Review: Heroes of Valhalla by C.K. Kesterson
Blurb:
An epic Norse retelling for fans of Bernard Cornwell and David Gemmell.
Starkad knew those days were over. The gods, whether old or new, cared not for the plight of the people. The age of gods was over. Perhaps it was now the age of heroes, or maybe the end of everything was on the horizon. Starkad did not know the answer. All he knew was that cold steel now ruled. If the gods had abandoned him, then he would make his own way.
The north has descended into darkness. Abandoned by the empire. Deserted by the old gods. Left to fend for themselves. The Kingdom of Asgard is a light in the darkness, a beacon of civilization in a dying land. A place of heroes.
But war is coming...
Driven by prophecy, Odin, king of Asgard searches tirelessly for a hero who can stop the coming destruction.
The Aesir Saga is a gritty reimagining of Viking age myth told through the eyes of three young warriors destined to become Heroes of Valhalla.
Review:
Its been a good long time since I’ve read a historical fiction/mythology inspired story, especially not one taking place in Asia. I’ve loved mythology since I was young, and while I personally will withhold my stance on the whole samurai vs viking vs knight vs cowboy vs pirate debate, I will say Heroes of Valhalla makes a very good case for the vikings.
We follow three POVs in the legendary lands of Norse mythology, where Odin reigns in Asgard and their enemies harass them from coast to coast and wood to wood. The POVs vary wildly; we’ve got a simple farm boy out for glory, a Berserker who is trying to rein in the beast, and a travelling mercenary bard joker guy who can’t seem to figure out exactly what he wants.
Each finds themself entangled with the Kingdom of Asgard as they defend enemy hordes, meeting friend and foe, finding lovers and enemies. There is a pretty big twist at the end that caught me off guard, but in a good way. No one likes a twist that makes no sense thematically or logistically, but Kesterson for sure pulled this one off.
This was a very fast paced story, throwing you into the action pretty much from the get-go. I love stories like that, where we are flung from one grand battle to a bar fight to all the little sorties in between. The fight choreography (which sounds very silly to say) was perfect, and mixed with great audio narration, I could picture in exacting detail what was happening throughout Heroes of Valhalla.
The setting, while not explicitly stated as taking place in our world, is very easy to put together with how Kesterson explains scenes as we go. It truly felt like I was in a living, breathing viking world. I will say, though, that I was surprised they actually met a bunch of the gods of Asgard. Thor and Odin and the others? Crazy. Should I have expected that? Yeah, probably, that ones on me.
I think its hard for me to have a favorite POV, probably Starkadd. I love mercenaries full of jokes and banter, and he is no exception. The others were good too, don’t get me wrong, but Starkadd was the best for me. The side characters were also pretty good, but the mortal ones were a bit overshadowed by the gods of the world (honestly, as they should be), and so I cannot say I took to them overmuch. There were some romance aspects (though not enough to put off any would be romantasy avoiders) that I thought progressed at odd paces in times. Though, I always have different perceptions of time when reading audiobooks, so I doubt my comment is particularly noteworthy.
Because norse mythology has been out of my wheelhouse for a good long time, I cannot say I know exactly what happens in the specific epic Heroes of Asgard comes from, nor if it's accurate. I also don’t care, because Kesterson did a wonderful job putting together this story, and I had a blast reading it. I am very interested to see where the story goes from here, and will definitely be continuing when the book is out and I can get my hands on it (I’m terribly sorry to my ARC of book 2 which was buried under commitments of my own making, I hope it can forgive me).
As always, I try to compare the book I’m reviewing to others so potential readers know what they’re getting into and if they’re going to like it. Now, is this helpful most of the time? Who knows! But its fun, so I do it. If you like lived in worlds heavily leaning into history, vikings in literally any capacity, and Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon stories with a bit more mythology weaved in there, then Heroes of Valhalla by CK Kesterson is the book for you.
