Melvin Burgess

The Abbey was a Christian temple. The Volsons had given up on all that years ago but, like all the ganglords, Val was a superstitious man. It's true that under his grey silk suit he wore a silver cross, just in case Jesus happened to watching, but by its side was the stubby barrel of a small handgun, sawn off short and hammered into the likeness of a man with one eye. That was in honour of the strange gods who were said to have awakened in the halfman lands, and who had been seen these past show more few years inside the Wall, in the slums and suburbs of London itself. And for the same reason - unknown to Conor who would certainly have objected - a dead man hung upside down from his heel out of sight behind an awning. The new deities were said to favour sacrifice in this form. All nonsense of course - silly stories grown up from halfmen sightings by men from Ragnor or the other cities checking up on them. But Val considered it wise to take all precautions.

"Bloodtide" is a retelling of the first part of the Saga of the Volsungs, the story of the twins Sigmund (here called Siggy) and Signy. It is set in a futuristic London, abandoned to gangsters when the government moved out to Ragnor, and cut-off from the rest of the country by a no-man's land populated by halfmen (human/animal hybrids). The story of the twins takes up less than 20 pages in my copy of the saga, and this has given the novelist a lot of scope for fleshing out the story and the characters, without losing any of the savagery, brutality or passion of the original.

Whereas the saga has Odin thrusting his knife into the tree that grows up through the great hall of the Volsung's palace, this book has him thrust it into the diamond-hard glass elevator shaft full of the hanged bodies of human sacrifices, that rises up to the broken tip of a skyscraper. It was so long, glass-like and brittle-looking that first-time visitors often lifted their hands involuntarily above their heads and ducked, certain that it was in the act of snapping and that a million razor-sharp shards were about to rain down upon them. But the old builders had made it from the strongest stuff on heaven and earth. No one had ever even managed to scratch it. Even the fact that it has the old Norse gods appearing in the city leaving death and destruction in their wake (as gods are wont to do) works, as the gang lords and citizens of London only half believe in the gods, suspecting that they may be cyborgs sent from Ragnor.

This is a Young Adult book, but it's definitely for older teenagers considering how dark and violent it is, and it's an exciting read for adults too.

Edited: This Review was written when I first read this book in November 2002 and the quotations were added when I re-read it in May 2013. show less

Loki tried to convince us that he is a misunderstood genius, the saviour and supporter of mankind. Although he is trapped for all eternity he has been wrongly accused of all that he has done. However one would do well to remember that Loki is the inventor of lying and falsehood!
This is a wonderful reimagining of many of the myths of the Norse. Written in first person, Loki offers a different perspective on the old tales. Burgess has written a terrific book here, it's informal and irreverent, show more yet is meticulously researched and the stories ring out. A great read. show less

That's how Sigurd began his first adventure - in disguise, on a horse that wasn't a horse, with a saddle-bag full of science and a sword forged with grit from the godworld.

Sigurd's story starts with Regin reforging Sigmund's knife and trying to persuade him to kill the dragon Fafnir, just as it does in The Saga of the Volsungs, although this retelling takes place in a decayed future Britain where halfmen descended from animals and gods who may be part machine roam the land. The story show more continues to follow the saga closely as it tells of Sigurd's relationships with Bryony (Brynhild) and Gudrun, and the author finds an interesting and non-magical way for Sigurd to lose his memories of his first love.

Poor Sigurd is doomed from the start by the weight of expectations on his shoulders, and by the dragon's blood that makes him both more than and less than human. He understood now why Odin interfered and fouled things up. He was jealous. All gods are. Their lives, so diluted by endless time, are worthless; they have nothing. show less

Nicholas Dane wound up in the British social services system after his mother overdosed on heroin. This tells you everything you need to know about Nick’s social class and opportunities. His mother wasn’t exactly a drug addict and she was trying to stay clean while she attended school. She wanted to improve herself. Once she died, Nick had no one. His mother’s friend Jenny tried to convince social services that she could take him in with her own two children, but that didn’t work show more because Nick was an angry young man. Mrs. Batts, the social worker, thought the best place for him was a group boys’ home, where orphans in addition to juvenile delinquents were sent. This is where his nightmare began. The violence from the counselors and prefects shocks Nick and he believes he will receive help from a kindly counselor, Tony Creal; the boys call him “Dear Tony Creal” and Nick quickly finds out why. Burgess unfolds the methods of a sexual predator in chilling detail and the psychology of the victims perfectly including the shame, jealousy, and rage that Nick experiences. The book is devastating and not for the faint of heart. Give this to older teens because of the violence more than the sexual abuse. The ending seemed rushed and a little too pat. show less