Echoes of Valhalla

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2022

Author

NonbinaryFinery

• Chapter 64: Out of the fire, into the river.
  Jul 8, 2022
• Chapter 63: Morning Practice
  Jul 2, 2022
• Chapter 62: Impulsive Behavior.
  Jun 30, 2022
• Chapter 60: Recuperation and Renovations.
  Jun 28, 2022
• Chapter 60: More Questions than answers.
  Jun 24, 2022
• Chapter 59: Nattulv
  Jun 22, 2022
• Chapter 58: Agusti
  Jun 21, 2022
• Chapter 57: Ambition.
  Jun 17, 2022
• Chapter 56: Nightmare (II)
  Jun 16, 2022
• 55: Nightmare
  May 25, 2022
• Chapter 54: Overwhelmed.
  May 11, 2022
• Chapter 53: Convergence.
  May 6, 2022
• Chapter 52: Clever Critters
  May 3, 2022
• Chapter 51: "Rat extermination patrol. At your service."
  May 2, 2022
• Chapter 50: Homework sucks even when you're powerful.
  Apr 28, 2022
• Chapter 49: "You're a bit dense"
  Apr 26, 2022
• Chapter 48: Harmony and Discord
  Apr 25, 2022
• Chapter 47: Death and Rebirth
  Apr 21, 2022
• Chapter 46: The history of undeath
  Apr 20, 2022
• Chapter 45: "What goes around, comes around"
  Apr 19, 2022

Reviews

Community Reviews(5)

• OrbInAirRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  This story has a lot of the classic hallmarks of isekai and litrpg, but comes from a very different perspective. With a non-anglocentric setting and characters, as well as a non-binary lead, EoV brings enough fresh ideas and perspectives to the table to make even very familiar tropes feel new and full of potential.
  It's written in the standard style for a novel, with the litrpg elements blended in smoothly yet clearly marked. The main character's isekai nature helps the reader adjust to the litrpg conventions if they are unused to them, and for someone already familiar with the genre, the MC's interactions with the levels system serve as a sort of genre savvy-ness that makes them believably curious and engaged with their world, without being cocky comic relief.
  The writing is easy to follow, and there's never any error in vocabulary or syntax major enough to pull the reader out of the world. The grammar and spelling are a little patchy at times, but the mistakes are minor and the author is good about fixing them when they are pointed out.
  The characters - possibly the most like a D&D group of any story I've read here so far - are unique, interesting, and most importantly are given a depth that makes all of their interactions fascinating to observe. The MC isn't OP from the get-go, and neither are they the sole focus of everyone they meet; they are explicitly not the Chosen One, nor is anyone else. The internal lives of every character feel complex, making the world as a whole feel much bigger than what has been directly shown to the reader so far.
  The story is, like the characters, reminiscent of a TTRPG module for beginner characters. However, the drip-fed bits of worldbuilding scattered throughout the conversations and descriptions reveal a bigger picture to this story, and one that is far more character-driven than level-advancement-driven. This is not a video game plot pretending to be a novel; this is the first verse of an epic, and one likely to touch on a num
• AtroRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Let me preface this by saying that if you like the elements involved in this story, you should give it a shot. I've generally enjoyed the story so far and don't want to discourage someone from giving it a shot. That said.
  The grammar is bad. Regularly and in significant ways. I'm not sure if this is the author's native tongue or not. Or if this is because they're trying to get so much out so quickly that they barely do more then type and post. But here you'll find grammar, misspelled words, missing words, improper pronouns, and basically every other issue you could name regularly. It can and likely will throw you out of the story constantly. The author often tries to be descriptive and give you a very visual picture of what's going on around you, but that causes more problems for me as it just means I have that much more text to try and comb through to understand what's happening. Also hard for me is that the two most central characters, at the time I write this, have nearly identical names.
  Saga & Sasha, same start, same finish, and barely different middles. And almost exclusively written together at least at this point. It makes it significantly worse given I can't get in the flow of just reading because I'm having to watch spelling, or missing words. A bit of a pet peeve I suppose, but several other names are also unnecessarily close to each other. It just all increases the difficulty in reading this story.
  Style is generally fine. The highly descriptive writing would do a good job of making the setting feel more alive, we're it not for the grammar issues. I also think the author could comfortably take a step back from the Litrpg details. There are many levels one can take the tag to, from just a way to keep track of loose progress with no hard numbers, to a highly detailed hard numbers game where small percentages have big effects. The author seems to be trying for both, and it feels like the story suffers for it. They try to make a big deal out of levels and th
• Banner CaygeonRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  A few other reviews have commented on some grammar issues, and it looks like those are getting taken into account in further chapters, so good work by the author to incorporate those.
  The story is that of Saga, a non-binary cashier who immediately dies. The first chapter alone is full of 'Whoa!' moments, including things like 'conjuring a silver spear' this immediate jump into action serves this style of story very well, and the action continues in that fashion.
  The lead character, Saga, isn't fleshed out that much. Their background is, and why they are in the town that they are, but we don't get to find out much about they themself. A lot of other characters had vivid phsyical descriptions (raven hear, bear with skin torn off etc) but I don't think I read what Saga looks like. I kept trying to picture the story, but did have any visual prompts to help with the MC.
  On the positive side, this story is really funny. I'm not sure if the author is nordic, but it's full of dry nordic humour. In the afterlife, the MC's stomach grumbles, and the response is hilarious.
  On the setting side, it's really refreshing to read something that isn't medieval England-ish. Looking forward to more of that scene setting in future chapters.
  All in all, this is a fun, action packed progressive story set in a fresh place.
  Note for those reading the story: The MC is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. The author notes this in the chapter 1 header, but posting here just to boost that message. Also, big + for featuring the underrespresented in fantasy, I hope you write more and more people follow your example!
• NettlesRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  Disclaimer: This was a review swap, and I have spent way too much time on this website.
  It's nice to read something that's not written from a US perspective, the Swedish air to this is nice.
  The plot is rather generic, but that's not always a bad thing. It's a sudden death isekai, with the protagonist thrown into a word with a System, where they instantly have to fight a bear, later levelling up through a paths-based system. The nordic bent to it is nice, something to spice up the regular medieval-European setting of these kinds of stories.
  At least so far, I've found the non-binary aspect of the whole thing a little... Disappointing? The character is referred to as they/them, but it doesn't impact their worldviews at all, and it doesn't stop them from making assumptions about the genders of those they come across in this new world. It also doesn't seem to be an aspect reflected anywhere else in the text. The effeminate elf is a he, the people serving drinks are all she and so far it's not really challenged.
  Other than that, the characters are likeable and it seems to be going somewhere, so keep it up!
  The text reads rather ESL, but the author is receptive to changes and feedback, which is good! With a bit of scrubbing and a good editor, it could be something, but it's not quite there yet. Also, the cover art is lovely!
• Voltino213Royal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  Story 3.5/5: Firstly, I would like to say that this story isn't entirely original. If you've read a fair share of fantasy and "transported into another world" kind of stories, then this isn't doing much to change or redefine the genre. That being said, I'm a strong advocate of the notion that a generic concept can still be good as long as it's executed well. This story, I think, is handled rather competently. The world-building is nice, you never get bored or disinterested and you always want to see more of what the world has to offer. It is very obviously based on Norse mythos which I adore! Overall, I would say, the story, while fairly generic, possesses elements that elevate above other stories of similar design.
  Style 3/5: Nothing much to say here. The style is serviceable for the kind of story this is. I would describe it as rather blunt and uncreative, favoring not to go too much into depth regarding the descriptions of environments and characters (Although it does excel at describing character actions/reactions). However, it gives you just enough information for a reader to visualize what it is the story is describing. If the author were to spend more time describing certain scenes and characters, it would help make the story as a whole more impactful and memorable, I think.
  Grammar 4/5: Much like my previous rating, the grammar is fine as there aren't any noticeable grammatical mistakes or misuse of words. But there isn't much regarding the author's word choice that really stands out. This might serve to hinder the immersion of a reader although, given the kind of isekai story this is, I doubt it will be a deal-breaker for the vast majority of its audience.
  Characters 3.5/5: As a protagonist, Saga does a serviceable job in the role they are given. The dialogue and reactions the author gives them feel very realistic and understandable when taken into consideration the odd position they've been put in. They have been killed and suddenly awoken in a strange, al