by Matt Larkin
Anyone familiar with Norse mythology knows that’s what Ragnarok is—a final battle that destroys the gods and the world. The jotunnar—representing the chaos of nature—reclaim the world, but a tiny fragment of humanity survives and rebuilds a new world. One cycle ends and another begins.
In previous volumes, we’ve seen the Norns and Loki and Idunn all hinting at the nature of the cycle, but in Shores, we finally see Odin glimpse what lies ahead. And that glimpse shapes his actions as he tries to avert the final battle.
When I think about Shores, the other character who comes to mind is Freyja. Freyja is famous for searching the world for her missing husband Od (or Odr), which name is sometimes considered a variation of Odin’s. This is the direction I took. Odin traditionally learns the unmanly arts of seid from Freyja, and they are possibly lovers—sort of uniting the Aesir and Vanir dynasties. In Shores, I traveled this route with a tragic twist, and because of this twist, Odin will do almost anything to fix his mistake.
Which, I guess, is my way of saying that in the next trilogy, we will see a different Odin: one obsessed with the twin missions of getting back to Freyja and averting or winning Ragnarok. And since it will take place decades later, we will finally see the adult children of the characters in this book. So definitely stay tuned, because the epic is far from over.
Again I want to thank my wonderful wife, Juhi, for all her support. And also, special thanks to Clarissa, Clark, and Fred for helping making this the best book possible.
Thank you for reading,
Matt
About the Author
Matt Larkin is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He lives in Florida with his wife Juhi and daughter Kiran. With a background in philosophy and publishing, Matt started a small press dedicated to top notch speculative fiction. He adores mythology and history, passions he conveys through his mythic fantasy novels.
Matt would love to hear from readers, so feel free to email him at [email protected].
