Oh my. This story just about killed me dead. I love Lee Savino and her stories, and I've been dying for more Berserker books, because I love the Berserkers. It was worth the wait, even if it made me all verklempt at times. I was sad and worried and hopeful. It was a roller coaster, but one I was glad to take. Even if I did get emotional. I think that Svein, Dagg, and Fern are going to be my second favorite trio.

Fern was one of the orphan spaewives that were taken from the abbey by the Berserkers. She met her mates, Svein and Dagg, when they grabbed her and carried her away. She got to spend a blissful couple of days with her mates before the Corpse King came and attacked them. Now she lives in a lodge on the mountain with all the unmated spaewives and young orphans, isolated on the mountain, listening to the wolves howl. Some of the Berserkers who guard them tell her that the monsters have gotten too close to the mountain and they are going to be driven away.

I love how strong Fern is. She knows what she needs to do and she goes out in the middle of the night in the middle of a blizzard to do what she knows needs to be done. That can't have been an easy thing to do. She was definitely stronger than she knew and much stronger than anyone else thought. Svein and Dagg had a lot to deal with and it couldn't have been easy for them at any point.

I am dying to see how what happened in this book moves the story ahead, because there are going to be huge things coming, and I can't wait. ( )