Hessa is an Eangi: a warrior priestess of the Goddess of War, with the power to turn an enemy's bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess's command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.
While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa - the last Eangi - must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess' favour.
Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa's trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.
Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up.
The Review:
Hall of Smoke is a fantastic read that is full of Gods; fake gods, children of gods, real gods, dead gods, banished gods...and lots of Viking vibes. Hessa is a warrior and a priestess of the goddess of war, Eang and she is on a mission to protect her people from invaders and redeem herself in the eyes of her goddess for failing to fulfill a very important task given to her directly from Eang. Failure isn't an option, and yet as is all too commonplace for us mere mortals, arguably inevitably. Except it isn't just one single failure, it's a load of them. Hessa kind of has really, really bad timing and her access to all of the pieces of the puzzle for the bigger picture make it all the more inevitable that she fail. Over and over and over again. Seriously, it's painful how many times she messes up abysmally. It isn't until she takes some power for herself and starts acting for her people, not necessarily for the will of her goddess that things begin coming together for her. Although, the pain only gets worse. I love how she just doesn't quit, even when maybe she should. The book is full of ritual and magic and the bonds that Hessa makes and breaks. I couldn't figure out what was happening, even up to the last little bit when suddenly BAM! There it is. Basically, I would recommend this book to anyone who really likes vikings and gods going to war with each other, naturally dragging their mortal devotees into the mire right alongside them. A word of warning, however; it's gory as hell. Seriously, some parts are pretty graphic. Ultimately though, totally worth it if you have the stomach for it. Five out five.
Also, don't be an idiot like me: there's a glossary at the back to help you pronounce the characters' names properly. I unfortunately realized this much too late and so I've been calling them butchered versions that are nowhere close to right, not that it matters ultimately.
