In this fantasy adventure, based on Finnish folk tales, Aina and Siiri – childhood best friends – face the old Finnish gods that their fellow countrymen and women had been losing faith in since the Swedes invaded their country, bringing their Christian God with them.

The story is told from the two perspectives of the friends, as Aina is kidnapped by a Death Goddess and must try to survive the land of the dead, Tuonela, and a mad queen who plans to sacrifice her and other young girls for fun. Meanwhile Siiri embarks on a quest to save her friend by finding a legendary shaman and bringing back the old gods to the land they seem to have forsaken.

It is a story of fierce femininity of ALL kinds – soft, strong, sharp, powerful, rough, gentle, kind, cruel – and of all kinds of love too. Love between a man and woman, between women, between parent and child, between mentor and disciple, between humanity and their gods. The storytelling is compelling, incorporating folklore and mythology into a powerful new legendary tale.

For a while, towards the start of the story, I thought this was a teen/YA coming-of-age story, then I thought it was more of a dark romantasy of the adult kind. Actually, it is both of those, and a fairytale, and an LGBTQIA love story, and probably more besides. I would recommend North is the Night for those who like stories of death, the underworld, goddesses and heroines, and women-centred narratives of all kinds.

That book was brilliant! I highly recommend it to those of you that want an immersive experience in the depths of Finnish mythology and folklore!

2 ⭐️ A lot of potential, but unfortunately, not for me.

The combination of its many plotlines and the writting style made this a very difficult book to enjoy, and it ended up not working for me. There’s a lot going on here, and while some elements are intriguing, the story feels overstuffed and unfocused. I think if it had stuck to just one or two central themes, it could have been... better? Honestly, idk. I just know I'm kind of confuse and I don't love it.

The book weaves in Finnish folklore in a way that felt beautiful, which I think was the one true highlight for me. The dual POV structure, and the alternating between the mortal realm and Tuonela (the Finnish Underworld), added depth to the narrative. The world-building is rich and atmospheric, and I appreciated the unique mythological elements that set this story apart from other fantasy novels.

However, the sheer number of plotlines—ranging from a rescue mission to an impending cultural clash between the Finns and Swedes, and even the crumbling state of Tuonela—made the story feel off. Each of the ideas could have been compelling on its own, but together, they competed for attention and left me feeling disconnected from the characters and their journeys. It felt like the jumping between POVs left just as it needed to stay.

Additionally, while the book was marketed as sapphic, and there was, well, basically none of that. The FF here fell so flat for me. The "main relationship" lacks the depth and chemistry needed to make it believable or emotionally impactful in any romantic aspect. I was honestly so sad about it, and I have to admit I ended up skimming some parts. I had hoped for a stronger focus on the connection between the two girls, and then we get another character -a male character- that immidiatly felt like... Anyway, just, yeah... Not great in the romance department so if you -like me-are reading it expecting to find Emily Rath Romantic Goodness, I'm afraid you too will be dissapointed.

I’m honestly not in a rush to continue the series. I'm a bit on the fence about it, so we'll see.

In the end, North Is the Night is not what I expected, but maybe it was exactly what it needed to be? I just know it wasn't for me. It has a strong foundation in its folklore-inspired world-building and intriguing plotlines, but the lack of focus and the underdeveloped relatioship between main characters kept it from being a standout read for me. If you’re a fan of mythology-based fantasy with a unique cultural twist, it might still be worth a try— especially if you don't want a lot of romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC! This review has already been posted on Goodreads and my website!

https://andreareadsromance.wordpress.com/2025/03/01/north-is-the-night-by-emily-rath/

A fantasy inspired by Finnish folklore, this is a dark tale of two friends with a lot to overcome. Anna is kidnapped and must outwit a Witch Queen and bargain with the King of Death to escape meanwhile Siiri sets out on a dangerous quest to find her friend and bring her home. I found the mythology in this story interesting as it was new to me and felt fresh. I really liked both of the main characters and loved reading from each of their POV. I also liked the characters we met along the way. The romance didn't grab me the way I hoped it would however the story of friendship and the plot was more than enough to keep me on board.

