This was an interesting twist on the common urban fantasy story. I will be looking forward to further books in this series! I really liked the Norse connection here, being a big fan of Norse mythology and Rune lore in general this was a very enjoyable romp through a modern re-visioning of of Norse gods and monsters. ( )

How would you search for descendants of someone these days? Obviously the answer is to test their DNA. How would a Valkyrie search for people that have the blood of Odin in their veins? Well - according to van Eekhout there is no reason the answer to be different. This is how the book starts - with the Norse Code project which uses the modern science to perform one of the oldest selections -- the search of the soldiers that will participate in the last battle. (Technically it starts with the Odin's ravens but more about them later).

Even though the project name is the name of the book, it's not a story about it. It's a story for two families. No, it's not a cheesy saga of the lives and deaths of a few generations. The patriarch of one of the families is Odin; all members of the other one (the sisters Kathy and Lilly) had died before the story told in the novel. This does not stop the sisters from being the main characters in the book though.

Everyone knows how Ragnarök is supposed to start - Höðr (spelled Höd here) needs to kill Baldr and this would start a long chain of events leading to the end of the worlds. And van Eekhout does not play with this - he just uses the Norse mythology as a nice playground for his story. And then the worlds go through the motions, as predicted, as expected. What all the predictions had not accounted for is a Valkyrie that wants to save her sister from the world of Hel and a son of Odin that does not exactly agree with Ragnarök – nothing to do with the fact that he is not supposed to live after this (or is it?).

The novel is following three different groups of characters which paths lead them to each other and apart from each other. The first party consists of Hugin and Munin (the already mentioned ravens); the second includes Kathy (which dies and becomes a very upset Valkyrie before the start of the novel and Hermod (one of Odin’s sons), a dog and at least for a while the Valkyrie’s helper; the third one consist of people that do not exactly agree with being shoved into Hel’s world and is led by Lilly – the second dead sister and the main reason for Kathy to be so upset. And of course – there is one of Odin’s sons in it also.

The ravens are used mostly as a way to show the reader things that the rest of the people in the novel could not know or see. Although the parts told from their viewpoint are some of the most original ones – their perspective and understanding of things is strange and interesting. But the real human characters – gods, dead people, Valkyries and so on – are the ones that carry on the story. Because the main question in the story is clear from the very beginning: “Can Ragnarök be stopped after it had started once? “ The answer is surprising and no, it’s not one of those “and everyone lived happy after this” story. But it is not a pessimistic story either – the author had managed to find the middle ground. And the answer that emerges at the end is not to this question but to another one: “Why does Ragnarök have to happen”.

The only problem that I had with the novel was that it was uneven in places – started good, went downhill, then returned up… and then did it a few more times. There were no parts that are unreadable and there were no parts that were really boring – it was just loosing the speed here and there – not the speed of the action itself but the speed of the story telling; it sounded as if the author got tired but needed to finish this sequence and then after getting his coffee, the speed had been picked up very easily.

It is a must read if you are interested in the Norse mythology (although if you do not like authors bending the mythology and its heroes, you better do not touch it – the author does change some features to fit better to the story). But even if you had never heard of any of the Gods, the back stories are in the novel - light enough not to bother someone that knows it; strong enough for someone to understand what is happening. ( )

More of a 3 1/2 stars. I have to give Greg van Eekhout props for a very clever and interesting take on how Ragnarok might come about during modern times (I mean, the fire giant Surtr is wielding his sword from on high over a final battlefield that includes a Home Depot and a Costco, which made me smile). I can't say that I've read a lot of Norse mythology because it always seemed so fragmented and difficult to follow when I went through my mythology phase in junior high (the year Edith Hamilton never left my side), so I have no idea how accurate Eekhout's depictions are. Furthermore, I can't say that I care. It was entertaining and original, especially when compared with the current glut of vampire fiction on the market today.

Also, I'm always worried about books like this (the ones that look like they'll be urban fantasy with a strong female heroine) because they tend to devolve into nothing more than a sexfest of a plot that goes something like this: "It's almost the end of the world--there's only one thing to do! Have dirty, sweaty, S&M sex since all is futile! And then lets do it again every 25 pages or so until we've exhausted the Kama Sutra." I was pleased that Norse Code never becomes a dressed up excuse for supernatural porn.

A few minor issues that shouldn't stop anyone from reading the book:

1. The back cover makes it seem as though the entire story will be told from the point of view of Mist, a valkyrie whose purpose is to gather warriors who will serve in the Einherjar at the final battle. However, the book doesn't seem to have one main character (which is just as well as Hermod and the Aesir are far more interesting characters than Mist; in fact, her whole "I must save my sister from Hel" mission seems unnecessary). It also seems as though the book will focus on the NORSEcode project being used to track down descendants of Odin (a kick ass idea in every way that isn't really utilized or expanded upon). These aren't really problems, but it ticks me off when a book presents itself as one thing and then goes in a different direction--even if I end up liking it.

2. And the name Mist is a minor irritation because sentences like "Mist hung around Hermod's waist" caused my mind to put forth disconcerting images of a Norse god riding into battle surrounded by a Charles Schulz Pigpen-esque fog.

3. The characters seem to exist only to serve the purpose of executing the plot. We never learn about them in any depth. Normally, this would be quite vexing, but the book makes it clear that they are pawns of prophecy and fate so, in a way, they do exist only to set the chain of events in motion. However, it would have been better if they could have been a little more interesting along the way. ( )

The NorseCODE genome project was designed to identify descendants of Odin. What it found was Kathy Castillo, a murdered MBA student brought back from the dead to serve as a Valkyrie in the Norse god's army. Given a sword and a new name, Mist's job is to recruit soldiers for the war between the gods at the end of the world - and to kill those who refuse to fight. But as the twilight of the gods descends, Mist makes other plans.

This book was amazing! I gave it 5 stars for sheer originality as well as for having great characters and a good plotline. I mean, honestly, how many books have you ever come across featuring the Norse gods and Ragnarok? I vaguely remember Odin and Loki, but the other gods and mythology were new to me. Greg did a great job of providing short backgrounds when necessary, and made it easy to keep track of everyone.

Mist is a new Valkyrie who is not really comfortable with her job of finding new recruits for the final battle between the gods. On her very first job, when her first recruit is deemed unworthy and is set on the road to Helheim (the land of the dead), Mist decides to embark on a rescue mission. She will not only rescue her recruit, but also her murdered sister Lilly. To do this, she needs the help of the only one to ever go to Helheim and back, the Norse god Hermod.

Hermod has problems of his own and would rather just be left alone, but somehow winds up accompanying Mist on her rescue mission. Along with her bodyguard Grimnir and Hermod's loyal dog Winston, they set off on the adventure to end all adventures. And hey, while they're at it, why not prevent the end of the world as well? ( )

California Ragnarok.

Which, I suppose, is what you have to buy if you are going to be interested in this book. Recruited valkyries, secret organisations tracking such, and minor godlings. Plus trolls, giants, and wolves hanging around a much beachier and more literally concrete environment than ice-ridden frost giant hangouts or Asgardian halls.

The main characters are not the usual major players of the Norse pantheon, which gives the author some room to move in the whole end of the Aesir scenario.

Does read a bit like earlier work, but there are fun parts, particularly later on, with the 'bullshit your way unto Hel's death ship scenario'.

Then there's the odd fight: 'The god collapsed with a soft squeak, his brains leaking from his crushed head'

All leading up to more of your traditional players making an appearance for the end of everything. Just a hell of a lot more monkeyboys and girls in the way as possible collateral damage, this time around.

Call it a 3.25.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/06... ( )