A Flame in the North – Lilith Saintcrow

“A Flame in the North” makes a good first impression. The setting is strongly Norse-inspired. There are fantasy differences - inheritance is matrilineal, some people are capable of small magics - but the reader is immersed in a well-realized world.

Solveig is capable of large magics. (This is vanishingly rare.) When her brother accidentally kills a man, she is sent north with his company to balance the scales. As she travels, she learns that an enemy her people believe to have been defeated long ago is still active.

At this point the books stops being Norse-inspired and starts feeling like the Silmarillion. There are some alterations - e.g. the enemy’s cannon-fodder are orukhar, not orcs, the folks from the far west with the pointy ears are Elder not Elf - but the reader has moved from a well-realized Norse setting to a well-trodden Tolkien setting, and it’s very distracting.

The book works - thanks to Saintcrow’s excellent writing skills - but it could have worked better.