Dark Desire (Dark #2) by Lauren Dawes

After the events of the last book, several people are reeling from their losses but each deal with it in different ways

Eir, goddess, Valkyrie and healer may find a way to mend her inured heart with a new love

But Taer, dark elf, can only be sated with revenge.

I have a lot of the same frustrations about this book as I had for the first book. Some of the core characters of this book are Valkyries and/or Norse goddesses and they are treated as the daintiest most delicate porcelain figures you could imagine. Korvain even refers to the Valkyries as “Bryn’s girls”.

I really dislike Eir’s storyline. She’s a Valkyrie, she’s a goddess and she is treated like a delicate fragile toy to be sheltered and protected – or an errant child because she is scolded and chided if she doesn’t do as she’s told for her own safety. She has to go everywhere with a man protecting her (even a human is deemed sufficient to keep the frail goddess and Valkyrie safe) and she has to check in at all times. Korvain in particular constantly orders her around, scolds her like a child – and decides who she can and cannot meet. She’s a thousand year old goddess – she can choose her own lovers! Except she never has, of course, because like all the “good women” in this book/series she has ensured her precious hymen remain unruptured through the centuries for REASONS.

Even her trauma after the last book is used more as a purpose to keep her vulnerable and, therefore, subject to control.

This also leads on to Korvain – who has pretty much assumed leadership and constantly dishes out orders to pretty much everyone. Brynn has faded entirely into the background after the first book and Korvain just feels like he has taken everything over. She was the protagonist, now it’s Korvain. She was the leader, now it’s Korvain. She used to protect her sisters and rule them – but Korvain has, effectively, completely taken over. But he isn’t their sibling, he isn’t the leader of the Valkyries – he’s just taken over with very little in the way of reason for that other than him being so big and strong and dangerous.

In some ways Taer‘s story is better because she actively pursuing something, she is actually doing something, she is seeking power and agency and revenge. But I’m still not a huge fan of it. Firstly, it’s all defined by Taer seeking permission and training from Korvain – another woman under his control. When he refuses her, she turns to another trainer so we can also have lots of sexy-time drooling

Dark Deceit (Dark #1) by Lauren Dawes

Bryn is a Valkyrie, leader of her sisters especially now they had broken away from Odin. But despite the rift, she is the key to Odin’s immortality

And Loki is loose – and looking for vengeance

Korvain also hunts Bryn, seeking to bring down Odin in revenge for his lost people and at the commands of his clan leader – but shortly after meeting Brynn his resolve crumbles and he soon finds himself in the role of protector, not assassin.

I have to say I hate the way that women are depicted in this book. All of them. Now, there are possibly some women in this book who I may have appreciated if they were separate, but collectively it’s just one mass of badness

Most of them are victims. And not just victims, but pretty much helpless victims. Frigg, powerful goddess, is thoroughly demonised before becoming a victim; we never see one scrap, one iota of power or capability from her. The Valkyries – VALKYRIES! Warrior women, dressed in mail with blood stained weapons – exist to be a collection of damsels to be saved. We never see any real fight or power from them – they’re just hunted down one by one, put up no fight and are easily brought down. The whole book revolves around rescuing and protecting these utterly helpless figures.

Even their leader and our supposed protagonist, Bryn, is an immensely frustrating figure. She never actually does anything. She constantly talks a good game but we never see her fight or actually show any toughness or even make a good decision. Or make a decision at all. When her sisters are targeted she has a tantrum, falls apart and asks a man to go check on them. She doesn’t even all them and ask them all to gather up – she sends a man round to help. Her one and only attempted plan is to sacrifice herself and hope that Loki, the big bad, doesn’t hurt anyone else and can be trusted

Her master plan is to trust Loki. No, really.

At least there’s a big strong man to rescue her!

As well as victimisation there’s some severely dubious sexual issues going on here. Firstly the Valkyries are all virgins – thousand year old virgins by the command of Odin. This could have been used to present Odin’s oppressive patriarchy- but no-one treats his demand as unreasonable, only his harsh punishment of Kara, a Valkyrie who broke it – as wrong. The other Valkyries MAINTAIN their virginity after they have left his side. On top of this Kara, that one Valykrie who broke the taboo, is continually sex shamed, throws herself relentlessly at Korvain and is generally cringe worthy in her utter desperation to get laid. This is also the totality of her character. And Frigg, villainous lady that she is, is of course an adulteress who tries to seduce, well, every man she sees and, again, is lacking anything else in terms of characterisation – she hates Odin (because she’s jealous of the oh-so-chaste valykries) and wants to have sex with any and all men. She is slut shamed pretty horrendously for this including the line:

“She was the one who ushered people in between her legs like it was a movie theatre about to close its doors for the screening”

Demonised or pitiable sexual woman cast against virginal protagonists of purity? That’s a trope

Then there’s Taer, the sister of Korvain’s best friend. Why does she exist? To have a crush on Korvain (like all women everywhere it seems) and to be extra angst and leverage as bad guys force menfolk’s co-operation by threatening her with rape and murder. That’s pretty much the entire point of her.