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cutenanya's review against another edition
3.0
This book has an interesting premise and portrayal of the Nordic mythology, unfortunately, the plot is flat and the characters are so absorbed with their own problems that halfway, I have lost interest in the book.
Problem with the plot:
1) Although the goals of the journey undertaken by the characters are clear, the path they take to reach these goals are not so clearly spelt out. In fact, I kinda feel they just happen to arrive at their destinations instead of completing quests or overcoming hurdles.
Problem with the characters:
2) All through the book, the characters seem to be whining about themselves and not looking a the bigger picture! I get that people are selfish and probably less than 0.00001% of the population would selflessly embark on a journey to save the world. Nonetheless, this is fiction and I was hoping the characters would not be so selfish and think more about the rest of the world.
The ending also gives me mixed feelings. I don't understand why it is necessary to end it this way, after going through the journey with the characters, I feel empty instead of fulfilled thanks to this ending. Not that it's bad, but it feels like I have wasted the last 10 hours of my time (listening to the audible book) without really having achieved anything.
Hopefully, the next book will be better but I'm not planning on reading it anytime soon.
Problem with the plot:
1) Although the goals of the journey undertaken by the characters are clear, the path they take to reach these goals are not so clearly spelt out. In fact, I kinda feel they just happen to arrive at their destinations instead of completing quests or overcoming hurdles.
Problem with the characters:
2) All through the book, the characters seem to be whining about themselves and not looking a the bigger picture! I get that people are selfish and probably less than 0.00001% of the population would selflessly embark on a journey to save the world. Nonetheless, this is fiction and I was hoping the characters would not be so selfish and think more about the rest of the world.
The ending also gives me mixed feelings. I don't understand why it is necessary to end it this way, after going through the journey with the characters, I feel empty instead of fulfilled thanks to this ending. Not that it's bad, but it feels like I have wasted the last 10 hours of my time (listening to the audible book) without really having achieved anything.
Hopefully, the next book will be better but I'm not planning on reading it anytime soon.
kraley's review against another edition
3.0
Not as light as Riordan, but pretty consistent with Norse mythology. I liked it, but it felt like climactic points were cut short (fight scenes, etc). I’m not sure I loved the writing style. The romance was not particularly engaging.
madhamster's review against another edition
4.0
Soren is trying to escape his destiny. Trying to stay 'normal' and not let his berserker heritage take over. But this year will bring up challenges. In trying to escape his fate, he may end up embracing it.
This is the year when Astrid comes into his life. It's also the year when Baldur does not return.
Welcome to the United States of Asgard. America with vikings and viking gods.
This is the year when Astrid comes into his life. It's also the year when Baldur does not return.
Welcome to the United States of Asgard. America with vikings and viking gods.
mirable's review against another edition
3.0
Booklist review:
Soren, doomed from the start by his berserker lineage, is falling in love with Astrid, whose own lineage carries the dark power of a seer. When Baldur, the god of light, disappears, the world is thrown into chaos. Compelled to find him, Astrid and Soren instead discover a mortal man with no memory, and in an apple orchard that holds the keys of immortality, they are torn between their love for each other and the balance of the entire world. Gratton sets up an alternate universe where Norse gods are juxtaposed with typical American life in this first novel in a new series. Clever word alterations are just familiar enough, and Soren’s first-person point of view and single-minded determination to win Odin Alfather’s reward for returning his beloved son gives the quest to rescue Baldur a frantic immediacy. While Astrid dreams of apples and Soren battles the berserker rage inside, they forge new alliances and a bond of friendship that puts them squarely in the path of a cat-and-mouse game played by gods. Grades 7-12. --Charli Osborne
Soren, doomed from the start by his berserker lineage, is falling in love with Astrid, whose own lineage carries the dark power of a seer. When Baldur, the god of light, disappears, the world is thrown into chaos. Compelled to find him, Astrid and Soren instead discover a mortal man with no memory, and in an apple orchard that holds the keys of immortality, they are torn between their love for each other and the balance of the entire world. Gratton sets up an alternate universe where Norse gods are juxtaposed with typical American life in this first novel in a new series. Clever word alterations are just familiar enough, and Soren’s first-person point of view and single-minded determination to win Odin Alfather’s reward for returning his beloved son gives the quest to rescue Baldur a frantic immediacy. While Astrid dreams of apples and Soren battles the berserker rage inside, they forge new alliances and a bond of friendship that puts them squarely in the path of a cat-and-mouse game played by gods. Grades 7-12. --Charli Osborne
haley_j_casey's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books that Goodreads really needs to allow half-star ratings for. Because while it began in a fashion that was too quick-paced, insta-attraction for me, it ended really strongly in a way that left me wanting to read more and more of the story and the world.
bigbear73's review against another edition
5.0
As an alternative history novel with plenty of paranormal thrown in, this book was an awesome quick read.
