As someone who had previously done research about the expansion of Christianity in the North and the different forms Crusades were able to take, I was thrilled at the opportunity to read and review Scott Oden's latest, Twilight of the Gods. The story is set in the Norway of the thirteenth century, in the period of the Northern Crusades. However, the novel itself turned out to be rather different than the blurb promised. While I had, somewhat naively, expected a grand narrative, dealing with issues of cultural communication and weaving a plot into that, Twilight of the Gods was instead a small-scale story, focused on Grimnir and a group of people immediately around him.
Through having such set expectations, I think I spoiled the book for myself to an extent - I struggled to enjoy it for what it was and to stay objective. I had trouble staying focused on reading Twilight of the Gods, taking me far longer than expected to get through the book, which is likely why I ended up missing out on some of the nuance.
I have been working on this review for quite a while and I have been finding it difficult to form my thoughts into coherent sentences. It is less that I am truly critical of Twilight of the Gods than that I think the book just did not work as intended for me personally. As a reader who loves to immerse herself in books fully, I failed to connect to this one, staying on the outskirts throughout and continuously felt slightly bored while reading. I wish my assessment of Twilight of the Gods was more positive in general as I don’t think there is anything wrong with it per se. To me, it just did not stand out of the sea of books I have read this year.
Twilight of the Gods seems to be a solidly mediocre book that will be entertaining to a lot of people with less discerning tastes and background knowledge – and especially ones who go into it with less expectations. It is well written and evocative, with vivid descriptions that let the reader imagine the world of thirteenth century Norway, full of details about culture and background of the time that show the care that the author put into his work. Many of the characters are similarly carefully crafted, such as Dísa, a young woman who leaves her village to train with Grimnir, and finds more than she has bargained for, or Grimnir himself, a creature most like what we would call an orc, though thoroughly un-Tolkienesque.

Twilight of the Gods was JUST as good as it's predecessor, A Gathering of Ravens. If you like history, mythology, fantasy, pulp action, and a writer who is able to weave all those elements together masterfully, then this is definitely the book for you. If, like me, you were skeptical that all those elements could be woven together into something that really, truly works, I heartily recommend that you try it - I was thoroughly and utterly convinced, and there's a very good chance you will be too.

While the historical, mythic, Tolkienesque setting is evocative and gives the story a real sense of place, the action is where Oden really shines. His action sequences pay homage to the likes of Robert E. Howard, with a little Joe Abercrombie thrown in for good measure. They are brutal and blunt, a kinesthetic poetry of fire and sword that draws you in. It is easy to see that Grimnir and Conan would make epic allies or enemies - or, more probably - both.

As the book progresses we meet other characters who become important to the story arc. This is a strongly written book centered at a time when the Old Gods were being foregone for the dawning of Christianity and this theme rides strong throughout. This sequel is hard hitting to the facts, stakes are highly risen and characters we've loved in A Gathering of Ravens are tasked to make hard choices. Scott Oden is an author to put on your radar.

Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden reads and feels much like historical fiction at the outset, though the sub-genre is technically historical fantasy. It is a fun and action-packed story, but it requires some investment to get to the payoff. The story starts off a little slow with detailed descriptions, so if you are not into expanding your vocabulary, this may not be for you. While one of the main characters, Grimnir, is identified as unnatural early on, it’s not clear why until later in the story. The fantastical elements don't develop in a significant way until around halfway through; then, they begin a progression to a world filled with old, dark magics and creatures of the same nature. The story seems to be more about the Raven-Geats (Geats were Goths, or at least a similar tribe, in Sweden) and their religious conflict with crusading Christians until the magic of their culture is revealed to be real and powerful.

The tale really revolves around Disa, a young woman in the Raven-Geats tribe. She is a strong female protagonist who faces off against forces far more powerful than she wields, but I don’t recall any deus ex machina moments. She is certainly aided by her allies, and maybe more realistically, we are following her as she aids her allies, but she never backs down even when the odds are stacked against her.

Grimnir is the other primary character and is interestingly course and crude while still managing to stay on the protagonist side. I thought he would take a larger role in the story than he did at first, but he mainly pops in and out of Disa’s tale.

