There was a time when I believed myself to be the Goddess of vengeance. I didn't seem to have it in me now though. The frosty fire waiting inside me didn't feel like vengeance. It was all-consuming, like the destiny of the Nine when the prophecy came to pass.
Children by Bjørn Larssen is the first instalment in The Ten Worlds series (released 3 October, 2020). This adult epic fantasy novel is a gripping and original re-telling and re-imagining of the Norse myths. The compelling narrative, the imagination and emotion will blow you away.
When I first heard of the concept of this novel, I thought to myself: Yay, a Magnus Chase story for the grown-ups. Emphasis on "grown-ups"!
Larssen takes the well-known Norse myths, and breathes a new life into the centuries'-old stories. He creates an intelligent, intoxicating, beautiful tale of love, sacrifice, betrayal and desire for revenge.
The narrative follows lives of two main protagonists - Maya and Magni. They are so different, yet have one thing in common - they are mere pawns to their parents' agenda.
Maya has been raised by Freya and Freyr, Goddess of Love and God of Sex. She believes she has failed all her foster-parents' expectations of her. Deemed a disappointment, she transfers this unkindness towards herself. She is torn between her determination to prove herself to Freya and thus possibly gain her affection, and her desire for revenge.
We first meet Maya in Jötunheim, helping to steal Thor's hammer Mjölnir, the powerful weapon and symbol of dominance. Since early years Maya's been told that she is a human child, adopted by the Gods. Her magical talents include crystal magic and shifting.
The act of stealing Mjölnir is fraught with danger and will bring devastating consequences to all sides involved.
Maya is overawed: "The onslaught of power felt like a sudden kick in the belly, so brutal that even the man recoiled. Thor's hammer hated me, it hated being here, away from its owner."
She works for King Thrymr, while being a kind of "sleeper agent", trying to gain his trust and collect information. She is not sure what her mission is, but knows she is a potential asset.
"I was the King's sorceress. I'd spent the last twelve winters building my position in court, guarding it, ensuring that nobody could replace me. They called me the witch, feared and hated my magic, believing me to have God-like powers."
If you know your Norse myths, King Thrymr has stolen Thor's hammer to extort the Gods to marry Freya.
"To him or anybody else with no magical powers this hammer would look commonplace, a chunk of darkened iron, the handle too short to comfortably use. Those people wouldn't feel the resistance and the power I was wrestling, until they tried to touch the hammer."
Now that Maya has fulfilled her mission, she is no longer useful to the king. He has plans of rape and murder on his mind.
While escaping King Thrymr's brutal advances, running away from the castle, Maya accidentally meets Magni. He's the spitting image of his father.
"You're the son of Thor. Why would you be hiding?"
"Don't call me that. I'm just Magni. A blacksmith."
Magni is a compelling character. He knows he's Thor's son, but he doesn't want to be like him. In his eyes, his father represents everything he detests - power and violence. And Magni doesn't want to kill anyone, he's a gentle soul. All he wants is to be a blacksmith and look after his mother. Unfortunately, the Gods and people have other plans for him, pushing him to the breaking point.
After the fall of the King Thrymr's town, Magni is taken to Midgard and left to fend for himself. He's mistaken for Thor, and people want to use, control and abuse him. He's tormented by the violence surrounding him.
"I didn't know yet that from now on every night would be like this. That I would straddle the past and the present, be constantly tired every morning and welcome it, just so that I wouldn't have to dream. I didn't know the dreams, unsatisfied, would chase me into the daylight".
Thus, sleep-deprived and in a mental anguish, Magni exists in a twilight world. And then Maya comes into his life again, and he imagines he's now got a purpose.
Magni and Maya find their way to Ásgard. It is supposed to be a happy place, a paradise. Only the Gods are self-absorbed and indifferent to the fate of humans and jötuns.
Odin is not an omnipotent, wise father of the Gods and humankind, but more of a vainglorious head of the dysfunctional family.
"The sun was setting, golden and red, over the edge of a quiet world where humans murdered each other all the time to please Odin the Slayer".
Maya longed to be in Ásgard, but once there, she realises that she views it differently now:
"I used to think of Ásgard as my home, but it was just a place I was allowed to be in. Nothing here was up to me. Gods remained Gods and kings remained kings precisely because they had everything and didn't have to share. If Idunn were to make peoples forever young and Eir- to help with their ailments, they might begin to see themselves as equal to the Gods. They could start getting ideas..."
We meet all the "usual suspects" - Thor, Freya, Odin, Idunn, Sif, Fenris, and of course, Loki. They are all memorable, intriguing characters.
The scene when Thor and Loki arrive to King Thrymr's court, dressed up as a bride and a bridesmaid are a testament to the author's great talent of storytelling. You know how this story ends, yet you read the retelling with a bated breath.
"Loki. Nobody else would have come up with this. Playing a cruel, elaborate, and, frankly, hilarious prank on someone who saw Loki as his best friend".
Loki is a true God of mischief. He's also wicked and dangerous. Amusingly enough, he describes himself to Maya, "I am an intellectual, a delicate creature that would never hurt a fly. My specialities are wit, wisdom, and advice. And I happen to have some advice for you".
He clearly thinks very highly of himself. In one of his disguises, he says, "Loki is wise, witty, dangerous. He is the best of shifters, my dear by, he could even turn into a fly and watch you from afar. You should never feel safe, for Loki's wit is second to none. Hmm, possibly second to Odin's, but with an emphasis on "possibly" if you know what I'm saying".
Freya knows just how dangerous he is, yet she almost gives her seal of approval to his power. She says, "Did you know that Loki is neither of the Aesir nor Vanir? Nobody knows where he came from, possibly even he doesn't know. He represents chaos and destruction, but he is much more complicated than that. Destruction can be a good thing, like when a forest burns and is replaced by a fertile field, but while you are in that burning forest you don't think about how much better it is going to become one day".
The birth of Sleipnir is a heart-stopping tale. Without giving any spoilers, for me this was one of the most powerfully told sub-plots in the book, and as a woman, I appreciate the fierce, raging intensity of the narrative, the conflicting emotions, the many-layered feelings.
Larssen is a worthy successor to Snorri Sturluson.
I started reading Children, and then realised I need to go to the original source to refresh my memory of the Norse gods from the creation to the end of the world.
Children is the edge-of-the-seat reading, brutal, unsettling, visceral and very clever. Some of the scenes of carnage and violence will stay with you for a long time, but the Norse myths themselves are full of gore and savagery.
It's a sweeping fantasy, that leaves you hungry for the next book in the series.
Many thanks to Bjørn Larssen for my copy of the book, and a happy publication day!
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