The Shadow of the Gods

DNFed at 35%.

I was so excited for this book due to its premise and the high-rate reviews. I wanted to like it, but it ended up being a disappointment for me.
I will start with the positive aspects, for which this book still deserves a couple of stars. First, it is a well written book, well-thought and with graphic descriptions. Unfortunately, that's it for me. Not even the dragon was a good ground enough to keep going.
Why it did not work for me?
1. Plot: absent. Practically, nothing happens. Each chapter is about a battle of some sorts. I can argue of course that something might happen later on in the book and I just missed it. Yes, true. However, even in the hughest-rate reviews the lack of plot is mentioned and that did not give me any hope to go on.
2. Characterization: that's probably the main reason why I abandoned this book. We followed three characters, but they all sound pretty similar and besides for their name at the beginning of each chapter, I could not really say who was talking. Plus, I did not feel any connection for the characters. We are not told their motivations, so that I could get an impression of what the story could lead nor to feel any emotions for their choices.
3. World: the world did not catch my interest. The old gods are now dead and their bones are valuable, dragons feed on teeth. Ah. The author makes use of norse-inspired and partially invented words, of which I could not always find the meaning on the internet and this made my reading experience pretty frustrating. Sometimes, I could figure it out from the context or from viking-inspired TV series but was not always sure if what I imagined matched what the author meant. A glossary would have been of great help.

Even if this book did not work out for me, I will still give the author a chance and read his other series. maybe that will work better for me.