The incorporation of Finnish folklore was the primary attraction of this novel and I really loved that combination of legend and mythology.. The beautifully evocative descriptions of landscape created a real sense of place, adding so much texture and richness to the story.

Unfortunately the characters themselves didn't quite connect with me in the same way and I wasn't entirely convinced by their individual development over the course of the book.

Overall an intriguing read, but just not to my personal taste.

I went in to the story with high hopes, but to be honest, it was a chore to finish it. It took me several months. There were many things that simply just didn't work for me, but the most annoying one was jumping from one POV to the other one, when the story finally got a tiny bit interesting. Way to smother any enjoyment. And I don't know, what happened, but I just couldn't vibe with author's writing style, though I liked her previous books very much. The story is advertised as a sapphic ride in the Finnish underworld, but the relationship between the MCs felt underdeveloped, more friendly than anything else, especially since they were separated for most of the story. And I felt more feelings between, ok, that would be a spoiler, so I'm just going to shut up and leave it at that.

I’ve been a fan of Emily’s through her hockey books and ea excited for this foray into fantasy. I loved the Finnish folklore and the relationship between the sisters. But struggled with the romantic elements and the believability.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I feel like my review to this book sits in two halves.
For the first half, the story was woven intricately with gorgeous descriptions, a dark and twisting narrative alongside a fairytale-esque flow to the writing. The overall storytelling throughout this book was gorgeous, and is what kept me reading throughout.

The book itself is a dual narrative, following Siiri and Aina, best friends and soul mates in a fast-changing mythical Finland. The book is based on Fiinish folklore which I found intriguing as I don’t know very much about, and I enjoyed discovering that along the way and contained a lot of political/religious commentary to do with the Swedish invasion of Finland.

The realm of Tuonela (the land of the dead) was dark and mysterious, and had the right level of horror to keep it interesting without being too jarring.

The first 30% of this book was promising!

The focus was on the strength of these young women, their cunning and resilience. Both characters were amazing individuals who never gave up on their goals.

For the middle portion of the book, I’m afraid this lost me. Aina ended up in a relationship of convenience where the man “called the shots” and was incredibly manipulative. I get that there was a sense of her becoming trapped, and she had her little redemption arc of becoming “powerful” but this power purely came from her partnership rather than of her own finding, which honestly felt like such a disservice to the character. The uncomfortable scenes with the “romance” between them completely brought me out of the immersive reading experience I’d had up until that halfway point.

I did however enjoy the last 20% of the book, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to chance my mind on how I experienced the majority of the book.

All in all, I found the writing style very beautiful, and I would read more by this author. Unfortunately I just found this book to be a little too long, and inconsistent in its character portrayals.

This story was absolutely amazing! I loved learning about Finnish mythology, and it added to the story is such an original way. The characters were diverse, and I really loved to read from Aina and Siiri’s perspectives.
The story talks about love and friendship in such a lovely way. I loved that the story didn’t feel like it was just made up of tropes. However, it seems the story was meant to be about sapphic love, even soul mates, but that element didn’t really hit home for me. It almost felt like the climax of realising love was forgotten.
The overall climax seemed to be about feminine power, but it never really felt fully climactic, I kept waiting for something bigger to happen.
That being said, I did really love this story. The landscape, folklore, and vibe of the story were amazing!
4.5 stars

North Is The Night was whimsical and enchanting, the setting of a winter forest and the dark underworld was perfect!

Both main characters Aina and Siiri had distinctive personalities and journeys, neither storyline was slow or boring, the both had my interest and every time I had to put the book down I couldn’t wait to get back to it.

The story was perfectly paced and engaging and I am so excited for book 2!

I really enjoyed this book, the Finnish folklore is really interesting and it's what made me request it in the first place. There was some info dumping at the beginning, and the relationships weren't the most believable, but each character's journey made up for it.

don't ever compare this to "the bear and the nightingale" ever again.

this book wasn't really my cup of tea. let's start off with the good!! the characters were alright - i did like our two female protagonists most of the time, i thought they were interesting and both were incredibly persistent and never gave up, which is always admirable. plus they were extremely dedicated to each other, but i'll get more into that later...

