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kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
3.0
I have always liked the Norse gods better than I liked the Greek gods. I'm not sure why, but I do.
I am of two minds about this book. Part of me wants to give it two stars, part of me wants to give it three.
We'll take the negative first.
Brisingamen brings the Norse Gods to modern day San Fran and into the life of Karen Ingold.
Basically, this involes her becoming the incarnation of Freya (or something like that) and having sex with three different men over the course of the book. In and of itself that wouldn't bother me, but if Karen is only doing this because she is possessed by Freya then something isn't quite Kosher.
In many ways that part of the book reminded me of [a:Marion Zimmer Bradley|11359|Marion Zimmer Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1190161367p2/11359.jpg]'s witch novels. While people are rightly split on Bradley's talent as a writer, I like her Darkover novels because I see them as an examination of the rights of society vs. the rights of the person. Bradley's withc novels (ie [b:Heartlight|84563|Heartlight ("Light")|Marion Zimmer Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171055733s/84563.jpg|933896]) always followed the smal pattern - young woman goes to old buidling, meets guy, has sudden sex with guy, meet bad guy, has sex and so on. Paxson's book felt a little like this. What is it with books from the 1970s and early 80s having heroines who just suddenly get possessed by something and then have sex?
Worse, despite the fate that Freya is a goddess of war, Karen seems, well, girly.
However. And it is a BIG however.
Paxson does something very cool with the Norse legends and it is an interesting twist. I also really enjoyed her use of Vietnam. In particular, her use of poetry stood out, connecting the reader back to the old sagas. It is a very good juxaposition.
I am of two minds about this book. Part of me wants to give it two stars, part of me wants to give it three.
We'll take the negative first.
Brisingamen brings the Norse Gods to modern day San Fran and into the life of Karen Ingold.
Basically, this involes her becoming the incarnation of Freya (or something like that) and having sex with three different men over the course of the book. In and of itself that wouldn't bother me, but if Karen is only doing this because she is possessed by Freya then something isn't quite Kosher.
In many ways that part of the book reminded me of [a:Marion Zimmer Bradley|11359|Marion Zimmer Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1190161367p2/11359.jpg]'s witch novels. While people are rightly split on Bradley's talent as a writer, I like her Darkover novels because I see them as an examination of the rights of society vs. the rights of the person. Bradley's withc novels (ie [b:Heartlight|84563|Heartlight ("Light")|Marion Zimmer Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171055733s/84563.jpg|933896]) always followed the smal pattern - young woman goes to old buidling, meets guy, has sudden sex with guy, meet bad guy, has sex and so on. Paxson's book felt a little like this. What is it with books from the 1970s and early 80s having heroines who just suddenly get possessed by something and then have sex?
Worse, despite the fate that Freya is a goddess of war, Karen seems, well, girly.
However. And it is a BIG however.
Paxson does something very cool with the Norse legends and it is an interesting twist. I also really enjoyed her use of Vietnam. In particular, her use of poetry stood out, connecting the reader back to the old sagas. It is a very good juxaposition.
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