REVIEW: MIDNIGHT BURNING by Karissa Laurel

MIDNIGHT BURNING

Author: Karissa Laurel
Source: Digital copy via the Author
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing, LLC
Publication Date: July 7, 2015
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Summary:
Solina Mundy lives a quiet life, running the family bakery in her small North Carolina hometown. But one night, she suffers a vivid nightmare in which a wolfish beast is devouring her twin brother, who lives in Alaska. The next morning, police notify her that Mani is dead. Driven to learn the truth, Solina heads for the Land of the Midnight Sun. Once there, she begins to suspect Mani’s friends know more about his death than they’ve let on. Skyla, an ex-Marine, is the only one willing to help her.

As Solina and Skyla delve into the mystery surrounding Mani’s death, Solina is stunned to learn that her own life is tied to Mani’s friends, his death, and the fate of the entire world. If she can’t learn to control her newfound gifts and keep her friends safe, a long-lost dominion over mortals will rise again, and everything she knows will fall into darkness.

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a werewolf/urban fantasy novel. Because she literally dreams about a wolf eating her brother. And to an extent it was, but there was so much more happening here. And it all related to Norse Mythology. Which was great, love me some Norse Mythology, but at times it seemed a little too forced.
I am not a fan of stories or scenarios where everyone is interconnected and everyone has to be something because it feels a little cheesy and hokey (which is why I stopped watching OuaT) and I think that this one is boardline there. I am okay with the fact that everyone has a role and that you see the people from the mythology in this story, but once the Valkyrie stated that there was "so much more" to Solina's lineage and backstory and there were more people involved I kind of tuned out. I am a fan of big casts but not if it is just so that you can wink and nudge to everyone in a certain story; at times it sort of felt like that.

I did like Solina. I think she really drove the story and was really the only reason I enjoyed it. I liked that she was aware of some of her abilities to start with (dreams, touching people for memories) but that she also had to grow into her additional powers. I liked that it was all about finding her brother's killer but that she wasn't sure what she would do in the end. That is so realistic and made me really warm up to her. I also liked that she wasn't quite sure what sort of direction she should take in her life and thought of herself as being in her brother's shadow.

I thought the training was a little much and that there was too much of a lull period between the excitement of being with Val and Thorin and the battle scene at the end.  I did like that the Valkyrie wanted to teach her instead of just protect her, but I thought they were a little too much at some points. The clearest example for me was when they were saying how Solina basically takes women a step backward because she doesn't know any fighting techniques. Like no, just no.

I am really excited to see where this is going. I love mythology so I am definitely going to pick up the next one. I hope we get to see more of both Thorin and Val too! I also hope that Solina says "I don't need any of these guys" and ends up with Skyla. That would make me love this series.