This is a fantasy and historical story loosely based and a retelling of Beowulf. Personally, I hadn't read that beforehand/knew the story, so I went in blind on that front and cannot draw comparisons between the two. 

This story follows Fryda, a chieftain's daughter in the period of the late 900 CE to early 1000 CE. All she wants is to become a shield maiden, but a horrible accident causes makes it near impossible to reach her dream. However, she begins to feel a strange power growing inside her. Her father, Weohstan hosts the King Beowulf and other leaders to his village to feast and celebrate. During this time, Fryda learns of a conspiracy and has to do what she can to protect her people. Based on what I know of the time, I do think it's pretty accurate historically, the author did a great job of implementing this! I do see a lot of people saying the book is YA, personally I think it goes more into the adult range due to the language, gore, maturity, and sexual content. 

There are a LOT of POVs in this book, especially at the beginning. I counted seven, where we have the main character, Fryda, and the slave Theow. There are also perspectives from the dragon, indentured servant Hild, the blacksmith Bryce, King Beowulf, and Fryda's brother Wiglaf. These tend to taper off as we get further in the book, mostly focusing on our main characters Theow and Fryda. I do think they are helpful to gaining information about the world and relationships, but it's just a lot in the beginning to switch back and forth and get your bearings. It is also very slow paced in the beginning, but once we get to some action, the plot jumps forward and things start happening with a purpose. 

I thought Fryda was wonderfully developed. We see her struggle with her disability, but gaining confidence over time. A lot of attention is drawn to how she hides her hand from others at the start, especially around Theow. She cares very much about the staff of slaves and servants in her household, but she is quite naive (a little too much to be believable) about the poor treatment of them and always seems shocked when she learns about her brother's misdeeds and when a servant is treated horribly. Towards the end, Fryda gains agency and control of her life and decisions. I really enjoyed the romance in this novel as well between Fryda and Theow. It is forbidden and it's cute to see the little connections between them. 

I really enjoyed this book once the action and plot took off! There were battles and a dragon fight and it was thoroughly entertaining and kept me engaged. I just felt the novel started off very weak. Overall, I do recommend this if you are looking to read a fantasy novel in this time period. 

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.