The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston [Review]

The Unleashing (Call of Crows #1) by Shelly Laurenston
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 24, 2016

Call of Crows
1. The Unleashing - Paperback | Kindle
2. The Undoing
3. The Unyielding

Shelly Laurenston
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstöm has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

Thoughts on The Unleashing: For me, one of the big draws of a Shelly Laurenston book is the unabashed camaraderie between the characters. They fight and love and fight some more and have their comrades backs when the chips are down. Plus, there's the whole crazy friends thing. People who get off on creating a little mayhem before heading out to drinks make me laugh.

Needless to say the various characters and clans introduced in this series hit all my happy buttons. They're crazy. They fight like madmen. They have issues they need to deal with. Oh, and there's that whole pesky gods and monsters thing. It's no wonder they're all willing to live large and do the things that make them happy.

So. Kera and Vig. Kera has a few adjustments to make to her new life. Vig is probably the sweetest borderline stalker in the history of stalkers. He's might be unmatched on the battlefield, but he gets a little tongue tied around his lady. Yeah, he's seriously sweet and scary at the same time. Gotta love that.

I liked the crazy. I liked how casual the warriors were about the carnage they caused. I liked a lot about this book. Norse mythology is nice and twisted and I imagine there will be plenty more crazy times down the line.