Here are 100 books that The Valkyrie fans have personally recommended if you like
The Valkyrie.
Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.
I am an art historian, curator, and speculative fiction writer from Croatia, and I’ve always been in love with folklore, mythology, and all things ancient. In my work, I always try to blend real historical details with magic, and I adore secondary worlds that are immersive and solid enough to walk into yet different from our own.
This is a perfect wintry read for me: a book set in the dark, snow-laden forests filled with dangerous creatures who stepped right out of the Russian folk tales.
I love the main protagonist, Vasya, a brave, stubborn girl who fights to protect her family. I found the story immersive and unputdownable, filled with darkness and enchanting beauty, and I wholeheartedly recommend it, as well as its two sequels in the Winternight Trilogy.
_____________________________ Beware the evil in the woods...
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church.
But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods. . .
I am an art historian, curator, and speculative fiction writer from Croatia, and I’ve always been in love with folklore, mythology, and all things ancient. In my work, I always try to blend real historical details with magic, and I adore secondary worlds that are immersive and solid enough to walk into yet different from our own.
This is a story of monsters and magic and a dark fantasy that is–finally–properly dark.
It is not an easy read since it describes domestic violence, abuse, and other kinds of dark depravity. However, it is also a beautiful take on one of the most disturbing Grimm tales, with a heroine I rooted for from the beginning and a fractured, twisted romance I loved.
'A tale of fear and survival, hope and yearning and defiance, in timelessly elegant prose. It will enchant you, break your heart, and chill you to the very marrow.' Samantha Shannon on The Wolf and the Woodsman
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman comes a gothic retelling of The Juniper Tree, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father. Perfect for fans of Angela Carter, Catherynne M. Valente and Shirley Jackson _________________________________
A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.…
I am an art historian, curator, and speculative fiction writer from Croatia, and I’ve always been in love with folklore, mythology, and all things ancient. In my work, I always try to blend real historical details with magic, and I adore secondary worlds that are immersive and solid enough to walk into yet different from our own.
This book is an enchanting, heartbreaking tale about three sisters in the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, trapped in a web of a broken family, treachery, and lies.
I loved this book because the author took an ancient folk ballad, “The Twa Sisters,” and turned it into a beautiful story. I was pulled in by the dreamy, poetic tone of the book, the underlying sadness and sense of loss, and the atmosphere of a disappearing world.
In a magical ancient Britain, bards sing a story of treachery, love and death. This is that story. For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Lucy Holland's Sistersong retells the folk ballad 'The Twa Sisters.'
'A beautiful reimagining of an old British folklore ballad, Sistersong weaves a captivating spell of myth and magic' - Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
King Cador's children inherit a land abandoned by the Romans, torn by warring tribes. Riva can cure others, but can't heal her own scars. Keyne battles to be seen as the king's son, although born a daughter. And Sinne dreams of love,…
I am an art historian, curator, and speculative fiction writer from Croatia, and I’ve always been in love with folklore, mythology, and all things ancient. In my work, I always try to blend real historical details with magic, and I adore secondary worlds that are immersive and solid enough to walk into yet different from our own.
This book is a deliciously dark and devious story about a clever governess bent on revenge trapped in a haunted mansion.
The author plays with so many dark folklore elements, like witches, werewolves, and ghosts, in a masterful way. This was a page-turner for me; it was enchanting and entertaining, and it had a dark feminist bent, where women are just as bad as men.
A lush and twisted dark fairy tale suffused with witchcraft, dark secrets and bitter revenge from the award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones. Exquisite, haunting and at times brutal, readers of Naomi Novik and Erin Morgenstern will be entranced.
Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible - and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in…
I’m a former high school teacher and college professor of French who discovered a passion for medieval history while earning my MA in French Literature. When I spent a summer studying in Normandy, I was fascinated by the Viking influences and vestiges in that region of France. I researched tales of Valkyrie and Nordic shield maiden warriors who fought alongside their fearsome men, finding inspiration for my own medieval novel. Winter Solstice in the Crystal Castle features a fire-hearted French princess descended from Viking Valkyrie who wields a sword to defend her Breton kingdom and forge her own destiny.
Rúna Isaksson is feisty, fiery Viking who, as the heir to her father’s jarldom, will soon replace him as the leader of their clan.
Since she must marry a warrior from another clan to form a powerful alliance, her father creates a contest to determine the strongest suitor. Determined to choose her own husband, Rúna demands to compete as well—and finds herself battling the man she once loved whose heart is as hardened as his warrior body.
I loved how Rúna was a fierce Viking, a shield maiden supremely skilled with a blade. And I adored the passionate romance between Jordan, the warrior who loved and respected Rúna as his equal.
Heir to her father's Jarldom, Rúna Isaksson will soon ascend to replace him as leader, but first she must marry a warrior from another clan to form a powerful alliance. When her father creates a contest to determine the strongest suitor, Rúna demands to compete as well--if she wins, she can choose her own husband. However, she's shocked to discover that her first love is amongst the competitors, the man who abandoned her without looking back. She must not let him win.
As a kid, I used to pretend I had unique powers, and I always wished it was real. So, stories including magic/powers give me a little taste of that. When the main character is in a learning setting, I get to see that magic is used more often, and I learn about the magic system and the world alongside the MC. Plus, I am a teacher by day, and it is cool to see how the education differs in those stories. Lastly, I have always been fascinated by mythical creatures and the cultures they come from, and I enjoy any story with them included.
This was the first book series I read with an academy that included magic and mythology, and it sparked my interest in those kinds of books. I also love learning about Nike, the goddess of Victory, and psychometry magic, which I have never read about anywhere else. I wish I could touch something and learn its history as the MC does.