"come kings and queens, shamans and gods, witches and wolves, siiri and aina will always find their way back to each other."

the world building was nice. the finnish mythology was intriguing and atmospheric, and i liked the majority of the magic and the snowy, dark, winter vibes.
plus i did really like the platonic father-daughter bond, i love grumpy-old-man-and-young-annoying-girl dynamic - i will always eat it up, be it "the last of us", "the witcher", anything. those two were cutie patooties, and i kinda wish the book had centered around them!

"he sighs, shoulders sagging in defeat. "to know you is to love you, siiri jarintyttar."
i smile. "i love you, too, old man."

now we have the not so good. the "romance". *cue the eye twitching*
i didn't know all that much going in - i requested this book from netgalley months ago and then preceded to ignore it for another 4 months after i received a copy. but my god, no one has ever been more confused than me trying to work out whether these girls were in love or just really good friends. and you'd think that's easy to divine - but no. one sec they were sisters, the next they were in love, the next one of them was in love with some other guy - i truly truly could not keep up. and i wasn't really feeling it, to be so honest. i feel either the author should've gone hard with the sapphic vibe and i would've eaten it up, or should've just taken it out, because it felt a bit like a little extra something thrown in at the end, instead of woven into the story.

and i'm not sure it can be called romance - but i wasn't loving whatever was happening between aina and the king of the underworld. it felt very manipulative, very power-imbalance type of relationship. they did not seem healthy, or make much sense at all. i wasn't a fan.

also the plotline. please choose a plot and stick to it - i could not keep up with everything going on, and i fear this book mostly felt like a prequel for book 2, because there were 7 different storylines beginning. there were the evil christians (honestly an interesting plot point for sure - but naturally the least developed), aina being dragged to the underworld, siiri going on a little march north and befriending this old shaman, then a bunch more spoilery plot points but damn... i kinda couldn't keep up. that could be because of my skimming though - so take this criticism with a grain of salt.

"because our lives are measured by the risks we take to help those in need when their need is greatest."

overall, this one was a bit disappointing. thank you nonetheless to the author, publisher and netgalley for the arc copy provided!

A fantasy inspired by Finnish folklore, this is a dark tale of two friends with a lot to overcome. Anna is kidnapped and must outwit a Witch Queen and bargain with the King of Death to escape meanwhile Siiri sets out on a dangerous quest to find her friend and bring her home. I found the mythology in this story interesting as it was new to me and felt fresh. I really liked both of the main characters and loved reading from each of their POV. I also liked the characters we met along the way. The romance didn't grab me the way I hoped it would however the story of friendship and the plot was more than enough to keep me on board.

I did love this book and enjoyed learning more about folkloric Finland stories and culture even if it was a steep learning curve form the info dumping at the start. I am struggling to rate this book as I loved the adventurous journey each character took but I just didn’t buy the relationships. My frustration also lies in the marriage of convenience (probably because I would have loved to marry the god of death 😂), the constant will they won’t they vibe and when you get to thinking she will stay, doing a 180 and then wanting to leave.

North is the Night is one of the books I have been excited about reading in 2025 and was lucky to get an advanced copy via NetGalley. This book is inspired by Finnish Folklore and is the story of two young women Siiri and Aina, from a small village, where they live and work with their families. Whilst near the shore of the lake, Aina is kidknapped by Väinämöinen, a goddess of death who takes her to the underwold. This is the catalyst that sets both young women on a seperate perilous journey to save each other.

I really love fantasy books that take inspiration from the folklore of different civilisations around the world. Norse mythology is well known but Fnnish folklore/mythology is new to me and I really enjoyed learning about it. Emily Rath’s depiction of the Tuonetar, the Everlasting Night was wonderful imagined, and filled with dark magic. I loved that there were different goddesses of death, for the many ways in which you could die; Vammatar the goddess of evil and misfortune, Kiputyttö the goddess of pain and Tuonetar the Goddess herself. There is plenty of light to combat the darkness in the world above with goddesses of the forest etc, bears and a Shaman who help Siiri on her quest. As well as the mythology angle, there is the history of Finland, with the invasion of Swedes who are taking over their land and bringing in the new religion of one God rather than the many Gods and Goddesses of their folklore, something Sirri, her family and their felow villagers want to fight back against. This is part of what inspires Sirri to take her journey to the north, to find a shaman and fulfill a prophecy.

