Blog Tour: Valkyrie: Dead Radiance by T.G. Ayer – Book Review and Giveaway

Today is my stop for the Dead Radiance blog tour, I’m doing a book review and there’s a giveaway too.

Note to RABT: I can’t post the review on Amazon because I need buy something first, but I don’t want to buy anything from there, just so that I could post a review there. I don’t buy things from Amazon, it’s usually book store websites, other sites, or in store.

Release date: February 25, 2012
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Format: ebook (provided to me in exchange for an honest review)
Age Group: Young Adults
Pages: 381 (363, not counting the title page, etc)
Source for Synopsis: Reading Addiction Blog Tours
Challenge: (personal) 2012 Reading Challenge

Bryn Halbrook had always seen the glow. But it is only when her best friend dies that she discovers the meaning of those beautiful golden auras – Death. Alone, lost in the foster system, she struggles to understand who she is and why she was cursed with the ability to see the soon-to-be-dead.

The new foster kid, Aidan, isn’t helping any. Mr. Perfect seems to fit in no matter what, making her feel even more pathetic. But when his affections turn to her, Bryn finds him hard to resist. Impossible actually. A mystery himself, Aidan disappears, leaving behind a broken heart and a mysterious book that suggests Bryn might not be entirely human. Bryn stands at the threshold of a journey of discovery. Will destiny help her find herself, find her purpose and her place in a world in which she’d never belonged?

Some Quotes

I forgot to look for and write some when I was reading this book, and since it’s an ebook, I don’t feel like skimming through it. So, this time, like a few other times, there are no quotes to share here.

Sex: no
Gore: yes, a little bit
Magic: yes
Romance: yes

Action: 4 stars
Pacing: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars

Bryn Halbrook can see gold auras around many people for her whole life and she doesn’t know why, all she knows is that whoever she sees with that golden glow is going to die soon and for obvious reasons, she can’t tell anyone. Her mother deserted her (or at least she thinks that) and her dad died, she was placed into foster care, changing families every few weeks. She didn’t know what the glow mean until two kids from her school died, and one of them was her only friend.

When a boy around her age comes to live in her foster home, things start to change for Bryn. His name is Aiden Lee and Bryn starts to feel attracted to him, after a few days she decides to tell him about her seeing auras because she saw him reading many books on Norse mythology and thought that maybe he might know something. She later finds out more about her father’s work, and who and what she might be. Because of what she is, her life and her foster family are in dager, so she has to run away, but before she could do that, she is taken to Asgard, the city of Odin. Bryn thinks she’s dreaming, but after many days she finally accepts that all of it is real. We meet many interesting characters and some old ones return later on in the story.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but it was still a good book, this is the first time I read a valkyrie novel, so maybe that’s why I didn’t love it a lot (like a 5 star novel), although it could also be because I don’t know much about the valkyrie mythologies, I mostly know about Greek mythology and a few others (although I know some Norse mythology, like Loki). Also, I started reading this book late, since I thought that I could finish it in four days at regular speed, but I was wrong, I needed a few more days, so I ended up rushing this book in the last two days before my stop (Saturday and Sunday).

There are a few things I didn’t like and didn’t seem realistic to me: when Bryn falls in love with Aiden, it’s not realistic, she only knows him for a few days and already it’s like true love, it feel real to me. The way Bryn acts and her thoughts show that she’s madly in love with him, even though it’s only been a few days.

There are going to be three books in this series, there might be more, but for now I know that there are going to be three:

-Dead Radiance (published February 25, 2012)
-Dead Embers (August 2012)
-Dead Chaos (?)

Overall, I liked this book.
T.G. Ayer’s writing is good, the story flowed well.
This story is faced paced, has some mystery and action, and is full of interesting mythology.

I rated this book: 4 stars.

About the Author

I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to recognise that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is impossible to practise given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each other’s loves – it works wonderfully…

My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha, beautiful Maraes, and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.

Author’s Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Shelfari

If you read this book, then tell me what you thought about it in the comments section.

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