excellent young adult Norse fantasy

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	• Runemarks Joanne Harris Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2008 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

fantasy for all ages

This book is fantastic. And I don't say that lightly. As a bookseller I've seen a lot of books roll through, and as a fantasy lover I've read quite a few of them. Most were just trying to be Harry Potter...
Runemarks though stood up well on its own. It took something old, in this case Norse mythology, and spun it around into something fresh and new and entertaining. It's only resemblance to Harry Potter comes from that feeling of not wanting to put this one down, and that need at the end for the sequel to come out already (which the author is working on)
And despite being shelved in Teens or Young Readers, it is written with enough skill to please any adult.

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Excellent twist on Norse Myths

I found this book on a shelf and brought it home simply from looking at the dust jacket. I read it in an evening over several hours (I am a fast reader.). It was excellent. While I am familiar with the Norse Lore, I did not expect the story to turn out as it does. It is creative, and the young protagonist, Maddy, is clever and uses rune magic quite deftly. I would recommend this book for adults as well as children. It was shelved as a young adult book, but I found it just as engaging a work of fiction as many of the other novels I read.
As a mother to three, I think my children will enjoy reading this book, and I have passed it on to my daughter to read already and she laughed when she saw that the story features a traveller named One-Eye. The novel stands on it's own as a good story.

What I found even more useful was that the Norse Gods play a part in the story and the use of Runes as they journey through the nine worlds. As the story reveals who the characters are, you get to see a different view on the Aesir and Vanir, which is something that an Asatru or Heathen would enjoy sharing with their child, even if only to discuss how their views of the Gods differ. The author's knowledge of the runes and stories shine through in this work of fiction. Bring it home and share it with your family.

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excellent young adult Norse fantasy

Five centuries have past since the battle of Ragnarok in which the gods lost and eternal winter became the norm. With the gods gone and allegedly no more magic existing, filling the leadership vacuum of the Middle World of the Nine Worlds is the Order, who rule with an iron fisted theocracy.

Maddy Smith born with a runemark on her palm knows some residue magic still exists. However the eight hundred villagers of Malbry in the Strond Valley region of the civilized Inland island scorn her because her "ruinmark" make them believe she is a witch. They would exile her except that their hamlet is on the edge of Red Horse Hill, a locale containing the pre-Ragnarok power. Thus they need the witch's skills to control the goblin plague that comes with being so close to the ancient magic. Everything changes for the needed pariah when a traveler One-Eye enters the village. He recognizes her having a world destiny if she can believe in herself; he offers to teach Maddy in Faerie; she avidly accepts.

The biggest problem for parents with this excellent young adult Norse fantasy is their children will be so hooked with the Potter syndrome they will stay up several nights to read this wonderful five hundred plus page tale. The story line is fast-paced from the first rune to the last while the supportive cast is fully developed from Adam the Bully to the heroine's family to the Devotees to the goblins Lucky and Sugar and Sack, etc. However, Maddy and to a lesser degree her mentor own this coming of age Middle World saga.

Harriet Klausner

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3

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