Former Marine Kera Watson has had various odd jobs after leaving the service. At the moment she works at a coffee shop. It's not ideal, but she gets by. She definitely never expected to be killed in that that line of duty, but that's exactly what happens when she goes to take the trash out back and tries to break up a fight. Fortunately for Kera one of her regular customers, Vig, is around to lend a hand. By lend a hand I mean he calls upon the norn Skuld to bring Kera back for a second chance at life. 
 Kera does indeed get a second chance at life. She's brought back to be part of the Crow Clan. A group of women who have all died and been brought back to fight for Skuld. They are referred to as the "harbingers of death" and will play a part in Ragnarok. Now, Kera is trying to navigate through this crazy new life of hers. She's trying to figure out what is required of her and why. Luckily, she's got big, hot Viking Vig there to look out for her and show the ropes, so to speak. 
 I'll admit, it took me a little bit of time to figure out how I felt about The Unleashing. I've never read anything by Shelly Laurenston before so I wasn't sure if she has a certain writing style. Regardless, The Unleashing started off with a bang. Kera wakes up from just being killed and is being attacked by a group of people (she doesn't know what's going on at this point and neither really do the readers). From there things are intense. Not intense in a "edge of your seat" kind of way, but there's a lot of yelling, screaming, and fights. It was almost exhausting. It took me a bit to figure out the characters and where they were coming from. But as Kera warmed up to her fellow Crows I too found myself warming up to the rest of the Crows as well. Looking back, this was probably done intentionally on Shelly Laurenston's part because what Kera was feeling mimicked what I was feeling reading this for the first time. 
 There was never a moment where I didn't want to finish the story. I probably could have early on if one character didn't keep my focus and attention: Vig. He was this really sweet, sensitive guy who could also kill you with his bare hands. He was the level-headedness that Kera needed (that I needed) when the story first begins. I was so interested to see how Shelly Laurenston would build the relationship between Kera and Vig that, despite being unsure of Kera's fellow Crows, I knew I had to stick around for at least that. 
 But, as I said, as Kera warms up to her sister-Crows so did I and I ended up loving their snark and squabbles, and their devotion to one another. Their interactions with the Ravens (Vig's Clan) were great too and in my mind I'm already matching couples together for future books. 
 Being a first in a new series, Shelly Laurenton really did a great job of developing this new, complicated world, but also setting a path for - if not the entire series - then at least a story arc. The focus was on Kera and her journey to becoming a Crow, but Laurenston deftly weaves 
 bigger-picture storylines throughout without taking anything away from Kera's story. 
 I went into this book not really knowing what to expect and ended it wishing I knew when the next book would be released! It's a great feeling, as a reader, when a new book / series makes you feel that way. 
 *Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.