that. I am not one of them, and honestly don’t have any friends who are like that.

But, the main characters were amazing. I did also fast-read the next two books in the trilogy (oh yeah, I finished a trilogy in a weekend), and the second novel which follows the introverted Crow was also really great, the third I was very meh about.

The guys in the novels are a lot of fun. Again, its the support females, as well as the overall style. There is a lot of dialogue where its fluff or just takes so long to get to the point. Maybe this makes it a bit more realistic, but still.

Enjoyable. That is what this novel, and the series (no, there will not be a review on the whole thing) was. Enjoyable. If you want something fairly happy, are okay with A LOT OF GORE, then this might be a good fun choice for you.

The Unleashing

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