Fantastic! Soooooo much better than the last Beowulf inspired book I picked up! This was a completely original story with key elements from the Beowulf myth, not any type of straight re-telling, but the links were perfectly fit. It was so good, I don't want to include spoilers, but the book appropriately had the crew battle a male grendel, (species, so lower case), a female, and definitely here there be dragons! The main character was endearingly new to the whole commando job, without being a dangerously inept mis-fit. She gave a strong sense of realism to a modern fantasy, rather than just seeming ridiculously out of her element, which I really appreciated. The characters were all well rounded, no matter how back ground they may have been.

Apparently this is the author's first full length book, but I would definitely look for her short story about the same characters, and am eager to see if she continues this as a series! The door has definitely been left open!