Where the Gods Once Roamed Audiobook By VK Ridge cover art

Where the Gods Once Roamed

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Where the Gods Once Roamed

By: VK Ridge
Narrated by: Brennan Koenigsreuter
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

While pursuing his doctorate in archeology, Connor Reed receives a letter from his sole father figure. Facing his final days, Connor’s grandfather, the famed archeologist Gavin Reed, requests Connor’s presence in Norway. Naturally, Connor rushes to his grandfather’s side, and over several weeks, he helps his grandfather finish his last work and tries to find time to write his own doctoral thesis.

However, at his grandfather’s behest—more so because Connor is hovering and won’t let him rest—he is voluntold to take advantage of the wild land and its deep forest, lakes, and high mountains while in Norway. But Connor is cautious about doing so. He has seen strange things around the house, and there is mention of a curse by the locals. And on one faithful fishing trip he comes face-to-face with the mysterious “curse”. A young woman with wolfish ears and very sharp canines named Ylva. Last of her kin.

The two grow more than a little fond of each other as they uncover a long-forgotten past on the verge of waking up. Where the Gods Once Roamed will rope you in as Connor and Ylva experience strange events, deaths, heart-tearing chases, and delve into the local myths surrounding the house and its land.

©2025 VK Ridge (P)2025 VK Ridge Fantasy Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant  
This debut novel is great! It is fast pace, but grounds itself, leaving no stone unturned. The Indie author has proved themselves, but it reads like a debut indie novel. Few miss placed words. Weirdly chapter 9 had a weird glitch. When I asked they confirmed the audio was corrupted and was fixing it. So future readers will hopefully not have same issue.
Overall, I am excited for the next book! Well worth the read.

A decent debut that delves into Norse Mythology with a spicy and dark twist.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

Where the Gods Once Roamed is a dark, Norse-flavored Spiderwick Chronicles for adults. I’m going to stress the for adults part, though. You’re going to have to like spice and gore and an FMC whose wolfishness extends to more than her appearance. Mind the trigger warnings.
The Spiderwick comparison is simply because this is one of those “myth starts bleeding into modern reality while I’m staying at my eccentric relative’s house” type books. I happen to really like that cliche, and I know I’m not the only one. Dark, horror-adjacent fantasy isn’t usually my cup of tea, but the premise was interesting and the pacing was so good that I was flying through it despite myself. I don’t have a huge frame of reference for how dark the genre can go, but it wasn’t scary enough to get on my nerves, and even the gore had more of a grounding effect than feeling merely gratuitous.
The Norse mythology aspects were well-incorporated into the story. While this is obviously a fantastical retelling with a lot of liberties taken, nods to the underlying research were scattered all over INCLUDING making fun of the many misconceptions stemming from Christianized and romanticized perceptions of Norse history. It was very satisfying.
The characters are really what made the story work for me though. Forget the spice/no-spice debate, what makes me picky when reading romantasy is whether or not the relationship progresses in a way that is believable to the characters. While this is a more fast-burn kind of story, the characters are established in a way that makes me think, “yeah, they would totally be that feral.” It just works, and it’s funny.
Another thing is I genuinely like all of the characters of the small cast, not just the main characters. There wasn’t a single place where the story dragged, and I was pretty certain it had earned a high rating by halfway through, but that last 1/8th really sunk its teeth into me (pun intended) and I was listening with my hand over my mouth, not getting anything else done.
It’s definitely a you’ll like it or you won’t kind of story, but it is very well-written and researched, so if the premise and genre hook you, you’ll be good to go.
The narration was well-done, with accents for the Norse characters and distinct voices that made it easy to differentiate everyone. The diction, while of average speed, was clear enough that I, who usually listens on 1x to appreciate the narrator's pacing, was able to up it to 2x without losing clarity.

A Dark, Norse-flavored Spiderwick Chronicles for A

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.