Set in a USA where the A stands for Asgard, Tessa Gratton does a fantastic job developing rich, likable characters in a setting where Odin, Thor and their peers are ultimately in charge of everything that's happens. With just enough romance intertwined into the characters interchanges to not chase me away, I recommend this book to anyone who likes coming of age, magic or good books, period. And if you think Mjolnir is fun to say, it's a must read.
Set in a USA where the A stands for Asgard, Tessa Gratton does a fantastic job developing rich, likable characters in a setting where Odin, Thor and their peers are ultimately in charge of everything that's happens. With just enough romance intertwined into the characters interchanges to not chase me away, I recommend this book to anyone who likes coming of age, magic or good books, period. And if you think Mjolnir is fun to say, it's a must read.
erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review against another edition
4.0
The ending is sad (but since this is only the first book in the series, I'm not TOO worried about that), but otherwise, this book is kind of perfect. By that I mean [a:Tessa Gratton|3111338|Tessa Gratton|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1328563756p2/3111338.jpg] - a scholar of Old English who previously translated [b:Beowulf|346518|Beowulf|Gareth Hinds|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320529034s/346518.jpg|14849046] - does a really wonderful job of weaving Norse mythology and Anglo-Saxon saga tradition into a young adult novel set in the contemporary world, tweaked with Germanic folkways. And - oh, yeah - the Norse gods are real.
The plot draws heavily on the Norse myth of the death of Baldur, traditionally the most beloved son of Odin. Yet Baldur is a secondary character to Soren Bearskin (that's Bears' Kin rather than Bear Skin), the mortal son of Berserker who went TOO berserk, filled with his own dawning battle-rage and destined to be like his father, yet not like him.
Soren is just beginning to realize how deeply he loves his friend Astrid, the daughter of a famous fortune-teller and a fortune-teller herself, when Baldur fails to make his annual return from the land of death. Baldur, who represents the sun, is sort of like a phoenix, who dies and then rises from his own ashes - at least, he has until now. Soren and Astrid set off on an adventure, guided by fate and joined by a new friend, the strange Loki's Kin girl named Vider. There are trolls, but just little ones. Their goal is to find the apple orchard of Idun, the keeper of youth and immortality, and when they get there, nothing is as it seems.
One of the really brilliant things about this book is the nature of reality in it: the gods are real and interact with mortals (Vider, it turns out, knows Loki personally, and Soren meets Loki's daughter Fenris Wolf), but are also spoken of in myths, and there are different versions. The gods could tell mortals their own true histories, but they choose to let the mortals create their own versions, because even the gods have agendas, and it wouldn't suit their ends to have their full stories known. The gods are mysterious, and even Astrid's foresight can't reveal everything about the journey she and Soren will make...
Resulting in a sad ending. I hope the next book in the series makes right what was "wrong" with the ending. I also hope Loki gets to play a bigger role in the next book. When he appears, it's as a sullen teenage boy. The myths about him make him the mother of Fenris (he became a female wolf and lived among a pack of wild wolves; all were slaughtered except Loki, and he then discovered his belly swollen with Fenris), but she calls him "Father." I would like Tessa Gratton to tell me more about Loki.
Gratton's conception of Freya is very interesting as well. Most of what I've read associated the queen of the Valkyries with the All-Mother Frigg. I've never read anything else that associated Freya with Hel, the queen of the world of the dead. Hel is usually called Loki's daughter, along with Fenris and the Midgard Serpent (Loki's three children with his frost giant mistress). I like this twist, making the goddess of love and war Freya one with the death-goddess. The Goddess who embraces the souls of warriors at death should be the one who watches over their shades - which is part of the traditional mythology, that dead warriors feast with Freya and become her lovers. Hel is usually thought of more of ruling over the souls of dead mortals, I think, but I think this is a really interesting twist. Maybe Freya, Frigg, and Hel are the trinity or triple goddess in Norse mythology, equivalent to Persephone-Demeter-Hecate in Greek mythology and the triple goddess The Morrigan in Irish mythology?
So other than wanting more, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next one.
The plot draws heavily on the Norse myth of the death of Baldur, traditionally the most beloved son of Odin. Yet Baldur is a secondary character to Soren Bearskin (that's Bears' Kin rather than Bear Skin), the mortal son of Berserker who went TOO berserk, filled with his own dawning battle-rage and destined to be like his father, yet not like him.
Soren is just beginning to realize how deeply he loves his friend Astrid, the daughter of a famous fortune-teller and a fortune-teller herself, when Baldur fails to make his annual return from the land of death. Baldur, who represents the sun, is sort of like a phoenix, who dies and then rises from his own ashes - at least, he has until now. Soren and Astrid set off on an adventure, guided by fate and joined by a new friend, the strange Loki's Kin girl named Vider. There are trolls, but just little ones. Their goal is to find the apple orchard of Idun, the keeper of youth and immortality, and when they get there, nothing is as it seems.
