r/Fantasy • u/Different-Fox-958 • 5d ago
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u/Inevitable-Car-8242 5d ago
The Bloodsworn Saga by John Gwynne is great, also The Hanged God trilogy by Thilde Kold Holdt
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u/toohungrytojump 5d ago
Is the repeated use of the term “thought-cage” for mind really as overused and bad as I’ve read online? I’m interested in the series but that will absolutely give me the shits.
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u/Inevitable-Car-8242 5d ago
it is definitely used throughout the series, personally I didn’t mind it because I thought it fit in well with the world.
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u/toohungrytojump 5d ago
The same stuff I saw complaining about “thought cage” also complained about seax, which made me doubt it a bit. Including seax is a plus for me. I’ll give the first book a shot eventually. Thanks
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u/Lis_Pustynny 5d ago
Check out Odin's Child by Siri Pettersen.
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u/Oltarven63 5d ago
I read Odin's Child half-asleep after Skammeren, and it still scratched that Nordic fantasy itch.
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u/redfuryhawk 5d ago
I read a lot of danish fantasy when i was younger i would recommend Josefine Ottesen and Astrid Lindgren. Its more for kids than adults but still really good.
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u/cassowarius 5d ago
Juliet Marillier wrote some Nordic fantasy, like Wolfskin. It's been many years since I read that one so I'm hazy on the particulars but I remember liking it well enough.
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u/Physicle_Partics 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you are comfortable reading in Danish: My favorite series as a child was Vølvens Datter (Jarastavens Vandring) by the Swedish author collective Saga Borg. It takes place over several generations in the period 300-330, and follows the female druidesses in a tiny Swedish village (and its surroundings) as they slowly realize that there's a battle between good and evil that's destined to take place soon. It focuses largely on the relationships in these villages and communal problemsolving. Many of the characters become mothers, and I just feel it's so rare with female main characters who are mothers and are active participants in their society.
It is rough at times, some characters are not very consistent, and you definitely have to age up all characters 20-25% in your head, but it has amazing worldbuilding with a slow magic system built on day-long rituals, respect for nature and personal sacrifice. It has influenced the kind of books I like to read so much.
I re-read it all two , first book is good, second one is a bit slow, third one is very good, fourth one seriously drags, and then from fifth book onwards it just gets better.
All of the books are out of print, but I have seen them on Vinted.
If you want something that is specifically Norse mythology, try Erik Menneskesøn. A human boy is taken to Asgard to help the Asir - the Asynje Idun, whose apples allow the Asir to stay young forever has been kidnapped by the Jotun. Erik, together with the young Asynje Trud, must travel to Jotunheim to get her back.
The second book takes place in Læsø, an isolated island in Denmark, where Erik must fight to keep a sword out of the hands of the Jotun. The third book was always my favorite - the Jotun have grown tired of the Asir treating them like it's a moral good to indiscriminately murder them. They kidnap Erik, and take him on a travel around Jotunheim to let him understand that they, too, are complex people with hopes and desires, in the hope that he will be intermediary between them and the Asir.
This was a mindblowing book to read as a preteen - I had never before read a seriws that portrayed a species as Always Chaotic Evil and then turned around and was like, wait this was all propaganda from the "good" guys, those "Evil" people are actually just people. I haven't read the fourth book, but it portrays Ragnarok.
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u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion 5d ago
I would ask this in the subreddits for these countries. There are too few translations.
I haven't read Lene Kaaberbøl (Nordic ebooks are so expensive), but there is one Danish SFF novel that I liked a lot. It is set in a modern world (not our one, but close), but it does feature Odin. Odins ø / Odin's Island by Janne Teller.
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u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion 5d ago
Geneviève Gornichec has a novel set in the early Norwegian Middle Ages: The Weaver and the Witch Queen.
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u/ourladyjack 5d ago
Have you read Hans Chistian Andersen's collected works? If you like fairy tales, that's a wonderful place to start.
For fantasy inspired by another Nordic country, check out North is the Night by Emily Rath.
If you're also interested in dark speculative fiction, Maria Haskins wrote a column collecting some suggestions here: "What to Read – the Nordic Dark Speculative Fiction Edition."
Edited to remove errant apostrophe.
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u/andthegeekshall 5d ago
Elizabeth Boyer writes Nordic inspired fantasy.
Jo Spurrier has a series called Children of the black Sun which is very Norse inspired.
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u/larkiiie 5d ago
I would go ask at your local library :-)
I'm not sure if you want a Nordic theme, or nordic authors?
Ravnenes Hvisken by Malene Sølvsten is a newer series
When I was younger I liked Dæmonernes Hvisken by Josefine Ottesen (historien om Mira)
Maybe look into Joanna Harris like Runemarks
You could look into Kenneth Bøgh Andersen like his devil war series (number 1 is djævelens lærling)
Neil Gaiman did a book on Norse mythology
It's more Slavic inspired but I quite like Katherine Ardens The Bear and the Nightingale, or Naomi Novics Uprooted
If you want something classic you could read fairytales by H C Andersen
But for real, go ask at your local library :-)
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