Ice Land

I don't know much about Iceland as a country and I know even less about it's myths and the myths of the Norse peoples. With that in mind, I loved this book. It is a modern remix of Nordic mythology. It had a touch of magical realism. I recommend it if you like Neil Gaiman (it was similar to American Gods and Stardust), mythology or fantasy.

Definitely not what I was expecting. With ICE LAND by Betsy Tobin I expected a fantastically magical and lighthearted adventure. ICE LAND was certainly full of magic and there were many lighthearted moments, but I think that the story was a little more epic than I had originally expected. That was a wonderful surprise and I quickly found myself engrossed in the story. If you are looking for a great fantasy, something that pushes the bounds of adventure and romance, I would highly suggest taking a look at ICE LAND. ICE LAND brings to life the old tales of Norse mythology. With the help of her falcon cloak, Freya can soar above the clouds and become one with the sky. Her domain is love and she often watches those praying to her to solve their problems of the heart. When she gets word that a darkness is about to fall over mankind, Freya travels to uncover a gold necklace that might be the only hope to keep the darkness at bay. Alternating between the chapters, we continue to learn the story of Fulla and Vili who display a typical Romeo and Juliet story and Dvalin who, as a half-dwarf cannot seem to find his place in the world. The love story between Fulla and Vili is wonderful and full of drama. Vili father's killed Fulla's father, and even though he was banished, its' secret that Fulla's grandfather wants her to have nothing to do with the youth. Despite the wishes of their families, the pair fall in love and find the answer to themselves in each other. ICE LAND was beautiful in the way that Tobin developed the romance between Fulla and Vili. This pair could have commanded the story all on their own and I would have been pleased. Adding in Freya and Dvalin was icing on the cake although I believe that most of the story was supposed to revolve around Freya. Tobin has a wonderful way of creating strong female characters and this is part of what appealed to me in ICE LAND. I don't mind an authentically meek character, but if an author wants to make an independent female in a time when females weren't typically so independent, I need it to be believable. Tobin did this quite well; she allowed modern women to fall in love with Freya and Fulla while keeping that authentic feel to the story. Tobin doesn't just put the Norse gods and goddesses into the ICE LAND; instead, she makes them a part of the story. They play an integral role in the plot of ICE LAND as we learn more about their history, their wants and desires and even their dreams. I found this to be a nice addition to the story as it incorporated a more realistic set of characters (Fulla and Vili) with more fanciful characters (Freya) while still making the story feel believable. Tobin incorporated the elements of magic and reality so well that the story flowed along nicely and made it easy for the reader to suspend his or her disbelief. Huge kudos to Tobin for great character development and a captivating plot. To top it all off, her writing was easy to read and translat

A Beautifully Written Story This novel is so beautifully written I couldn't put it down. Written simply it tells the stories of the Norse Mythical Gods; Freya, the Goddess of Beauty, Odin, the chief God and a great warrior, and Loki, the God of Mischief and the humans they interact with. The story unfolds in Iceland at the time Christianity is attempting to take root and causing much conflict with its people who have lived their lives through the power of their Pagan Gods, Thor and Odin. The runes have told of a great disaster and the goddess Freya undertakes a perilous journey in search of mythical golden necklace which is said to hold the power to change the course of history. This book reminded me of The Mists of Avalon but written in a more accessible and simpler style.