One of the really brilliant things about this book is the nature of reality in it: the gods are real and interact with mortals (Vider, it turns out, knows Loki personally, and Soren meets Loki's daughter Fenris Wolf), but are also spoken of in myths, and there are different versions. The gods could tell mortals their own true histories, but they choose to let the mortals create their own versions, because even the gods have agendas, and it wouldn't suit their ends to have their full stories known. The gods are mysterious, and even Astrid's foresight can't reveal everything about the journey she and Soren will make...
Resulting in a sad ending. I hope the next book in the series makes right what was "wrong" with the ending. I also hope Loki gets to play a bigger role in the next book. When he appears, it's as a sullen teenage boy. The myths about him make him the mother of Fenris (he became a female wolf and lived among a pack of wild wolves; all were slaughtered except Loki, and he then discovered his belly swollen with Fenris), but she calls him "Father." I would like Tessa Gratton to tell me more about Loki.
Gratton's conception of Freya is very interesting as well. Most of what I've read associated the queen of the Valkyries with the All-Mother Frigg. I've never read anything else that associated Freya with Hel, the queen of the world of the dead. Hel is usually called Loki's daughter, along with Fenris and the Midgard Serpent (Loki's three children with his frost giant mistress). I like this twist, making the goddess of love and war Freya one with the death-goddess. The Goddess who embraces the souls of warriors at death should be the one who watches over their shades - which is part of the traditional mythology, that dead warriors feast with Freya and become her lovers. Hel is usually thought of more of ruling over the souls of dead mortals, I think, but I think this is a really interesting twist. Maybe Freya, Frigg, and Hel are the trinity or triple goddess in Norse mythology, equivalent to Persephone-Demeter-Hecate in Greek mythology and the triple goddess The Morrigan in Irish mythology?
So other than wanting more, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next one.
lornarei's review against another edition
2.0
Hmmm, not quite sure what to think of this one. This is one where I wish there was a half-star option. I didn't not like it, but can't say I "liked" it enough for three stars. Maybe it's because I'm not all that well-versed in Norse mythology, but I felt like I was floating above the book watching what was going on, but not fully engaged in it. But I did keep picking it up to see what happened next. So there's that.
greergreer's review against another edition
5.0
A berserker and a seer unite on a quest to find the Lost Sun, Baldur The Beautiful, the God of the Sun. The God that rises from his ashes to be reborn again every year. This is the first year that the Sun God did not rise again on his feat day. In the United States of Asgard the Norse Gods rule, They sit upon the House of Congress and the Valkyrie rule along side the chosen president.
Each citizen is a son or daughter of a god that they have given allegiance too. Soren the berserker son of Odin and Astrid the Seer daughter of Freya band together with a daughter of Loki to return Baldur to the only place that will restore him to his Sun God status, but in doing so it could also destroy the bonds they have made.
I give this book 5 stars, great writing style the characters were wonderful and the use of Norse Mythology set in a modern day republic was a wild concept.
Each citizen is a son or daughter of a god that they have given allegiance too. Soren the berserker son of Odin and Astrid the Seer daughter of Freya band together with a daughter of Loki to return Baldur to the only place that will restore him to his Sun God status, but in doing so it could also destroy the bonds they have made.
I give this book 5 stars, great writing style the characters were wonderful and the use of Norse Mythology set in a modern day republic was a wild concept.
alexperc_92's review against another edition
5.0
Mythology of Skandinavia. Most of us think immediatelly of Thor and Antony Hopkins as Odin. But on Tessa Gratton's book the mythology merges with reality.
Completely.
Soren is a berseker and as all bersekers he carries the fury of his spirit and the fear of madness from his fther life. When Astrid,one of Freya's seers, asks for his help they form an unexpected team in order to search for the lost sun god.
The first and most amazing part of her storytelling is the world building. How the society meges with the existence of the gods as also the way people are organised and live, reprsenting the gods.
The story is told from Soren's POV and it covers the plot in a deep emotional level. The romance is truly to die for, since the mythology of the northern lands tend to become... tragic in many levels.
I don't know if the ending can satisfy you but it did it for me and I hope it will do it for you too! Next book on the series: The strange maid.
Completely.
Soren is a berseker and as all bersekers he carries the fury of his spirit and the fear of madness from his fther life. When Astrid,one of Freya's seers, asks for his help they form an unexpected team in order to search for the lost sun god.
The first and most amazing part of her storytelling is the world building. How the society meges with the existence of the gods as also the way people are organised and live, reprsenting the gods.
The story is told from Soren's POV and it covers the plot in a deep emotional level. The romance is truly to die for, since the mythology of the northern lands tend to become... tragic in many levels.
I don't know if the ending can satisfy you but it did it for me and I hope it will do it for you too! Next book on the series: The strange maid.