A Gathering of Ravens (Grimnir, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jun 18, 2022 Adam McPhee rated it liked it

Shelves: 2022, fantasy, sword-and-sorcery

The Long Ships meets Robert E Howard by way of Tolkien. Hell yeah.

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Dec 06, 2020 Jason Ray Carney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fantasy, mythology

This is a compelling fantasy novel, thoughtful, enthralling, and delightfully difficult to define: on the one hand, it is a historical fantasy written in the tradition of Robert E. Howard's "Worms of the Earth," and so *of* the sword and sorcery tradition (but not quite). On the other hand, it is also influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's vision of the orcs, so it is *of* the the epic fantasy tradition (but not quite). Either way, it is saturated by Northern European mythology and history, structured b ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Shawn Wickersheim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An amazing book. It felt very much like a wonderfully written and incredibly entertaining historical fantasy/fiction novel. I'm a fan of Tolkien and Conn Iggulden and now, Scott Oden! I look forward to reading more books by this author. ...more

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Jan 23, 2024 Barry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Scott Oden has been on my radar for some time now, and with the chatter about final Grimnir installment The Doom of Odin online I thought it was time to give this a go. I must say that I'm very glad I did. A Gathering of Ravens places A Tolkeinesque orc named Grimnir into the real world history of the early 11th century as the era of the Viking supremacy in Northern Europe is winding down and Christendom is ascending to its apex. Instead of opting for hordes of green skinned orcs to compete with Scott Oden has been on my radar for some time now, and with the chatter about final Grimnir installment The Doom of Odin online I thought it was time to give this a go. I must say that I'm very glad I did. A Gathering of Ravens places A Tolkeinesque orc named Grimnir into the real world history of the early 11th century as the era of the Viking supremacy in Northern Europe is winding down and Christendom is ascending to its apex. Instead of opting for hordes of green skinned orcs to compete with all too similarly coded viking raiders, Oden presents us with a single orc who haunts the forests and caves of Denmark. Grimnir is the last of his kind, a race of monsters descended from Ymir who will live a supernaturally long life as long as he is restless and seeks revenge on his half-orc nephew who slew what remained of his kin. Oden deftly takes what he needs from Tolkein to cast his orcs, or Kaunar, in a recognizable mold and then believably re-inserts them into pantheon of Norse myth and the Old English literature of this historical period like Beowulf. I'm not a big Norse mythology buff, but I know enough to tell the difference between Jörmungandr and a Jötunn, and I found his placement of the Orc in this setting to be fully believable and immersive in the heightened history meets legend meets fantasy setting the book takes place in.

Grimnir is like a mix between Grendel and Conan. Wanderer, reaver, slayer, monster. He's a great anti-hero who does not for a moment waste his own time feeling sorry for himself. There is a lot of Robert E. Howard here, as Grimnir is paired with a young woman and the two are thrust into small, medium, and finally an epic adventure separated by distinct "books" which wouldn't feel out of place as stories in a sword and sorcery magazine. There was one plain as day Howard reference but I've returned the book to the library and don't remember exactly what it was but its hard to miss if you've read the original Conan (And if you like this book you should make reading Howard's Conan a priority!!). Grimnir and his devout Christian companion have a great dynamic, and its the beating heart of the book. Its best displayed in my favorite section, Book II, where their relationship is forged and tested. Grimnir and Etain both start the story with their own form of narrow minded fatalism tied to their respective beliefs. Grimnir is tied up in the complicated world of Norse Mythology and his quest for revenge. Etain wishes to hide from her past in a monastery at the end of the first millennium awaiting the return of Jesus in AD 1000. Both of them exit the story with a wider view of the world and their place in it, though both of them retain their pagan and Christian allegiances. I'd like to think that in this book's world every land is populated with true versions of every mythological character and religion. Saints perform miracles, sea monsters drag ships down to their Doom, and in the East the pure land of Bodhisattvas can be reached with the right discipline.

This dynamic is the bread and butter of a good story, and Scott Oden isn't out here to reinvent anything. He is one of many great contemporary writers who know to tell a classic story so well it feels riveting and new. And that was my experience with the book; I just couldn't put it down once I really started reading it. And if you can't give a book five stars for that, then what else can you?

Praise aside, I wasn't always pleased with every decision. Oden writes very short chapters and will freely select a newly introduced character to be a point of view. Sometimes this is fine, like when Grimnir lures some English warriors into the woods and they find out that the man they are hunting is in fact hunting them. At other times we end up seeing Grimnir or Etain from another characters perspective and it doesn't add much we don't already know about them, and that time would be better spent in the point of view of characters we know. Sometimes in the latter half of the book, really the latter half of Book III, I felt like we lost track of Etain and Grimnir amidst the suddenly ballooning cast and scope of the coming Battle of Clontarf that serves as the climax.

The truly best chapters come just before then when Etain picks up Grimnir's Seax and goes in search of him. As much as I truly think more books should be shorter and that the short story and novella are underrated if not superior mediums to the novel, I think that for the latter half of book III and IV to work at the scale Oden wanted it needed to be a longer book. The reunion of Etain and Njàll felt underwhelming, there is a lot of good drama left on the table by not having Etain and Draugen interact. The ending felt too fast. With Howard, he was published in magazines and his one novel faced printing limitations from that era that kept stories short, and they tend to wrap up quickly. Sometimes its a problem and other times its not. The ending felt Howardesque but I don't know why it should considering those limitations aren't present here.

Ultimately I really liked A Gathering of Ravens and recommend it anyone who likes adventure, fantasy, history, mythology, and sword and sorcery. I look forward to reading the next two installments. ...more

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