The Doom of Odin
Jul 11, 2023 13:07:03 GMT -5
Post by scottoden on Jul 11, 2023 13:07:03 GMT -5
You will know him by his names. Corpse-maker and Life-quencher, he is called; the Bringer of Night, the Son of the Wolf and Brother of the Serpent. The Hooded One, he is, the last of Bálegyr’s brood to plague Miðgarðr, last to prey on we wretched sons of Adam. He is huorco. Aye, he is orco and ogre. To the hymn-singers of England, he is orcnéas. The Irish name him fomórach. To the folk of the North, the Danes and Swedes and the doom-haunted Norse, he is skrælingr. In his own tongue, he is kaunr.
You will know him by his deeds, as well, for is he not the slayer of Hróarr, of Hrothmund of Badon, of Nechtan of the vestálfar, of Bjarki Half-Dane, and a thousand more, besides? He has walked the branches of Yggðrasil and shaken the bones of Ymir. He has stood in the shield wall at Chluain Tarbh, outside the walls of Dubhlinn, and on the pitiful ramparts of Hrafnhaugr against the crusaders of North. He is the Kin-slayer and the Slaughterer of Witches. He is the Butcher of the Morðavættir, the Beast of Gjöll’s Inlet, and the Outsider. And by his hand was the Malice-Striker—that wretched wyrm, Níðhöggr—freed from its prison and loosed upon Miðgarðr. By the hand of Grimnir…
The Grimnir Saga, my trilogy of novels that imagines Tolkien’s orcs as creatures he found in Norse myth, comes to a shuddering climax on December 19th with the release of The Doom of Odin. Already, it’s getting a bit of pre-publication praise. Vincent Darlage, an eminent Conan scholar who penned much of Mongoose’s line of RPG material for their Conan game, calls it “spectacular. It was filled with so much of what I call prose poetry - Scott Oden has a talent for that. I have long held "The Lion of Cairo" as my favorite of his books, but this one is going to take its place as my favorite. This book was gripping, intense, and so well-plotted.” Further, he adds: “Scott Oden has a cinematic style - in that I could picture the movie that could be made. I'd love to see a premium illustrated edition one day. Grimnir deserves to stand next to Conan, Elric, Beowulf, Odysseus, and Gilgamesh as some of the greatest protagonists in this genre.”
Another reviewer, Josh Olive, speaks of it thus: “This book is full of energy and power, blood and bone, magic and mayhem, and - a bit surprisingly for a book that focuses on a brutal orc protagonist in a hellishly brutal life and afterlife - heart. Grimnir is not a human skinned to look like an orc, he is the embodiment of what it means to be an orc. But that doesn't make him an unrelatable monster, which is a feat Oden pulls off with remarkable skill. In this book, where we finally see Grimnir, the last of his kind, in the company of other orcs, he becomes even more impressive.”
This bodes well, I think. If you’re a reviewer, a blogger, a Youtuber, or a BookTok'r, you can request a copy of The Doom of Odin from NetGalley or Edelweiss. Preorder a copy from your favorite retailer, and keep your eyes peeled for chances to win ebooks and physical copies.
About the Book:
Skrælingr. Orcnéas. Fomoraig. He is Grimnir . . .
For over a century, he has tracked the dragon, Níðhöggr — the Malice-Striker — from the shores of Lake Vänern, across the Baltic Sea, through Russia, and down into the Mediterranean; he has hounded the wyrm from Old Muscovy to Messina. And finally, to the outskirts of the Eternal City — to Rome, itself.
And outside Rome, on a cold November night in 1347 AD, on the ruins of the ancient Appian Way, Grimnir’s saga comes crashing to an end. A crossbow bolt, loosed in terror, slays him out of hand. It is a mundane finale to a life spent hip-deep in bloodshed and slaughter, surrounded by steel and savagery and the sorcery of the Elder World.
But Death is just the beginning . . .
Now, on the grim and misty isle of Nástrond, under the shadows of Yggðrasil, Grimnir is plunged headlong into the twisted Valhalla that is the afterlife of his people. Here, bloody in-fighting, schemes and betrayals are the order of the day. Grimnir is forced to contend with a cabal of witches, with giants and trolls who have never felt the light of Miðgarðr’s moon, and with his own rapacious kin as he journeys beyond the shores of Nástrond to find answers. And with every death he suffers, in this world and the next, Grimnir unravels another thread of a monstrous secret woven at the dawn of time — one that will turn him from the pawn of unknown gods into the most powerful being in the Nine Worlds. And the most hunted.
