Let me just say, that I love Cinda Williams Chima, I have loved her since high school and the Heir Chronicles. I giggled at night reading the Seven Realms and cried while reading the Shattered Realms. I was so excited when I found out she started another series and dove in as quickly as I could.
As expected of Chima, Children of Ragnarok weaves an epic tale of a world after the legendary battle of the gods that destroyed the world. This whole Saga is brimming with adventure, betrayal, mysteries woven into every page and betrayal that runs deep as bones in the Dead Lands. First appearances are deceiving, and one can never know who to trust in this broken world.
The world of the Midlands is a complicated one, its world seeped in death and badlands. It’s a world that is devoid of magic and is slowly dying. The people of this world are bitter and selfish, weary of a world they don’t understand and the magic they have tried to snuff. While in New Jotenheim the lands are brimming with power, peace and plenty of food for all who they allow within their borders. The world was beautiful, dark and dangerous, nothing was safe and the more I read the more I was pulled into this world. I could smell the pines, feel the wind, the rush of the waves, the flicker of magic as it curls our characters' minds. This world is also full of magic, and not just elemental magic, there is rune magic that people fight for and healing nature magic. I love it when a world works with more than one type of magic, ancient, forgotten and dangerous, it's amazing to watch how the character deals with this and lives with this. Especially when one type of magic is far more dangerous than the other.
When the story starts, we are introduced to two of our main characters, Eiric Halvorsen and his half-systir Liv. The two have lived at their family farm, Sunguard, for many years, happy and wanting for nothing but coasting in the summer and the riches the farm brings. Then, after his father and grandfather pass, Eiric is left to be the man of his family even after his mother remarries a horrible man. Eiric is loyal, strong and hiding a secret in his blood that even he doesn't know about. I love Eiric, he’s a man with no beliefs in the old world or the magic that was once there, he wants to coast and to go home to his family and farm.
Liv is a strange girl, sharp-witted and even sharper-tonged. I shouldn’t say much more because this girl is smart and it's amazing to watch this girl take down a room of powerful men with nothing more than her words.
We meet Reggin who is our third character and second POV. She starts the story as a thrall purchased by a man named Asger Elder and runs from him and his flames straight into the arms of the Wyrd spinner and the Temple at the Grove. Slowly she gets herself into a mystery that ends with blood and death, learning the hard way that the Grove is not all that it seems.
The world Chima paints is just amazing, and I know I’ve already said that, but I cannot stress that enough. This is a YA fantasy that reads like an adult book but slowly explains itself like any good fantasy. It’s edited beautifully and the cover is just amazing, it’s gorgeous and screams epic Viking adventure like nothing I’ve seen before. I want to scream about this story and world to the rooftops, so more people read this in time for the second book to come out. It was just a great read, five stars all the way.
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