The prose of the story is done well, and any typos are hard to find. I would say the writing is what I'd consider literary fantasy. I found myself looking up quite a few words to get a better frame of reference, some culturally specific like Geats and other just uncommonly used words. I enjoy a read that broadens my horizons as long as the words are used with a purpose and not just to try to impress the reader, I think the author did a good job of using them as needed.

While it takes a while to get to it, the second half really picks up with detailed battle scenes and loads of fierce action. I finished the second half in about one day. The detailed battle descriptions do include some graphic scenes with blood and gore, befitting the context of the story. The ending was action-packed right up to the end, which left it as a little bit of a cliff hanger, but it was not unsatisfying.

Overall, I give it 4.5 stars, which I will round up to 5.

This is the continuing story of Grimnir, who is the last of the kaunar, a skraelingr (he’s basically an orc) who has wandered the land for something like twelve hundred years. He’s currently living somewhat isolated among the Raven-Geats – a clan of people who, despite Christianity taking over much of the land, still worship the old gods of Asgard. That, and they have a sacred protector (guess who?!) they know as The Hooded One, who they give offerings and so on in return for him protecting their village. They have chosen a woman named Dísa as the priestess of the Hooded One after the old one dies. She’s pretty surprised when she meets him (as you would be), but they end up getting on pretty well. He even teaches her to fight. Just in time for her to need to, really.

This takes place in the land of the aforementioned Raven-Geats, which is described as on the northern bank of Vänern lake (currently southern Sweden) in 1218. The Geats pay taxes to the king in the name of the ‘Nailed God’ or ‘White Christ’, but that’s not really going to cut it anymore. A crusader named Konráðr is coming to stamp out their heresy and retrieve a holy relic that he has been told is in their lands.

Well, the clan’s protector and his mouthy warrior priestess are hardly going to let that happen, amirite? A clan of berserkers are also after this relic, having been told that it is an item of their kinsman’s, and are willing to help the Geats fight off the crusaders if they can have it instead.

I enjoyed this one. It gets pretty grim at times, as you’d imagine that a book focusing a lot on a holy crusade would. Grimnir isn’t exactly an antihero, though he is usually grumpy and unpleasant to be around. He’s often snarky, and I do like that about him, and I enjoyed this one a lot because Dísa doesn’t just suck that snark up and move on. She will give almost as much as she’s given, usually, and so I liked the dynamic between them.

I also enjoyed the fact that Dísa never depended on Grimnir to save her butt when it was on the line. He taught her what she needed to know to defend herself and then let her do it.

It was well written and read quickly. The plot flowed well, and although there were some slower parts in the beginning before things really got going, I still found the plot engaging and the book hard to set aside to do other things, like sleep!

It felt, if not exactly historically accurate (with there being all sorts of gods and monsters and what have you present), then definitely true to the spirit of a book that takes place in 13th century Scandinavia….. with the addition of all the gods and monsters and an orc main character. The only bit that I had a bit of trouble with is that the point of view changes from person to person at times from one paragraph to another. I can handle multiple points of view alright but this got a little confusing at times when two characters would be fighting one paragraph and then in the next a different character would be fighting someone else somewhere else. I’m not sure if this was a formatting issue in the copy that I got or if it was intentional, but there it is.

Still, I definitely liked this one enough to finish it in three days, so there’s that. 😀

The ending left me wanting more, but it didn’t leave it in a place that it wasn’t sensible to stop there. I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series!

All told, I quite enjoyed this volume of Grimnir’s adventures. I didn’t love it with quite the same intensity that I recall liking A Gathering of Ravens, but it was definitely worth sitting down with, and I’m eager for more. I do enjoy mythological fantasy that touches the Norse pantheon and folklore, and this definitely delivers there, while being rather unique compared to other books in the same genre.

This is right up my alley and I’ve been awaiting it eagerly since reading A Gathering of Ravens. In my opinion this exceeded the high standard set by the first book. I love how the author has drawn on multiple mythologies but especially Norse and Christian. This was a riveting tale of the old gods clashing with the new – the white Christ. The characters were compelling. The world building was excellent. This was everything I wanted in a sequel.