North is the Night is very much a female driven book, with empowering female characters. Siiri and Aina, best friends, are different in character, Aina gentle and kind whilst Sirri is headstrong, stubborn and confident, taking on a journey that most men wouldn’t survive. I really enjoyed Aina’s story, how when put in a dangerous situation she came into her own, using intelligence and cunning to help save herself and others who were also kidnapped. Both characters were selfless in their different journey’s and both faced frightening situations that could have killed either of them. These characters are drawn with heart with qualities that made me really get behind them, wanting them to succeed, and being on the edge of my chair when they faced danger. As well as human characters I really loved the animals the girls met on their journey; Halls the reindeer, Kal the bear and Jaako the raven.

North is the Night is a spellbinding and magical read. I loved the mix of folklore and fantasy, the detailed imagining of the world of the dead and those who live there, and the different Goddesses that are important to Finnish culture. Emily wrath has written a mesmerising and masterful story, with relatable characters who I cared about and am looking forward to seeing again in the second book. For fantasy fans who love magical lands and folklore, and kick ass female characters this is a must a read, it lived up to all my expectations and more.

What a wonderful book to read with is magical, mythical, romantic fantasy it makes for an enchanting read. The story is so well written, it flows really well and I love the characters which captivated me and made me want to read more. I could visualise everything that was described in this book, it made it all that much more real.

A book that draws you in, entertains you, and makes a fantasy jump off the pages at you. I loved it and look forward to seeing what comes next.

Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was something completely different than what I am used to from Emily and I loved it. It's a Finnish folklore inspired fantasy duet.
It follows Siiri and Aina during the upcoming Finnish winter as they both get attacked. Siiri vows to protect Aina but she can not stop a goddess of death from taking Aina to Tuonela, the mythical underworld. She sets out on a journey to go and save her best friend from the land of the death. Meanwhile Aina fights to survive the land of the death as a cruel Witch queen rules Tuonela.
The world building for this book was absolutely amazing! I loved learning about all the gods and goddesses of this world. Seeing Siiri's determination to help her friend and Aina's kindness in a place that gave her nothing was really something. Both of these girls went on a life changing journey. I am excited to see what the next book has in store. There were so many intriguing side characters that I would love to know more about.

This one was, unfortunately, not for me. I DNF at 40%. I was immersive reading, so listening to the audio and eyeball reading at the same time but I wasn’t invested in what was going on or any of the characters. Due to not finishing the book, I will not be rating it publicly. A book not being for me doesn’t make it a bad book and I don’t think it’s fair to the author to down rate a book that I haven’t even fully read. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

I knew next to nothing about Finnish stories and mythology before picking up this book and now I certainly know a lot more than before! The amount of names and characters were an info-dump and I’m still reeling from it all.

I’m aware that Sarah J.Maas has referenced Northern European mythology in some of her ACOTAR books, and there was a definite similarity in some characters and situations, so it felt familiar in place.

The dual POV works really well for pace and tension. I felt that Siiri’s character mastered new skills rather quickly and found Aina more relatable in her actions and resourcefulness. The book is part of a duaology but works well on its own.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was so excited to read about folklore and mythology that is competely new to me. It's one of my favourite things to learn so was keen to get to this. The story itself was intriguing, but unfortunately, it just dragged so much. The same story could have been told with 150 pages less. I found it to be a bit info dumpy and it felt like I had been reading it forever.

For a book that was marketed as Sapphic, I had a very hard time establishing exactly when and where this was supposed to happen. It was mentioned a fair amount, but you don't see it. This was also supposed to be a feminist book but apart from a couple of cringey girl power lines, Siiri's "girl power" moments came when she murdered men that tried to sexualy assault her and forcing an immortal shaman to teach her everything they knew and Aina's came from an arranged marriage to the God of death, who was a really manipulative character.

All in all, this has the bones to be a really good book, but it just read more like a dragged out setup for the second book. One that I have no interest in reading.