Book: Who Hears the Waters' Call by Sophia St. Germain
Reviewed by Clarice
Rating: 4/5
ARC Review of Who Hears the Waters’ Call by Sophia St. Germain
4/5 Stars ⭐️
1/5 Spice 🌶️
Who Hears the Waters’ Call is the first book of the Zeal of the North duology (and one part of the Norse -Verse) where a land of vikings are plagued by lies, betrayals, and traitors. Who can be trusted? Who is an enemy? Will the truth be revealed before it is too late?
We follow Elvara Sweengard as she arrives at the Hird fresh from the loss of her father, brother, and gods given magic. Without the magic the gods bestowed on her father, Elvara and her clan are vulnerable to being pillaged and plundered by the other clans. Elvara must somehow survive the trials of the Hird, which can be incredibly deadly, AND prove to the gods she is worthy of her own magic WITHOUT revealing the loss of her father, brother, and magic. As if those stakes weren’t hard enough, she must find three people she can trust to choose as her inner circle and bind magically bind one of them to her. I think walking a tight rope blindfolded while juggling fire would be less stressful.
Hands down my favorite part of this book is the sassy opinionated ship. I NEED more of her mischief in the second book. Her bits were the perfect comedic relief for a book that was mostly dark and tense.
I have read multiple books by this author, and this was her first FMC low key annoyed me. So many times I found myself wanting to shake her while going, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” The funny thing is though, in the end she ended up being the epitome of brains over brawn…once she found her footing.
As for the MMC… Tall? ✔️ Brooding? ✔️ Mysterious? ✔️ Darcke was such a delicious puzzle to try to solve. Can you figure him out before he reveals his secrets? I bet not.
It took me a beat to get into the book, but once I got into it I flew through it. However, I would recommend that readers be semi-familiar with Norse mythology—specifically the pantheon— as the book does not really explain much about the different types of gods and the difference in the higher and lower gods. I also think readers should know that this duology will likely be connected (probably through a big bad that requires cooperation/collaboration to defeat, if I had to guess) to the other four series in the Norse-Verse.
Knowing how this book ends, I’m crazy curious to see what happens next and can she truly trust those she has chosen to trust.