Let's be clear about one thing right away: Betsy Tobin's novel, ICE LAND is a children's book, on the order of Kipling's KIM, Wyeth's THE SCOTTISH CHIEFS or Burroughs's THE CHESSMEN OF MARS or THUVIA MAID OF MARS. Don't regard Betsy Tobin as competition for Herman Hesse or Thomas Mann and you will do well. Buy this book as a birthday gift for a teenage granddaughter or nephew. Be assured that she or he is very likely to come out of a first reading with an elementary knowledge of Icelandic geology, history, religions and myths. The author deliberately humanizes a god like Odin and shows a bit of divine spark in his half human daughter Fulla. The Aesir race of Icelandic gods is just a bunch of humans written larger than the island's Dwarves and much larger than the island's Giants. Miscegenation among all three races bothers no one. And marriage is the ideal, even when not entirely voluntary on the part of the engaged couple. Religion is important to Icelanders. Fulla's putative grandfather Hogni says that he sailed from Norway to Iceland 30 years ago "to be free" of Christians. Young Vili, Fulla's would be boyfriend, despite the fact that his father slew the human she thought her father, questions both the old gods and the new Jehovah. And Freya and some of the other gods fear the old prophecy repeated by the Norn Skuld that the great gods will outlive their usefulness and disappear. And what is heaven? Is it dwarves and other tribes that create hell among us? "Perhaps heaven is a place defined by man's absence." Some scholars see medieval Iceland as supplying some of the liberty of conscience and small government ideals embedded in the US Constitution. And you get a three-dimensional sense of these values in ICE LAND. The old gods were fated to go. And Christian missionaries from Norway made sure they went sooner rather than later. Nonetheless Iceland managed a compromise which begat several centuries of religious peace when Odin, Freya, Loki, Bragi and all the rest could be legally worshipped in the privacy of one's home. Too bad England's Henry VIII and successors didn't try that compromise at Reformation time. Hundreds of beheadings and burnings could have been avoided. Don't ask more of ICE LAND than its author intended. And you will find it a light, informative, lucid read. -OOO-

I was ready to like this book since I am a big fan of Icelandic Sagas. It did not disappoint. Betsy Tobin's language is stark and simple, much like the plain, unfancy tone of the Sagas. There are a few missed notes but overall the effect is consistent and well-crafted. All the action takes place in the present tense, shifting to past tense only to refer to events that occurred in the past (duh.) The narrative voice switches from first-person to third-person from chapter to chapter. Each chapter is headed by the name of the character who is the focus of that chapter. Freya (the Norse goddess of love) is the first-person narrator. She is the one actually telling the story. Fulla is a teenage girl just emerging into womanhood. The story bounces back and forth between these two, and then there is a dismal geological interruption by the Norns (the Norse equivalent of the Fates.) These tidbits from the Norns pop up occasionally throughout the book, and in them the narrative voice is that of the Norns; this is the only time when it could be understood that Freya is not narrating. Dvalin the dwarf and Berling his brother are the subjects of a couple of chapters, and Vili the young man gets a chapter of his own later. The setting is Iceland, around the year 1000 A.D. King Olaf of Norway is trying to annex Iceland (whose people pride themselves on their independence.) Christianity is making inroads and causing friction with the traditions of farmers who have grown up worshiping Thor and Odin. This novel's Iceland is more magical than the Iceland of the Sagas, but more prosaic than the picture one usually gets from Norse mythology. The geography is mysterious; it makes sense and yet at the same time, it doesn't. Instead of placing Asgard somewhere in the heavens, Betsy Tobin places it on earth. The abode of the gods is remote and hard to find, but you can get there if you know the route. Same goes for the dwarves and the giants. A helpful afterword from the author explains some of the mythological sources that inspired the story, and the liberties she took while writing the novel. Though set against a mythical backdrop, there is very little magic aside from Freya's feathered cloak that turns her into a bird, and the vague unidentified power of the Brisingamen (the dwarf-made necklace that Freya spends half of the book trying to acquire.) Oh yes, and the Norns weaving the fate of the world at their loom. It's a great story, full of power and beauty and a sort of bittersweet sentiment for these old long-dead myths. The doom of the gods is prophesied in the "Voluspa" (and most of us have heard of the legend of Ragnarok.) It is due to a foreboding that the end of her world is approaching that Freya sets out to acquire the Brisingamen. There's love, and adventure, and philosophizing. This book satisfies on every level, but it isn't quite perfect enough for 5 stars. Let's call it a solid four and a half.