Review: Ullr's Fangs

Ullr's Fangs by Katharine E. Wibell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Five-star ratings are extremely rare for me, yet Katharine E. Wibell’s Issaura’s Claws came extremely close to receiving such a rating. It did, however, leave me with the belief the future books in the Incarn Saga would be more than capable of pulling one such rare rating from me. Thus, it should come as no surprise to find out I was more than willing to dive into Ullr’s Fangs.

With Issaura’s Claws, there was so much I adored. The world building. The development of the mythology. The action. The wonderful characters. The magic. The list of things I enjoyed goes on and on, and I was hoping for a repeat performance from Ullr’s Fangs. Although I did enjoy this second instalment of the Incarn Saga, I did not enjoy this second book as much as I enjoyed the first. It continues the story forward, it introduces us to new things, and it is certainly fun, but it did not pack the same punch as the first book.

I’m going to be honest and admit that part of the blame can be placed at my own feet. I read Issaura’s Claws quite some time ago, when it first came out, meaning there was quite a bit of a time lapse between my reading of the first book and the second. I could remember a lot of things, but there were some gaps in my knowledge. There were some things I could not entirely remember, and this made Ullr’s Fangs difficult to get into at first. I found myself trying to recall the small details, and there were some points where I found it difficult to do so. In other words, you should refresh your memory of book one before diving into book two, as it’s such a complicated world and it is difficult to remember every tiny detail.

As I said, it was only part of the blame that was to be placed at my own feet. Compared to the first book, this one is quite slow at the start, and I found myself wanting the same kind of intense high that I experienced with the first book. Due to this, I did spend quite a bit of part one waiting for things to pick up. By part two, however, the story really does get moving – and it’s at this point that I stopped fearing I would potentially be handing a three-star rating to a book I’d been so eager to dive into.

Once things were moving forward at a rapid pace, things were almost as fun as the first book. The world continues to build in an amazing manner. The creatures of the world come to life even more. We are introduced to new elements. The characters are a lot of fun – the new and the old. The issues dealt with are amazing, again. There is more in regards to the romance. There was plenty of action. Like the first book, there was so much to be found in this second book, making it a powerful second book – it just didn’t wow me to quite the same degree as the first book did.

Overall, this was a fun second book, and I’ll certainly continue to read Katharine E. Wibell in the future.

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