By the Mountain Bound, by Elizabeth Bear

[mrissa]

This book was a review copy provided by Tor, and matociquala is a friend of mine. And this book is dedicated to two people on my friendslist, and to, um, me. So if you're looking for a completely pure, uninfluenced reading experience, you had best look elsewhere.

On the other hand: matociquala dedicated this particular book to me, and not some other book, for a reason, and that reason is that this is my sort of thing in spades. The emotional tone of the book goes from the smoky half-dark of the mead hall to the headache-bright of fresh noon snow and back again. It's a post-Ragnarok book that really runs with the post-ness, even if you can't see how quite as clearly at the beginning as you can in the beginning of All the Windwracked Stars. I love all the POV characters, and I love Rannveig the little mortal girl who just keeps on, and I love Yrenbend, because I am all about secondary character love. And it has Gullveig the Deathless, who is one of the best side bits of Norse myth, one of the best bits where your mouth sort of opens and closes and then you end up saying, "Yah, okay," because there's not a lot else to say in the face of Gullveig the Deathless. Also I love how Rannveig's dog is a dog and the wolves are wolves and they are not the same. Important. But not the same.

The Norse worldview stuff all comes out just right here.

Oh, and it's a prequel. So you can read it now, or you can read it after All the Windwracked Stars, and it'll be different in those configurations, but I think it'll work either way. I'm trying to avoid spoilers anyway (um, world not the same after Ragnarok: ideally not a spoiler for very many people), but you will have partial knowledge of one if you read both, and that's okay, it's built to work.

Bookday for this book is tomorrow. Go, buy, devour as you would devour the Sun, were you the sort of character who went around devouring the Sun. Which, y'know. Some of you will probably find you are.

Comments

[hypatia-j.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I used Louhi as a handle for years...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is my surprised face.

Oh wait. Perhaps that is a different face.

I promise not to call you "gat-toothed dame" anyway.

[hypatia-j.livejournal.com]

And I promise not to trap you in a cave and force you to forge a Sampo.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This seems like a good deal to me.

I always did like Ilmarinen best.

[hypatia-j.livejournal.com]

This is my surprised face :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, we are what we are.

[aedifica]

Did you love All the Windwracked Stars? I didn't*, so I was planning to skip this one, but your review makes me want to read it. On the other hand, if you did love AtWS maybe this one won't be for me either.

* I finished it and said something like "wow, I am so very much not this book's intended reader, but I can see that it would be a really cool book if I were."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I did love AtWS. I was dead center of its target audience. This one is very different in some ways. But in some ways not. So. Perhaps if you e-mail me and say where it missed, I will be able to say whether I think this one will be more youish.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Adds to wishlist.

[sraun]

OK, I grew up in Northern Minnesota, but seem to have somehow missed learning much about Norse Mythology - I know some names, and very broad outlines, but that's it. What would you recommend to remedy this shocking hole in my education?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If you want to start with a very beautiful, very fast read, D'Aulaire's Norse Gods and Giants, which is now masquerading as D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths is lovely fine. I imprinted on it hard as a child, and it was worth the imprinting.

If you want to go with grown-up stuff all the way, I'd say the Eddas in a decent translation are a good good thing. And while we're talking about shocking holes in education, the Francis Peabody Magoun translation of the Kalevala has my heart and probably always will.