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A review by celiapowell
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
3.0
A departure for Joanne Harris, as far as I know - I never would have pictured the author of Chocolat ripping out a jolly exciting fantasy based on Norse myths. But there you go. She did it quite well.
Maddy was born with a rune marked on her hand - a sign of the old gods, the old ways, and viewed with suspicion by the rest of the villagers. Magic - represented by the runes - is dangerous, and people are burned for using it. But Maddy enjoys using it, and the villagers turn a blind eye if she does so to control pests (or goblins, as the case may be). Now her friend wants her to descend into the World Below and retrieve something he calls the Whisperer - and of course, then all Hel breaks loose (ho, ho, aren't I amusing.)
It is a fun book, with lots of twists and turns - my basic knowledge of Norse mythology made it more enjoyable, and I wonder if people without that knowledge would be a bit lost. (Sidenote - I think Neil Gaiman's American Gods is always going to be the greatest modern Odin protrayal for me, though). But Harris does a good job at bringing those characters to life, and the Order, fighting against the old gods, are chillingly terrifying.
Maddy was born with a rune marked on her hand - a sign of the old gods, the old ways, and viewed with suspicion by the rest of the villagers. Magic - represented by the runes - is dangerous, and people are burned for using it. But Maddy enjoys using it, and the villagers turn a blind eye if she does so to control pests (or goblins, as the case may be). Now her friend wants her to descend into the World Below and retrieve something he calls the Whisperer - and of course, then all Hel breaks loose (ho, ho, aren't I amusing.)
It is a fun book, with lots of twists and turns - my basic knowledge of Norse mythology made it more enjoyable, and I wonder if people without that knowledge would be a bit lost. (Sidenote - I think Neil Gaiman's American Gods is always going to be the greatest modern Odin protrayal for me, though). But Harris does a good job at bringing those characters to life, and the Order, fighting against the old gods, are chillingly terrifying.