Helpful Score: 1
I very much enjoyed this book. In style, it reminded me quite a lot of books by Howard Pyle and retellings of Viking legends that I read as a child. However, this book is much more morally and ethically ambiguous. It provides the reader with a lot of food for thought without handing out predigested pap on a platter. For a more contemporary comparison, it also brought to mind Ursula LeGuin's 'Gifts.'
Long ages ago, the titular valley was settled by a group of legendary heroes. Each founded a House, and over time each house has become an insular community within the larger insular community of the Valley, which no one leaves - ever - for fear of the Trows, whom, legend has it, will attack and curse anyone who crosses the border. The houses squabble amongst themselves and think ill of each other, but are ruled in a civilized manner by a council. However, young Halli Sveinsson harks back to the age of heroes, when brave deeds were done and men still carried swords. All around him can see that his violent streak is bound to get him into trouble. Of course, it does.
As a protagonist, Halli is a surprisingly not-very-nice person. He's not quite bad - or is he? (His sidekick, Aud, a girl from a neighboring House, is purely delightful as a character, however.) Stroud very much enjoys taking a reader's expectations for this sort of book and turning them on their heads. The 'messages' that one might presume will be delivered, aren't.
However, in order to appreciate this, the reader needs to have developed those expectations to start with, which is part of why I find this very peculiar that this book is marketed for "10-and-up." I'm not saying that 10-yr-olds shouldn't read this, but I'm sure that at ten, I would have missed a lot of it. It's a lot more subtle and complex than many books I've read that were aimed at 'adults.'
Long ages ago, the titular valley was settled by a group of legendary heroes. Each founded a House, and over time each house has become an insular community within the larger insular community of the Valley, which no one leaves - ever - for fear of the Trows, whom, legend has it, will attack and curse anyone who crosses the border. The houses squabble amongst themselves and think ill of each other, but are ruled in a civilized manner by a council. However, young Halli Sveinsson harks back to the age of heroes, when brave deeds were done and men still carried swords. All around him can see that his violent streak is bound to get him into trouble. Of course, it does.
As a protagonist, Halli is a surprisingly not-very-nice person. He's not quite bad - or is he? (His sidekick, Aud, a girl from a neighboring House, is purely delightful as a character, however.) Stroud very much enjoys taking a reader's expectations for this sort of book and turning them on their heads. The 'messages' that one might presume will be delivered, aren't.
However, in order to appreciate this, the reader needs to have developed those expectations to start with, which is part of why I find this very peculiar that this book is marketed for "10-and-up." I'm not saying that 10-yr-olds shouldn't read this, but I'm sure that at ten, I would have missed a lot of it. It's a lot more subtle and complex than many books I've read that were aimed at 'adults.'
it is a unique book
I have had this book for quite a while and was looking forward to finally getting to read this one. I was a big fan of Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy and an even bigger fan of his Lockwood and Co series (one of my favorite series of the last few years). Given that, I was excited to read a stand alone novel by him. This novel ended up being...disappointing. I read the first hundred pages and not a lot happened.
The writing style is well done, in keeping with Stroud's other work. However the story lagged and nothing much happened. It starts out pretty promising. I liked the mythology and history of the Valley. I even like our anti hero Halli who is a trickster and a trouble-maker. The book has a very old Norse mythology feel to it.
My big issue was with the pace of the story. It was just so slow and flat out boring. I thought things were picking up pace when Halli is forced to watch some sheep and one of them is mysterious torn to pieces...then just nothing. There is a Gathering Halli is forced to skip because of his shenanigans and he doesn't really do much about his punishment. He causes a little trouble but mostly the story just kind of stops as we deal with all these different clans and their politics.
In the end I kept falling asleep while I read this and decided it was time to stop. I found myself re-reading pages after my mind had wandered onto something else. This story was just not engaging or well paced.
Overall parts of this book were okay but the majority was pretty slow and boring. I only read the first 100 pages but I struggled with staying awake during those first 100 pages and decided to throw in the towel after that. Not recommended; I would highly recommend reading Stroud's Lockwood and Co series though...that series is absolutely spectacular!
The writing style is well done, in keeping with Stroud's other work. However the story lagged and nothing much happened. It starts out pretty promising. I liked the mythology and history of the Valley. I even like our anti hero Halli who is a trickster and a trouble-maker. The book has a very old Norse mythology feel to it.
My big issue was with the pace of the story. It was just so slow and flat out boring. I thought things were picking up pace when Halli is forced to watch some sheep and one of them is mysterious torn to pieces...then just nothing. There is a Gathering Halli is forced to skip because of his shenanigans and he doesn't really do much about his punishment. He causes a little trouble but mostly the story just kind of stops as we deal with all these different clans and their politics.
In the end I kept falling asleep while I read this and decided it was time to stop. I found myself re-reading pages after my mind had wandered onto something else. This story was just not engaging or well paced.
Overall parts of this book were okay but the majority was pretty slow and boring. I only read the first 100 pages but I struggled with staying awake during those first 100 pages and decided to throw in the towel after that. Not recommended; I would highly recommend reading Stroud's Lockwood and Co series though...that series is absolutely spectacular!
