The Shadow of the Gods has very heavy Norse and Viking connections, and while my knowledge in this topic is passable, I. Agent: Julia Crisp, Julia Crisp Literary. In addition to the legend of the gods and the powers of their many times removed offspring, this brutal world is filled with vaesan, or perhaps more commonly called monsters that leap from mythology and Gwynne’s imagination.

This is a duly exciting start to the series. The plethora of Viking gangs and Norse kennings require some work to keep straight, but fans of the era will be delighted with the accuracy. Gwynne, a Viking reenactor, puts in the work, with fine historical details-especially in descriptions of weaponry-that make the story come to life. Blood-soaked battles against trolls and frost-spiders build to a fierce rendezvous at the foot of the shattered world-tree. True to promise, The Shadow the Gods introduced me to a Norse-inspired world infused with mythology, vengeance, and betrayal. Also faring northward are the Bloodsworn, a mercenary company sent by Queen Helka to stop the monsters from killing her people. For some yet unexplored psychological reason, that quickly made Gwynne an author whose works I desperately longed to explore, a chance his latest release promptly provided. Orka, a newly widowed shieldmaid, pursues the trafficker who stole her son for this very purpose, as do the crew of the dragon-ship Wave-Jarl, whose child prisoner was taken in an attack. Some go so far as to plot to use the blood of children to raise the gods. To protect themselves from the monsters that now roam freely, humans scavenge divine bones and relics and chase rumors of the legendary last battlefield of the gods, where the world-tree guards their divine prison. Three hundred years after the fall of the gods, humans navigate the fjords and tundra of a broken world in the jam-packed Norse-flavored epic of blood oaths and vengeance that launches the Bloodsworn Saga series from Gwynne ( A Time of Courage).

The shadow of the gods gwynne