(view spoiler)[Once again, Ethan Gage is called on another adventure, this time, in North America. Sent by Napoleon to report on the situation of France’s Louisiana and sent by newly elected President Jefferson to search for mammoths, Ethan makes the acquaintance of Magnus BloodHammer (what a name!) who is determined to prove the Norse arrived first in America. Believe it or not, Ethan and his new friend from Norway are also searching for a magical hammer with «powers able to change the world». Gage for the money, of course, and Magnus to resurrect his lost wife (?). During their travel, they meet the Sommersets, two English aristocratic siblings, Pierre, a French Canadian voyageur, Red Jacket, a – how could I describe him – corrupted Indian and finally Namida and Little Frog, two squaws wanting to go back to their home village. When Ethan discovers the Sommersets (Cecil and Aurora) are having a rather incestuous relation, he succeeds to escape from their claws with the help of Pierre and the two squaws, and continues his journey to the hammer. But the group has the siblings and Red Jacket on their tail. They finally find the hammer, hidden in a huge «lightening-powered» tree (?!), a hammer that is actually nothing but a big metallic piece of metal. But Ethan finds a golden sheet with Latin inscriptions on it. In a final combat, Magnus disappears mysteriously (really disappears, not «go away») and everyone is killed except Pierre, Ethan (of course) and Aurora, who tells Gage she will follow him wherever the Latin inscription he read will lead him. (hide spoiler)]
This is the third book of the Ethan Gage series. However, as the second book was the continuation of the first book, the third is totally different. The only character that remains from the previous books is Ethan (no, really?)
As my exclamation marks point at, this time, the eerie side of the book was over the top. First the book of Thot and now a mysterious hammer and the electric tree! My! The world is full of weird objects!
I don’t understand either why Bloodhammer turned to Ethan in first place since the latter happened to be more a burden to him than anything else.
Still, this book was quite fun reading. It’s fast paced, the story is entertaining, and it’s well written. I’m going to finish the series, hoping the fourth and last book will be better.