The Shadow of the Gods

Right off the bat here- I think using “thought-cage” as a word for “head” is genius. This should become more of a thing. I'm curious if Gwynne just thought of this himself or if it's a documented thing people have used.

But regarding the book itself, wow. People have been telling me about John Gwynne books for years, and although I own a copy of Malice, I haven't taken the plunge. But the cover of this book was gorgeous, a lot of reviewers I follow gave it a very high rating, and it's the first of a Norse inspired fantasy. What's not to love?

We follow three characters who are all very interesting. Orka is a mother who has also spent a lot of time in shield walls and wants to protect her family. Varg is an idiot who joins up with the Bloodsworn, a group of badass mercenary Vikings. Okay, maybe ‘idiot' isn't in Varg's official character description, but the man is one. But yet, you feel for him and understand his goals. He is an entry into this new world in a way that Orka is not. He just also always makes dumb decisions. He is called Varg No-Sense for a reason!

Elvar was a bit of a longer play here. Her first chapters were kinda listless and I just wanted to get back to Varg and Orka. Elvar is a member of a different group of badass mercenary vikings, and she's trying to earn her battle-fame. But once you learn more about her backstory, everything here clicks. Her character and relationships are such a big part of this book.

Another thing I want to point out here that I haven't seen other people do. There are a LOT of supporting/minor characters, and almost every single one's character description is “badass warrior” or “mysterious witch”. This seems like a criticism, and I do hope that Gwynne takes the opportunity to include different types of characters going forward, but what I want to highlight here is how much this doesn't matter. Gwynne displays a Martin-esque tendancy to flavor smaller characters with just enough personality that even though their page count is low, you still have a sense of who they are. The camaraderie in the Bloodsworn and the Battlegrim are the backbone of this series. The Shadow of the Gods is about loyalty and brotherhood and about choosing your own family. This wouldn't work nearly as well if every member of the badass viking groups just seemed similiar. But there were many whose fates I cared about -Svik, Einar, Rokia, Agnar, Glornir, Soren, Torvik, Sulich, Biorr. GREND. Why has nobody mentioned how fantastic Grend is!?

There's not too much else I can say here except this book is fantastic, and like everyone tells me, the battle scenes are gripping and intense. My only real criticism is that I definitely want more than a trilogy from this world. Is that a criticism, Mr. Gwynne? You decide.