Sunday 23 February 2014

Norsing Around

Valkyrie Rising

Valkyrie Rising is the debut novel from Ingrid Paulson.

Elsa, or Ellie, has spent most of her life living in her brother Graham's shadow.  He is popular, smart, and athletic.  He is over protective of Ellie, and she is pretty sure that her friends are her friends to be closer to him.  She is looking forward to spending her summer with her grandmother in Norway, especially since the first two weeks with be Graham free.  She is a little surprised to learn that Tucker, Graham's best friend, will be joining them for two weeks during the summer.

Ellie arrives in the small town that her grandmother lives in, and learns that some strange things have been happening.  Young men have been going missing from the town, and many of the residents think her grandmother has something to do with it.

When she goes out with a local boy, she has a strange encounter with some lethal supermodels.  They hypnotize the entire bar, and try to take the boy she is with.  She manages to break their hold on him, but the leader, Astrid, points to head and calls her Valkyrie.

When Graham and Tucker arrive, things only get stranger.  The towns open hostility toward her and her grandmother, and the increased disappearance of the young men. Plus Ellie's increased feelings toward Tucker, and his confusing behavior.  When Graham is taken, Ellie must become who she is meant to be with Tucker's help and save Graham and the other missing.

I really enjoy novels that blend the modern with old mythology, so naturally I was drawn to the idea of this book.  While I don't know as much about Norse mythology as Greek or Roman, I found this book a great read.  Ms. Paulson does a wonderful job of making the myths in the real world believable.  She could have easily drowned the reader in to many myths but she kept it a perfect blend of myth and real people.

She has some fantastic character development in this book with Ellie, who goes from the quiet girl hiding at her brother's party to the girl will save the town.  Ellie really learns to find her own voice, and be more than Graham's sister during her journey.  Tucker, also, gets some great development.  When we first meet him, he appears to be just a flirt that does not take anything seriously, but as the book progresses, we learn he is so much more than he appears to be.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters of Valkyrie Rising.  Ms. Paulson end the book beautifully.  Leaving as a single novel is possible, but she did close it so that a follow up is not out of the possibility.  There is a short story from Tucker's perspective when Ellie is coming into her powers, which I am going to have check out later.

Currently Reading:
Vampire Academy
by Richelle Mead

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