The Road to Hel (Sean's Saga, #1) in Get Reviews!

Jul 27, 2018 Ginger Bensman rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, childrens, mythology, action-adventure

Eric Tanafon’s Road to Hel is a fun and fast-paced mythical adventure perfect for middle grade readers. Sean, the first person narrator, is a modern, smart, funny, and delightfully sarcastic teen, who, with his twin sister and two friends, must undertake a harrowing mission through Hel to the Land of the Frost Giants to rescue their parents and, ultimately, to save themselves. Chock-full of Norse gods and goddesses, prophesies, chain mail, magic swords and spells, trolls, flying horses, demons, ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Kathleen Garlock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Someone once told me that the road to Hell was paved with good intentions. What would that feel like? Squishy, I imagine, like sweet fruit gone rotten; or maybe slimy, like cut flowers left to rot in old water. It would be fragranced with regret and shadowed by the twilight of broken promises. The slide toward damnation is slippery indeed.

The road to Hel, however, is crunchy underfoot and covered by old bones, pulverized by the relentless feet of the dead. So many dead souls have made the journe Someone once told me that the road to Hell was paved with good intentions. What would that feel like? Squishy, I imagine, like sweet fruit gone rotten; or maybe slimy, like cut flowers left to rot in old water. It would be fragranced with regret and shadowed by the twilight of broken promises. The slide toward damnation is slippery indeed.

The road to Hel, however, is crunchy underfoot and covered by old bones, pulverized by the relentless feet of the dead. So many dead souls have made the journey, they’ve caused a housing shortage. But not to worry—Hel and her children have it under control. For in Norse mythology, Hel is not only a place, but also the woman who rules that subterranean realm of the dead. At least according to Sean Cornwell. And he ought to know, because he’s been there and met her. Pretty cool, huh?

Pretty cool is pretty much how I feel about The Road to Hel (Sean’s Saga). A fast, furious, and very fun middle grade fantasy that takes readers on exciting adventures into a world and mythology that has been underexplored until now. Sean is a great hero, nerdy and fierce, dense and inspired, scared and valiant, often at the same time. And always very funny. He’s joined in his adventures by his best friend, his sister, and her best friend. Oh, and occasionally a few gods, giants, wolves, Valkyries, and true Heroes. Like Sean.

I don’t know much about Norse mythology, so there were times I was a bit lost, but it didn’t take long for Eric Tanafon to pick me back up and carry me alongside Sean and his friends. The pacing is very fast, which is probably perfect for young readers raised on the relentless action of the gaming world, but for an old reader like me, at times it was a little too frantic. I would have like to have slowed down and settled into the world and the mythology a bit more. Old dogs don’t take to new tricks very easily, or so I’ve been told. Probably by the same old codger who told me that rigamarole about the asphalt in Hell.

Sean and his saga are highly recommended for middle graders and adults alike. ...more

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Aug 12, 2017 William Cook rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Having a hard time peeling your adolescent son or grandson away from his video games long enough to read a book? Give him this one. Dare him to read one chapter and he'll be hooked for sure. Just don't expect him to be on time for supper or go to bed when he's supposed to until he finishes it.

The Road to Hel is a fast-paced, action-packed, and always funny romp through Norse mythology, as our young heroes and heroines get summoned to Runnymeade, the last school left on earth to train warriors an ...more

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Sep 23, 2017 Raymond Elmo rated it it was amazing

I read the beginning chapters from my full height of fantasy cynicism; reaching down to pat this cute little book on the head as it rounded the YA magic-adventure bases. Parents out of the way? Check. Destiny pointing fingers? Check. Magic-school enrollment form complete? Check. Wacky friends assembled? Check.
Sorry, but I still grumble about ‘Miss Peregrines’. A well-written book that never once gave the reader anything but well-prepared YA leftovers. And some cool pictures, I admit.
But: my I read the beginning chapters from my full height of fantasy cynicism; reaching down to pat this cute little book on the head as it rounded the YA magic-adventure bases. Parents out of the way? Check. Destiny pointing fingers? Check. Magic-school enrollment form complete? Check. Wacky friends assembled? Check.
Sorry, but I still grumble about ‘Miss Peregrines’. A well-written book that never once gave the reader anything but well-prepared YA leftovers. And some cool pictures, I admit.
But: my patronizing pat upon Tanafon’s story missed. The darned thing grew bigger every time I thought I had its measure. By Chapter 6 I was staring at a large beast keeping me from sleeping and cubicle-slaving. I wanted to know what happened next, and next, and next…
Perhaps I’d been pushed off my high hobby-horse by the fights, the challenges, the humor and sincerity of the narrative. The hero is telling us the story; and Sean is a Hel of a wise-ass. But beyond him a serious plot is forming in the fog. Impossible deeds are demanded of kids. Not unusual in YA. What is unusual in ‘The Road to Hel’ we get a worry that the heroes just might fail.
The narrative is first-person comic-voice, a mix of believable adolescent wisdom and laugh-so-you-don’t scream emotional cushioning. Imagine Harry Potter told in first person. It’d be exciting, imaginative… and dour as ‘Lord of the Flies’. Harry P. ‘s a great guy; but he has the sense of humor of a mortuary flower-vase. But Sean Cornwell doesn’t do grim. He’s fast on his feet, quick with his tongue, happy to wise-crack in Hell or with Hel (capital H, e, single hockey-stick).
There’s a bit of a riddle in there; but there are plenteous mysteries in The Road to Hel. Traitors, birth-omens, patron gods, and video-game lore. Plenty of Norse myth; very popular at the moment. It could have been Mayan myth or Sumerian and we’d have the same story… maybe. Norse has a special feel of ‘We are all going to die so everyone smile and be brave’.
By Ice, by Fire, by Stupidity. Whatever lethal quality of the foe: the world is doomed. Norse myth and lucky readers get that. Doomed.
But ‘The Road to Hel’ looks damned bright. Great read.

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Sep 29, 2016 David Rose rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: more-please-author

This is a joyful romp of a fantasy adventure which refuses to take itself too seriously. There are monsters, drama, suspense and a range of wit from the dry to the ridiculous, depending on who is speaking. (My favourite line was "You rock!" - a parting word of thanks to a dwarf who had spent some years as a garden ornament after being turned to stone.) The tale is suspended between the contemporary world and the mythic Norse worlds, and displays a degree of familiarity with the classical Norse m ...more

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Feb 02, 2020 Kyle Adams rated it it was amazing

Sean Cornwell is not Percy Jackson, even if he'd like to be. That's not always a bad thing.

The Road to Hel is a Middle Grade / Young Adult romp into the modern version of Norse Mythology, with heroes, valkyries, giants, and gods. At the center of the adventure stands Sean, it is his saga and he narrates it. From the beginning, he falls right into this world, as a gamer with a lot of experience playing Norse MMOs. He and his friends go on a quest to save their parents.

As I begun reading, I was tu ...more

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