The Age of Odin

The story of Gideon "Gid" Coxall, modern-day berserker, is cinematic in feel and scope. He's no John McClane, but he aspires to be. Gid is an ex-soldier ready to volunteer for something, anything, to get him back in the action. What he finds is the Norse Gods facing down Ragnarok, with modern twists to very old stories. The twists taken with the Norse stories were sometimes genuinely surprising, but more often a fairly predictable modernization. The action is constant, bloody, and with enough death and gore to fulfill even the hungriest of action hounds. The language is crisp, macho, and occasionally too clever for it's own good - which fits Gid, the 1st person POV narrator.

My only source of annoyance, which is slightly silly given the show more genre, is that Gideon often acts as the Deus Ex Machina turning the plot. Very quickly he goes from unbelieving to barking orders, giving strategy and making military decision for Odin, and generally leading and turning the plot in ways that he, as a character, has not earned. It's very much like bits of the world-building, Gid's back-story, and the period between the build up and the war are missing.

It was a great book to pick up for some fun summer reading, especially in the heat because the setting is described in delicious, cold, detail.

(1/28/2012: edited because I found spelling errors) show less

I enjoyed this book it had a really interesting twist on Norse mythology. It is really a stand alone book you don't need to read the others to get a complete story here. I found myself laughing and feeling sad at other times always good for a story to stir some emotions.