Well, firstly, me and this book started off in a bad place. It opens with Atticus keeping his promise to Laksha, that he would steal one of Idunn’s golden apples, so that she can be immortal. But in doing so, he does some dumb shit, and also most of it made me mad because SPOILERS he literally kills all but one of my favorite figures from Norse mythology. Let’s list them out: Ratatosk, the enormous squirrel that lives on Yggdrasil the World Tree (okay, well to be fair, Atticus didn’t pull the trigger himself on this one, but it’s directly his fault Ratatosk is dead, so); the Norns (because they’re just cool, and Atticus chops their heads off); and Sleipnir, Odin’s steed, but more importantly Loki’s son from that one time he was a mare and lured a stallion into having sex with him (seriously, what the fuck, Atticus, WHAT THE FUCK). The only one he missed was Fenris wolf, and fuck you Atticus if you come for Fenris I’m not going to read your books anymore END SPOILERS. Anyway, don’t click because spoilers.
So anyway, after all that, Atticus then has to make plans to go BACK to Asgard, to keep his word on a very foolish promise to another person, his friend/lawyer Leif, a 1,000 year old vampire who has an extreme grudge against Thor. Leif wants Atticus to bring him to Asgard so he and a chosen few can kill Thor. And honestly, there’s a bit near the middle where they all tell their ‘why I hate Thor’ stories, and I don’t blame any of them for wanting him dead. He’s terrible. But Atticus has been warned that keeping his word to Leif might have dire consequences for everyone.
Speaking of consequences, one thing I liked about this book, after the relative sameness of the first two, was that it shook things up. Consequences from things that happened in those two books ripple outwards here, and Atticus is forced to deal with them. Things change.
I liked this better than the second one, but not quite as much as the first, mostly because SPOILERS of Atticus killing Sleipnir, seriously I’m so angry about it END SPOILERS. But I think it bodes well for the future of the series (which yes, I know is already finished and written) that Hearne is willing to start changing things up this early on. Starting book four tonight.
[3.5 stars]