"Odin's Island" is difficult to place - a modern fairytale, a parable, a satire? Probably a little bit of everything, but definitely a riveting read.

When Odin lands his sleigh on a small island, he realizes two things - his horse Rigmarole broke one of her legs when they crossed a meteorite storm, and he only dimly remembers why he travelled through the sky in the first place. He is welcomed warmly by the islanders but they can't help him - for a Veterinary, he must travel to the Continent.

Odin crosses the frozen sea in one of the winter's worst snow storms and is finally saved by Sigbrit Holland who delivers him into an hospital. Odin repeats his story to the doctors and asks for a veterinary, which unsurprisingly lands him in an asylum. But when his story gets into the media, all kind of religious fanatics proclaim him to be their messia who came to lead them to the Promised Land. Their fanatism spirals, new prophesies spawn, politicians are getting involved and the whole country is slowly destabilized.

Meanwhile, Sigbrit Holland has taken care of Odin and tries together with a friend, the fisherman Ambrosius, to find a way to bring Odin back to his island against the plots of politicians and the varying religious sects.

This summary doesn't show what makes this book one of my absolute favourites: "Odin's Island" very cleverly mixes elements of magical realism with a two-fisted satire on a political cabal; it satirizes religious fanatism and the gullibility of people but also offers thoughts on the human need for religion and about ethics without religion; it's an adventure story and a romance. It's placed in a thinly disguised modern Scandinavia imminently before the year 2000, while Odin's Island lives in the timeless realms of the fairytale.

All this is blended harmonically into a story that kept me hooked for all the 500 pages of my edition. While Ambrosius remains a bit mysterious, Sigbrit is a modern young woman I could easily relate to, and that made me follow Sigbrit's, Ambrosius' and Odin's quest for the island breathlessly. Odin provides another element of humour - he speaks in an old-fashioned way and utters proverbs that the cult leaders convert into new prophesies, while Odin himself thinks benevolently about the whole world whithout having a clue what happens around him.

On the other hand, the religious fanatics and politicians are depicted in satirical - and clever - stereotypes enabling the reader to follow the country's downward spiral detachedly. In fact it's rather amusing to read about the genesis of cults, or the mass-manipulation performed by politicians.

And through the whole story glimmers a background of Nordic mythology - Odin is of course recognisable by his name, and the chapters a prefaced by excerpts of Nordic fables that are reflected in the story. Unfortunately, my ignorance of this mythology is so profound that I can catch only tantalizing glimpses of a further level of meaning. But that's enough to make me want to improve my knowledge.

I cannot recommend this book too much, it's one of my all-time favourites. Perhaps I should add that I read "Odin's Island" in the superb German translation, I can only hope that the English translation brings out the linguistic finesse in the same way. ( )