I like the romance in the story and how the main character, who is an outcast, slowly starts to find long-lasting friends. I also like how she learns about and develops her unique power and becomes a goddess’ champion. I have read the series about three times.
When Jasmine Ashton is murdered in the Library of Antiquities, Gwen Frost is determined to find out who killed the girl after she realizes she should have been the one that died.
I’ve been immersed in Norse Myth for more than a decade and writing books about the Gods I’ve always wanted to read. My Fate of the Gods trilogy is a mythic mash-up of Biblical, Norse, Greek, and Egyptian myth, and writing as Amalia Carosella, my book Daughter of a Thousand Yearsis Viking age historical fiction about Freydis, the daughter of Erik the Red. Additionally, as a Norse Pagan polytheist myself, finding books that do justice to the Gods in our modern world is that much more important to me than your average reader - I’m always looking to celebrate the books that bring them to life!
Dancing around the edges of Ragnarok with a focus on one of the most obscure gods he could find, Norse Code brings us into a world where the gods have adapted and adopted modern technology to gather warriors to Odin’s cause—defeating the forces of darkness and bringing about a new golden age to the world. Because van Eekhout approaches the myth of Ragnarok from Hermod’s perspective (along with a Valkyrie named Mist), he frees himself from the proscribed roles so many other gods are fated to play and offers us a fresh take on a well-known and well-trod story.
The NorseCODE genome project was designed to identify descendants of Odin. What it found was Kathy Castillo, a murdered MBA student brought back from the dead to serve as a valkyrie in the Norse god’s army. Given a sword and a new name, Mist’s job is to recruit soldiers for the war between the gods at the end of the world—and to kill those who refuse to fight.
But as the twilight of the gods descends, Mist makes other plans.
Journeying across a chaotic American landscape already degenerating into violence and madness, Mist hopes…
Nancy Marie Brown is the author of seven books about Iceland and the Viking Age, including The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman, and the award-winning Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths. Her books combine extremes: medieval literature and modern archaeology, myths and facts. They ask, What have we overlooked? What have we forgotten? Whose story must not be lost? A former science writer and editor at a university magazine, she lives on a farm in northern Vermont and spends part of each summer in Iceland.
In the “traders vs. raiders” approach to Viking history, women stay home and look after the farm while the men go off on adventures. Three books published in the 1990s by Judith Jesch and Jenny Jochens brought the lives of these women out of the shadows, showing how vital their role was.
In Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World, Jóhanna Kristín Friðriksdóttir brings these early studies up to date. With her mastery of detail from the Icelandic sagas, Friðriksdóttir follows an ordinary Viking woman from birth to death. She tells stories of women who are bold and successful, others who are battered and victimized.
She hopes to introduce us, she says, “to the diverse and fascinating texts recorded in medieval Iceland, a culture able to imagine women in all kinds of roles carrying power.” Like the mythical valkyries of her title, these are “women who decided.” To learn…
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE
Valkyries: the female supernatural beings that choose who dies and who lives on the battlefield. They protect some, but guide spears, arrows and sword blades into the bodies of others. Viking myths about valkyries attempt to elevate the banality of war - to make the pain and suffering, the lost limbs and deformities, the piles of lifeless bodies of young men, glorious and worthwhile. Rather than their death being futile, it is their destiny and good fortune, determined by divine beings. The women in these stories take full part in the power struggles…
I’m a former middle school teacher and high school athletics coach. I’ve spent so much time trying to nurture many students as they try to navigate growing up and figuring out who they are. I draw from their tragic stories in hopes of showing students that they’re not alone in their struggles. I also draw snippets from my challenging childhood that, in recent years, I realized I had to cut my father and stepmother out of my life because of how psychologically abusive and manipulative they are. The upside is my self-worth has significantly improved. I hope to empower others through my books.
Ragnarok Unwound by Kristin Jacques is an incredible storyteller that paints vivid pictures and builds an engaging cast of characters.
I love how her stories compel me to keep reading to find out what happens next. The stories are real, raw, and relatable. You’ll find yourself rooting for the hero to overcome all obstacles.
Just ask Ikepela Ives, whose estranged mother left her with the power to unravel the binding threads of fate. Stuck with immortal power in a mortal body, Ives has turned her back on the duty she never wanted.
But it turns out she can't run from her fate forever, not now that Ragnarok has been set in motion and the god at the center of that tangled mess has gone missing. With a ragtag group of companions-including a brownie, a Valkyrie, and the goddess of death herself-Ives embarks on her first official mission as Fate Cipher-to…
I've always been interested in Native American culture, while at the same time horrified at the way most European settlers treated them. (My best friend as a child was Native American.) Without consciously planning on it, many of my other books and short stories feature Native American customs and characters—though not as thoroughly as Red Sky, Blue Moon. I've also always been fascinated by Viking history, though I only recently discovered I'm a direct descendant of a fairly famous Viking—Rollo. I had no particular expertise with these cultures when I began this book, but I spent many hours of research to be sure I got everything right.
I loved the use of Norse mythology and culture in this book, which is the first in a series. Once again I was enveloped in marvelous world-building and a society from Earth that both transformed and stayed the same, light years away from where it originated. It's full of beautiful language and astounding images. Many stories are described as "epic," but this one truly is. I also like how it's sometimes difficult to tell the heroes from the villains because the characters are all so well-rounded.
It all began with Ragnarok, with the Children of the Light and the Tarniished Ones battling to the death in the ice and the dark. At the end of the long battle, one Valkyrie survived, and one valraven - the steeds of the Valkyrie. Because they lived, Valdyrgard was not wholly destroyed. Because the valraven was transformed in the last miracle offered to a Child of the Light, Valdyrgard was changed to a world where magic and technology worked hand in hand. More than two thousand years later, Muire is in the last city on the dying planet, where the…
