Lilith Saintcrow is one of the more prolific fantasy writers of the early 21st Century, her oeuvre ranges across a wide swath of speculative fiction branches including urban fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal romance, to name a few. In A Flame in the North, she launches a Norse-inspired fantasy saga called Black Land’s Bane.
An elemental witch and her shieldmaiden journey into a world of ancient myth and unexpected destiny in this sweeping Norse-inspired epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow.
The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.
That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.
The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.
With only her loyal shieldmaid and her own wits to reply upon, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.
They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…
Solveig (Sol) is our main character here, daughter of the clan chief Gwendelint, a young woman who is on the cusp of showing her power as the clan’s volva or witch. She participated in a very important ritual, calling down lightning and tending the midwinter flame, only to find out she is payment for her brother’s short temper and short-sightedness. Forced to become betrothed to another clan, Sol and her shield-maiden companion Arneior (Arn) must travel across the dangerous landscape along with Eol, the brother of the man Sol’s brother murdered. As they journey beyond the border of Sol’s home land which is farther than she’d ever traveled before, strange creatures, odd occurrences, and half truths from Eol come to light.
One of those “secrets” is that the Enemy long-thought to be vanquished is of course not quite so vanquished. Eol informs Sol that her powers and abilities around fire (known as seidhr) might be able to bring down the re-awakening Enemy. So not only has Sol be taken against her will, but she’s been takin under not exactly truthful pretenses. Her only solace is her companion Arn, for she has someone in whom she can confide and trust amongst a much larger group of untrustworthy men.
Saintcrow has a great voice at least through Sol as her first-person narrator. I found her compelling and interesting. I liked her and felt empathy for her and her plight. The setting is very much Norse-inspired, but there are also strong connections to Tolkien’s work. In other words, I appreciated the world-building a great deal.
But here’s the rub for me … as much as I connected with the characters, especially Sol, and the milieu, the plotting was not up to the level of those other two elements of the story. There was a lot of traveling in this book. On top of that, there was some more traveling. I’m not averse to travelogue/quest stories, but much of it felt repetitive and as a result, tempered my enjoyment of the novel. Although there are action scenes along the long travel route, I was expecting a little more action as the novel moved along the landscape.
The protagonist and milieu are more than enough to carry into the second novel of the series. For my reading sensibilities, if the plotting can be tightened up a little bit, I think this series has the potential to be very strong. I’ve no doubt A Flame in the North will hook many fantasy readers for the long haul.
© 2024 Rob H. Bedford
Orbit | Trade Paperback
February 2024 | 448 Pages
https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com | Twitter: @lilithsaintcrow
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
