Book Review: "Dead Radiance" A Valkyrie Novel by TG Ayer

Thanks to a generous author, I downloaded Dead Radiance via a Kindle freebie day. I'd never read a book based on Norse Mythology before, and I was curious but also reluctant. There was something about the cover of the novel that gave me pause and I'm still unsure why.
Regardless, I thought, try something new.
Dead radiance centers around an orphan girl by the name of Bryn Halbrook. Passed around from foster home to foster home, Bryn finally settles into a semi-ordinary life in the town of Craven. An understanding foster mother, loving foster siblings, and friend to now ease the all consuming feelings of neglect deep down, Bryn still can't find happiness.
The past and the present haunt her.
A strange glow is emitted from the people she cares about and it soon becomes clear that Bryn is far from ordinary, the glow not some essence of gleaming goodness, but a foretelling of certain death.
Losing people starts to become familiar for Bryn. A heart already rocked by the death of her father and a childhood of broken homes, foreseeing death adds to the pile of questions surrounding her unnatural gift. Finding Aidan never came at a better time. Handsome, intriguing, and downright distracting, Bryn is soon desperately in love with the biker boy filled with the promise of hope but also burdened with a twisted agenda. He knows the truth of her origins, the truth of her abilities, and now also holds the key to her heart. The crazy thing is - it's only the beginning. An unfolding of a whole other realm and backlog of historical information is soon thrown at you. Wings, swords, Asgard and the food of the Gods. How did such an  ordinary story about girl meets boy soon become the epic telling of the Valkyries?
You'll have to read Dead Radiance to find out.
What I truly appreciated the most in this novel was that the author had a real sense of appreciation for words. The imagery was beautiful, each sentence hand-crafted to paint an explicit picture of detail. I always had a sense of what I was looking at in my mind's eye - a clear image of character detail and surrounding scenes. Yes, there were some spelling and punctuation errors, but aren't there always some in a novel? And it certainly wasn't enough to be distracting.
The characters themselves were well written and easy to relate. There were no major deviations in character growth or portrayal which was greatly appreciated given the course of ultimate change that the novel takes on. There was nothing about the story that I didn't especially like but again, just like the cover image, there was something about it that didn't quite speak to me. However, I can happily give the book three out of five well deserved fangs.

Synopsis:
Bryn Halbrook had always seen the glow. But it is only when her best friend dies that she discovers the meaning of those beautiful golden auras - death. Alone, lost in the foster system, she struggles to understand who she is and why she was cursed with the ability to see the soon-to-be-dead.
The foster kid, Aidan, isn't helping any. Mr Perfect seems to fit in no matter what, making her feel even more pathetic. But when his affections turn to her, Bryn finds him hard to resist. Impossible actually. A mystery himself, Aidan disappears, leaving behind a broken heart and a mysterious book that suggests Bryn might not be entirely human.
Bryn stands at the threshold of a journey of discovery. Will destiny help her find herself, find her purpose and her place in a world in which she'd never belonged?

Kristy :)