The Asgardians have left Asgard. Now they play professional sports, run companies, or sell their skills to get the worship they crave here and now.

Ragnarok is coming and the prophesy that predicts their deaths and the end of the world throws them back together to battle.

I was hooked from the start. Norse mythology and current events are beautifully entwined, along with the complexities, loaded pasts, and interactions of the Gods and Goddesses. Mjolnir kept the action coming and I couldn't read it quick enough. There's action, humour, mythology, and dragons. Think Magnus Chase for adults.

Brian James is firmly on my authors to look out for list. I look forward to more.

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Mjolnir by Brian James is a fictional book telling about the old Norse gods, now living on Earth trying to make ends meet. Mr. James is a seasoned writer, Mjolnir is his second novel.

Odin has kicked out the Viking gods from Asgard, now they are trying to survive on Earth as mere mortals. Thor found a place in the NFL, Freya is a high end prostitute, Loki is successful salesperson on TV and Odin is the richest defense contractor in the world.

They all live in fear that a prophecy which declared the end of time, known as Ragnarok, is about to come true. The key to survival is control of Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer.

I liked the concept of Mjolnir by Brian James, telling of the Norse deities to living as us mortals, although keeping their god like powers. I would have assumed that with old age comes wisdom, but it doesn’t seem like the Norse gods have learned much over their long life span. Thor, Loki and Frey are still acting as if they just graduated college, trying to figure things out.

This book straddled the funny – cheesy borderline, but this is on purpose as the author clearly set out to write a fun story with tongue firmly held in cheek. I enjoyed reading the book and loved the pop-culture references, but it almost seems as if the author tried too hard. Not every paragraph needed a joke or an off the cuff reference to work, I enjoy those things work a lot better if they are sprinkled in the narrative and not force in.

The plot is weak, the perspective reader will know what’s going to happen pages in advance, but the jokes and dialog keep you reading regardless. The story-line turns dark and violent here and there, nothing that you wouldn’t read, or worst, in the actually mythology stories though.

This is an imaginative and funny book, much of it is well written in a crisp narrative. The characters are the way they are in Norse mythology, there isn’t much development or introspection but to be honest, I didn’t really expect it or missed it.

This one was interesting and exciting but also occasionally felt a bit gratuitous with the sex and violence. And the pop culture references. Eek, the pop culture references! I am a fan of the well-placed snarky comparison or social commentary bit that picks up on pop culture (contemporary or historical). But there is definitely such a thing as overkill in this type of drop-in, particularly when the references are so wide-ranging in their fields and timeframes that they require regular Google searches to comprehend their relevance... To be fair, each time the reference was appropriately made - but they were sprinkled into every other paragraph at times, and it just felt like the author was trying to prove he was clever and well-versed, rather than that he was trying to highlight something important in the story itself.

Speaking of the story itself - I enjoyed it. I think there aren't enough fictionalized tales that take on the Norse pantheon, and have never understood why. There are myriad characters and tales that would lend themselves brilliantly to spin-offs, and when I find one I usually try to pick it up. I liked the concept here - the gods have come to Earth to make their way while Odin attempts to wait out Ragnarok. It felt fresh and interesting and lent itself to lots of intriguing geopolitical and sociopolitical commentary and drama-humor-comedy. I do think the book could have used a slightly more aggressive editing though... The story would click along beautifully, then hit a plot point where it felt like pages and pages were spent in imagery or redundant explanations of how far the mighty had fallen. The occasionally over-gratuitous feeling sex and violence played into this as well. I understand the appetites of the gods, and that there was rather a lot of sex and violence in the original mythology. It just felt like the story occasionally got overly graphic for the sake of shock value rather than to promote the story line. This may just be my personal taste, but it was one of the few issues I had with the story.

All in all I enjoyed it quite a lot, and given the way it ended, I'm thinking there may be a sequel in the works. If so, I'm definitely interested in taking a look. I liked the personalities of the gods and the level of action was engaging on the whole. A slightly crisper edit and this would be a killer series...

Not your average tale with a mythological twist, Mjolnir is funny, irreverent, dark, and bloody. from a freak incident to all out war, only one can hold Mjolnir and shape the destiny of the gods and in the end the world itself. But who has the best intentions and who will come out on top?