I don't like leaving negative reviews because I understand the amount of work authors put into their books, but this book genuinely made me want to DNF ... which I have not done in over 2 years.

I requested A Flame in the North on Netgalley when I first made my account, so I will take partial responsibility for my disliking of this book (I requested a ton of books initially that I didn't end up enjoying because I didn't fully read the blurbs). That being said...I really didn't enjoy this book. At 33%, I posted a poll on my Instagram asking if I should bother continuing. By the time I got the results (most of which said I should quit), I'd already gotten to around 61%, and so I decided just to power through it so I could add it to my yearly goal.
The biggest issue I had: where was the plot? Look, I understand that sometimes pretty writing can make up for a slower plot, but I didn't love the purple prose-y style of this book. Solveig is the daughter of a clan leader, and she has elemental magic of sorts. When her brother kills a member of an opposing plan, she is taken as weregild (blood tax). The description said she was a hostage, but I definitely didn't get that vibe. Literally no one talked to her, so the first half of the book was pretty much her leaving home, eavesdropping, and then getting lost in the woods for a bit. At some point, she realizes that maybe her "captors" have ulterior motives ... aka they want her to fight some big Evil Enemy for them. To be honest, I kinda skimmed the story past the halfway point, and I have, like, no recollection of half the plot points. Maybe it's my fault I disliked it, but I just couldn't get invested. After the halfway point, the story is just fighting, traveling, fighting, and then more traveling ... which would be fine if the main character was allowed to wield a weapon instead of hiding in a corner repeatedly.
I also didn't care for any of the characters. Sol was meh. Her internal monologue droned on after a while, and as I said, she's not allowed to actually fight because she's a witch, so she just sits there while everyone else saves her butt. Arn is her shieldmaid (aka bodyguard), and for some reason, I kinda expected Arn and Sol to be a thing, but they weren't? Arn saved Sol a ton of times and is loyal to her for no reason other than duty, at least as far as I know...but at least she was useful. I don't remember most of the supporting cast. I hate the name Bjorn, so I hated Sol's brother. There was some elf-y/immortal/magic-type guy whose name had a lot of vowels, and I thought he was somewhat interesting, but he didn't have a ton of importance.
The reason I gave this two stars instead of one is because a) I am taking responsibility for not reading the full description before agreeing to read this, and b) I've seen other positive reviews, so I'm sure there is some potential for enjoyment in this book. If you're a fan of Viking books and can tolerate slow plots and minimal worldbuilding/character development, then maybe you will enjoy A Flame in the North.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

2/5