By the Mountain Bound

Bear returns to the Norse-inspired fantasy world of last year’s “All the Windwracked Stars” with this prequel, set thousands of years earlier. As the story opens, Ragnarok has already occurred and the survivors—einherjar and waelcyrge (better known as Valkyries)—have fled the dead land of Midgard to a new world, where for 500 years they have assumed the responsibility of looking after the humans in this world, taking vengeance where vengeance is due. All this ends when Strifbjorn, the charismatic war-leader of the einherjar, finds a half-drowned woman on the beach. When she recovers, the strange woman…neither human nor waelcyrge…declares herself to be the Lady, the goddess whom the einherjar have awaited since the fall of show more Midgard. Proving her identity by easily defeating Strifbjorn’s secret lover and champion, the einherjar Mingan the Grey Wolf, the Lady begins to sow discord among the einherjar and waelcyrge, encouraging them in actions that they have long believed to be taboo and causing those who follow her to become the Tarnished, unable to access the Light within. Those who stayed true to Strifbjorn struggle to overthrow the rule of the false Lady, knowing even as they do so that it will likely come to outright war…and that if it comes to outright war, it is unlikely that any will survive it.

Elegant, demanding, and vividly drawn, “By the Mountain Bound” would be a wonderful choice for lovers of mythology and fantasy alike. show less

I tend to read little in the way of pure fantasy. However, I thought enough of Elizabeth Bear as a writer to have a go at her recent “By The Mountain Bound”. The intent here, I believe, is for it to be an epic tale, and the writing is in parts like epic poetry. There is some beautiful prose in there, but I found myself getting distracted at times by an overabundance early on of hyphenated words … On the first page in a single sentence we have wood-red, smoke-gray and tarnished-silver. Often the hyphenation seemed to serve no purpose. I am guessing the intent was to set a mood. Well, it-didn't. It just-served to distract me from the-tale.

The story never fully engaged me and the book took longer than normal for me to read as a show more result. Despite not loving this, I enjoyed much of the story which is about change, trust, loyalty, about death, about the end of the world, Ragnarök. Most of the focus is on three primary characters, The Wolf, The Warrior and The Historian. The relationship between two of the main characters Strifbjorn (The Warrior) and Mingan (the Grey Wolf) didn’t work for me. In fact, I don't think I found the interplay between any of the main characters very engaging as a reader. I did like Mingan as an interesting character on his own. He’s certainly the most richly drawn, and intriguing as well. I also liked the young historian Muire quite a lot.

It gets a passing grade but I can’t really recommend it. show less

Make it 2.5 stars, maybe? I liked some of this quite a bit and was very eh on other things - especially the batshit decisions to DIE HORRIBLY everyone kept making, rather than using a modicum of sense and thinking of a solution. Like invoking some help from a being who could give it before it was all too late!

Granted, this was a prequel to a book I haven't read yet, and I think she wrote that one before this one, so it makes sense that it would feel like a prequel, but on the last page I'm still left with the feeling of, "Okay...and?" which is a TERRIBLE thing to feel at the end of a book. *sigh*

Again, not awful. Just disappointing because her Elizabethan stuff is so much better - I hope she'll do more in that era soon.

I read "All the Windwracked Stars" last year and enjoyed it. This one? Not so much. For some reason it didn't seem as interesting as the previous.
The attention is split between three characters - the warrior (Strifbjorne), the historian (Muire) and the wolf (Mingan) - which just becomes a little irritating by the end. While the characters where well developed, they seemed a little bit like the children they are often called, rather than 500+ year old survivors of Ragnarok.
Had I read this 'prequal' first I may not have bothered with "All the Windwracked Stars". It did, however, encourage me to find a copy of it to re-read.
A decent read, if a bit bland.

The 3 1/2 stars isn't is more reflective of the fact that I read it singly, instead of as part of its trilogy. I'm trying not to read trilogies piecemeal - I already follow too many universes to keep effective track of all of them.
And Norse mythology has never been a favorite of mine, though Bear manages to make the gods seem - almost human.
Okay, I'm going to have to review this after re-reading it with the rest of the trilogy.

...I must admit that without the steampunk and post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the previous book, By the Mountain Bound did not appeal to me quite as much as All the Windwracked Stars. That being said, it is, certainly in a stylistic sense, a very good book. One I plan on giving my undivided attention sometime before the third book, The Sea thy Mistress, is released next year. If you enjoyed All the Windwracked Stars you'll want to read this.

Full Random Comments review

Really just a fantasy book. The connecton with the previous bookin the series was tenuous, and there was none of the grittiness of that world. A disappointing book from an author I have enjoyed.