For he, alone, holds the key to Ragnarök and the Doom of Odin . . .
If you've a mind, read it, review it, and help spread the word! Thanks!
You will know him by his deeds, as well, for is he not the slayer of Hróarr, of Hrothmund of Badon, of Nechtan of the vestálfar, of Bjarki Half-Dane, and a thousand more, besides? He has walked the branches of Yggðrasil and shaken the bones of Ymir. He has stood in the shield wall at Chluain Tarbh, outside the walls of Dubhlinn, and on the pitiful ramparts of Hrafnhaugr against the crusaders of North. He is the Kin-slayer and the Slaughterer of Witches. He is the Butcher of the Morðavættir, the Beast of Gjöll’s Inlet, and the Outsider. And by his hand was the Malice-Striker—that wretched wyrm, Níðhöggr—freed from its prison and loosed upon Miðgarðr. By the hand of Grimnir…
The Grimnir Saga, my trilogy of novels that imagines Tolkien’s orcs as creatures he found in Norse myth, comes to a shuddering climax on December 19th with the release of The Doom of Odin. Already, it’s getting a bit of pre-publication praise. Vincent Darlage, an eminent Conan scholar who penned much of Mongoose’s line of RPG material for their Conan game, calls it “spectacular. It was filled with so much of what I call prose poetry - Scott Oden has a talent for that. I have long held "The Lion of Cairo" as my favorite of his books, but this one is going to take its place as my favorite. This book was gripping, intense, and so well-plotted.” Further, he adds: “Scott Oden has a cinematic style - in that I could picture the movie that could be made. I'd love to see a premium illustrated edition one day. Grimnir deserves to stand next to Conan, Elric, Beowulf, Odysseus, and Gilgamesh as some of the greatest protagonists in this genre.”
Another reviewer, Josh Olive, speaks of it thus: “This book is full of energy and power, blood and bone, magic and mayhem, and - a bit surprisingly for a book that focuses on a brutal orc protagonist in a hellishly brutal life and afterlife - heart. Grimnir is not a human skinned to look like an orc, he is the embodiment of what it means to be an orc. But that doesn't make him an unrelatable monster, which is a feat Oden pulls off with remarkable skill. In this book, where we finally see Grimnir, the last of his kind, in the company of other orcs, he becomes even more impressive.”
This bodes well, I think. If you’re a reviewer, a blogger, a Youtuber, or a BookTok'r, you can request a copy of The Doom of Odin from NetGalley or Edelweiss. Preorder a copy from your favorite retailer, and keep your eyes peeled for chances to win ebooks and physical copies.
About the Book:
Skrælingr. Orcnéas. Fomoraig. He is Grimnir . . .
For over a century, he has tracked the dragon, Níðhöggr — the Malice-Striker — from the shores of Lake Vänern, across the Baltic Sea, through Russia, and down into the Mediterranean; he has hounded the wyrm from Old Muscovy to Messina. And finally, to the outskirts of the Eternal City — to Rome, itself.
And outside Rome, on a cold November night in 1347 AD, on the ruins of the ancient Appian Way, Grimnir’s saga comes crashing to an end. A crossbow bolt, loosed in terror, slays him out of hand. It is a mundane finale to a life spent hip-deep in bloodshed and slaughter, surrounded by steel and savagery and the sorcery of the Elder World.
But Death is just the beginning . . .
Now, on the grim and misty isle of Nástrond, under the shadows of Yggðrasil, Grimnir is plunged headlong into the twisted Valhalla that is the afterlife of his people. Here, bloody in-fighting, schemes and betrayals are the order of the day. Grimnir is forced to contend with a cabal of witches, with giants and trolls who have never felt the light of Miðgarðr’s moon, and with his own rapacious kin as he journeys beyond the shores of Nástrond to find answers. And with every death he suffers, in this world and the next, Grimnir unravels another thread of a monstrous secret woven at the dawn of time — one that will turn him from the pawn of unknown gods into the most powerful being in the Nine Worlds. And the most hunted.
For he, alone, holds the key to Ragnarök and the Doom of Odin . . .
If you've a mind, read it, review it, and help spread the word! Thanks!
