Song of the Dwarves

This book, like its sequel "Revenge of the Valkyrie", is not your standard fantasy fare. It is a highly readable re-telling of old an Norse myth. It is not written like fantasy fiction in that it is not about written from a point of view within the story, it just tells the story in simple prose (i.e. there really isn't any character development, there is no access to internal workings of the protagonist, etc). It is quite similar to Tolkien's Silmarillion in this way, though it is easier reading than "The Silmarillion". In fact, when you have read this book, you will quickly understand why people have always said that Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" was based largely on Norse mythology.Part 1 of the "Song of the Dwarves" begins with a skimpy but interesting explanation of the genesis of the gods (Odhinn and his crew) and establishes the background for the story that follows. Part 2 moves into the story about the Rhinegold and the making of the Ring of Power. This story is followed up in the equally entertaining sequel "Revenge of the Valkyrie". I suspect that this is the story of Wagner's famous opera of the Ring (but finding Opera to kind of painful and incomprehensible, I cannot say for sure that this is the case).I enjoyed reading both of these books and would read others in the same vein, but I understand that as these are just fleshed out prose versions of an old myth, and are not fantasy fiction in the true sense, these books are not for everyone.

The story starts off at the begining of time, and the creation of the Nordic gods. It then goes on to their habitation of Earth and also the creation of the Ash Tree that connects all the worlds. The story tells of the greed of the gods, and their downfall.