Well, what a way to kick off #Norsevember. Children is a stunning book inside and out – I mean just look at that cover! I had seen this one mentioned here and there, and it was the cover that immediately caught my attention because it is beautiful, and as it turns out a perfect cover for this book.
As beautiful as the cover is though, the writing is even more so, across all aspects – setting, characterisation and especially dialogue, and can and will wring every emotion of you at one point or another. A masterclass in writing, with a narrative to match, and I was pulled in from the start and so immersed in the world and the characters, that it felt like waking from a vivid dream whenever I was able to put the book down which was always a fight.
This isn’t a book where you are given everything about the world and characters from the beginning, but the more you delve into Children, the more you discover, and the payoff is a narrative that refuses to be forgotten. It must be mentioned that in keeping with the Norse Mythology that inspires it, Children is a brutal book, and it doesn’t shy away from the darker elements, but that element is never overwhelming, and you feel the good just as vividly as the back, and it makes for a beautiful, emotionally powerful narrative that hits home on all levels.
Children were presented primarily through the POV of two descendants Maya and Magni who are living in the shadow of their legendary predecessors, and this was such a fascinating approach to Norse Mythology that immediately set this book apart. I was loosely familiar with the mythology behind this retelling, and Children took that and made it into something new and different in all the best ways. I love retellings, but it’s retellings like this, which takes what we think we know and strips that away, breathing fresh life into an old story. Magni and Maya were both beautifully written, and we got to experience so much of their world and personal stories, and it was written in such a way that everything was laid bare – good and bad – and you can’t help but be utterly riveted by their experiences and development, and it has been a while since I felt so invested in characters. And that extended to the secondary characters, even those that only had a brief, passing appearance, because they were all an essential part of the book.
I was blown away by Children, and it was one of those books that lingers in your mind and calls you back to it because of the sheer impact it has. I can’t recommend this book highly enough, especially for anyone with an interest in Norse Mythology, and who want to lose themselves into a book that will grab hold of you and refuse to let go even after you’ve read that last page. Now, I am off to grab a copy of Storytellers – Larssen’s previous standalone book, and I will be keeping my eye out for future books both in this series and in general because Children has elevated Bjorn Larssen to an auto-read for me.

https://beneathathousandskies.com/2020/10/07/blog-tour-book-review-children-the-ten-worlds-1-bjorn-larssen/