Flora Reviews… Thunder Hunter (Viking Soul #1) by Rachel Medhurst

Flora Reviews…

Thunder Hunter (Viking Soul #1) by Rachel Medhurst

 

Read: 4^th – 8^th April 2018

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

So what’s this book about?

Thunder Hunter is the first book (approx 306 pages) in Rachel Medhurst’s new urban fantasy series – Viking Soul. Although the series is set in modern day London, Ms Medhurst has created a paranormal world taking inspiration from Norse Mythology including some of its deities with a new series featuring Fallen Ones, Dark Crawlers and magic wielders, such as witches, living and thriving among us regular humans.

If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you’ll know that I don’t post spoilers or reveal plot twists in my book reviews, so here’s what the official blurb has to say about the story:

For Thor to live, Thunder Hunter must die.

A thousand years, that’s how long I’ve been hunting the Fallen Ones that escaped Freya’s field. One hundred and ninety five down, five to go. Just five disgusting evil spirits until I die and Thor’s thunder will be returned to him. Nothing will stand in the way of me completing my mission, not even the woman who claims to be a descendant of Freya. I will kill the next Fallen One, no matter what.

Warning: This genre is Adult, not YA – Contains every day profanity, a bit of violence (he has to kill the evil of the underworld) and mild sexual references.

So before I move on, what or who are Fallen Ones and Dark Crawlers?

Those Vikings souls who are deemed brave enough by the gods and have died in combat go to the god Odin in Valhalla to spend eternity with the gods but the dark souls (those belonging to the dishonourable dead, thieves, murderers and evil humans) are sent to the goddess Hel in Helheim but Freya kept some of the most powerful evil spirits in Fólkvangr to make a fearsome army. Two hundred of these souls escaped her meadow and sought refuge here on earth, these are the Fallen Ones that our hero, Trygger “Thunder Hunter” must find and kill.

Dark Crawlers are minions of the Fallen Ones. Lesser evil than their masters, their spirits somehow managed to stay on earth instead of being taken to Helheim. They jump from human to human, possessing them until the flesh decays to the point where the human body can no longer exist.

 

 So, what did I like about it?

I have read a couple of books by Rachel Medhurst before; I find her writing style easy to read, her plots well paced and her characters engaging.

This story is written in the first person, from the point of view of our hero, Trygger who is the grandson of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor. I never felt lost in this story although there are a few story-lines running through the book. I liked the way this book begins; the prologue tells us how Trygger was tasked with his mission from Freya; to kill the Fallen Ones who are living on earth. There are 200 of them that Trygger has to find and dispatch before he himself can die and his soul join the gods in Valhalla as a heroic warrior. Trygger is an immortal Viking warrior who has serious social issues; all he wants, is to complete his mission the way he wants to do it. He is stubborn and used to getting his own way, I’ve got to confess and say so far Trygger isn’t an alpha male that gets my girl parts all tingly but I still enjoyed the story.

Supporting Trygger we have Jack, his informant and the only person on earth he trusts and Chloe a descendant of Freya who the Goddess has put in his path to aid his mission but has secrets of her own. Jack is definitely a man-whore but he’s also a lovable rogue too with a sense of humour that I appreciate, he made me smile a lot throughout the book. Although Chloe comes across as innocent, meek and mild, there is definitely more to her than meets the eye, she’s intelligent, resourceful, has a nice dry sense of humour and has gumption (those who have read my reviews before will know how much I love that in fictional female characters) and I liked it when her training was mentioned, showing that she put in the time and energy to improve.  Keep an eye out for Rusty too, as he’s another character that stole my heart; he’s got hidden depths and has secrets that will hopefully be revealed in subsequent books.

I really liked that Thunder Hunter kept me gripped; I found myself staying up into the wee hours just to find out what would happen next.

 

So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Ok, so here’s where I have to be honest; although I did really enjoy this book there were few niggles with some of the scenes and characters that took the shine off for me.

So the main one is I’m not sure if I like our hero, Trygger. During this book he didn’t exhibit any of the traits (actions or thoughts) that I like in my broody kickass alpha type heroes and although this book is written from his perspective (in the first person) the inner dialogue that we did get didn’t help me much to  understand or like him better. However, I am hoping that as the series progresses, he will become my alpha wet dream hero. Lol!

I would also like to mention that although there is no life-or-death cliffhanger at the end of this book – Woohoo! You know how I hate those! – Thunder Hunter is the first book in a new series and as such we are left with more questions unanswered and mysteries unsolved than you can shake a sword at plus the other Fallen Ones still need dispatching.

 

So, basically what I’m saying is…

I really liked this book; it’s a great start to new urban fantasy series. I liked that Ms Medhurst used Norse mythology as a base for her tale, it’s got a good mix of personalities in our main cast of characters, the plot was nicely paced with a good balance of mystery and action that was not only intriguing but kept me guessing. I have already bought the next book Lightening Seeker and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Due to the nature of some of the scene and language used I’d recommend this book to adults who are not offended by content of this nature who are fans of urban fantasy action adventures with story-lines edging towards the darker side.

So, has my review of THUNDER HUNTER (VIKING SOUL #1) encouraged you to find out more? Just click on any of the links below to check out the book yourself or to find out more about the author. To see the other books I’ve read, take a look at my profile on Goodreads.

See THUNDER HUNTER on Goodreads.com

Buy THUNDER HUNTER in print, eBook and audio formats through the usual sources, including Amazon UK or Amazon US, or through Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo or Google Books

Visit RACHEL MEDHURST‘s own little corner of the web, read her blog or connect to her on social media via Twitter or Facebook or Instagram

Oh, before I go, I just wanted to let you know that I am part of the Amazon UK Associates Program. I don’t work for Amazon, I’m just a woman who loves to blog and share stuff but Amazon (and I) want make sure that you understand that the Amazon UK link that I’ve included in this post is “commercial” in nature.