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Valhalla (Valhalla, #1)

Ari Bach

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Feb 12, 2016 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: age-ya, dystopia, 2016

Violet has no idea what to do with her future, since her aptitude tests give her only the option of the army, which she would love but her parents don't want for her... until they are murdered by the Orange Gang and Violet ends up killing several members of the gang. Now she's free to join the army, even as she has vowed revenge against the leader of the gang. Her time in the army is short-lived, after which she is recruited for Valhalla, a secret army that seeks to keep the gangs and pirates an Violet has no idea what to do with her future, since her aptitude tests give her only the option of the army, which she would love but her parents don't want for her... until they are murdered by the Orange Gang and Violet ends up killing several members of the gang. Now she's free to join the army, even as she has vowed revenge against the leader of the gang. Her time in the army is short-lived, after which she is recruited for Valhalla, a secret army that seeks to keep the gangs and pirates and other evil groups in check.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I felt like the first half of the book was bogged down with world-building. First it was the futuristic world Violet lived in, where everyone has a port in their heads and learns via the internet, basically meaning that they don't have to learn anything, and everything is owned by a corporation. Then she's in the world of the army, where she has no port which means she actually has to learn things on her own and she has a structure, which she loves. Then it's the world of Valhalla, where everyone works in teams of four for missions and has to change their name to the same letter of their squad (conventiently Violet ends up on the V team).

Aside from the world building, I had a hard time connecting with Violet. Throughout most of the story she is described as having no emotions - she feels nothing when her parents are killed, but then she vows revenge that carries through the rest of the story? It is a little more realistic when she realizes at the end that she has feelings for one of her teammates, but given the similarities in their names I had a hard time really differentiating them. Also, it was hard to really feel like everything was on the line or truly dangerous when apparently those in Valhalla can be basically resurrected after being killed.

So, while this had a lot of action and gore, this got a bit too bogged down in the world building for me. It felt a bit like Red Rising but without a protagonist I cared about. ...more

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Aug 08, 2016 Bryn marked it as to-read

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