Perfekt Order by ST Bende is the first book in the Ære Saga, and (in my opinion) it borrows pretty heavily from Marvel’s Thor movies. Not Thor: The Dark World though. We’ve all agreed that that movie doesn’t exist. This is a YA adventure / romance with plenty of sequel bait handy for future books.

It’s pretty uneven in a lot of areas, but it made me really nostalgic for Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the sense that a teenage girl is thrown into a larger, mythological world with apocalyptic consequences and still has to cram for finals. Also friendship plays a big role in keeping everyone grounded.

Perfectionist Mia Ahlström  is excited for her freshman year of college and is living off campus with three other women. Now when I went to college that was strictly verboten until you were a junior at least, but whatever. One of Mia’s roommate’s is Swedish exchange student, Brynn Askel. Brynn invites Mia to a party where she meets Brynn’s hot friend, Tyr.

If you’re all like, “Hey isn’t Tyr the Norse god of war?” you’d be correct. Basically Tyr is a giant, gorgeous hunk and Mia is pretty much immediately smitten. He’s not a student, but is a former solider hanging around campus because…reasons.

I like how in YA Fantasy the older dude hanging out around a bunch of high school/ college girls isn’t at all alarming.

I will never forgive Angel for making young Elyse think that crushed velvet shirts were hot. Oh, 1998.

Also, check out that belt buckle. Good lord.

Anyway, there’s attraction between Mia and Tyr. Then Mia goes jogging in the forest and she’s attacked by some kind of wild animal. When she wakes up Brynn is there, and the wound Mia thought she sustained is gone. Brynn tells her that she passed out. Low blood sugar or something.

After that every time Mia wants to go for a run Tyr is conveniently there, and he keeps her from going down certain paths which really annoys her. Then, when they have a rat infestation in their house, Brynn and Mia stay with Tyr and his roommate which makes for even more intense attraction as they are in forced proximity.

Mia and Tyr have a lot of pants feelings for each other. Like a lot. Then Mia finds out that Tyr really is the Norse god of war, and that the creature who attacked her is Fenrir, a giant wolf, whom Tyr is trying to capture. There’s a whole big thing about how Tyr became the god of war and why he doesn’t just kill Fenrir. Tyr has angst but it’s legit.

Tyr, Brynn, and other mythological heroes also use sci-fi like weapons designed by Henrik, a guy who operates like their Q. Basically they have laser guns that make things implode. Also Tyr’s sister is on earth but she’s in a coma. Also Freya is there and Mia is jealous of her. Brynn might have a crush on Henrik. Plus, Mia doesn’t understand her art history course. It’s a lot.

It’s a kind of blend of romance, mythology, sci-fi, and camp which is what made me think of the Marvel Thor movie and nostalgic for Buffy. Unfortunately, it’s also too much going on at once, and the book occasionally feels uneven, focusing too much on the romance in one section, and not enough on the world-building in another and vice versa.

There’s also a little bit of a fated mate trope going on here. Basically Mia is Tyr’s One True Love. Her love of order and organization balances him out.

Brynn shook her head. “Scandinavian mythology is very structured. Every god has his or her role to fill and every life is fated to complete a specific task. Interfering with those tasks could throw off the balance the Norns strive to maintain. Because in Norse mythology, without perfekt order, there is absolut chaos.”

Honestly, the reason Mia’s love of order balanced out Tyr was never really explained. He’s not chaotic by any means. It’s more that he appreciates discipline and scheduling and really organized cutlery drawers. It felt more like compatibility and less like destiny. I had to take it on faith that Mia and Tyr were meant to be together, and the fact that they were fated for each other meant there was almost no internal conflict. Once Mia discovers who Tyr really is, she’s welcomed into the fold and it’s taken for granted that the couple will be together (unless Fenrir eats them).

The heat level in this book was also surprisingly high. Although intercourse happens off screen, pretty much all the foreplay is front and center. It surprised me a little that the sexual content was that graphic, as it seems to suggest that anything prior to P in V intercourse doesn’t count as sex.

All in all, I found Perfekt Order to be a little more perfectly disjointed. The worldbuilding and romance weren’t always balanced well, the romance didn’t have much internal conflict and the exclusion of sex despite lots of pretty graphic foreplay was strange to me. It did have it’s moments of fun – I mean we’re chasing a giant wolf around with laser guns here – but I won’t be reading any of the other books in the series.

That said, it did make me start rewatching Buffy while I work on a sweater I’m knitting.