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Runemarks

By: Joanne Harris
Narrated by: Rosie Jones
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Publisher's Summary

It's been 500 years since the end of the world and society has rebuilt itself anew. The old Norse gods are no longer revered. Their tales have been banned. Magic is outlawed, and a new religion - the Order - has taken its place.

In a remote valley in the north, 14-year-old Maddy Smith is shunned for the ruinmark on her hand - a sign associated with the Bad Old Days. But what the villagers don't know is that Maddy has skills. According to One-Eye, the secretive Outlander who is Maddy's only real friend, her ruinmark - or runemark, as he calls it - is a sign of Chaos blood, magical powers and gods know what else....

Now, as the Order moves further north, threatening all the worlds with conquest and cleansing, Maddy must finally learn the truth to some unanswered questions about herself, her parentage, and her powers.

From the bestselling author of Chocolat and The Gospel of Loki comes a fantastical tale of magic, adventure and Norse mythology.

Read by Rosie Jones, with a preface and prophecy read by Joanne Harris.

©2007 Frogspawn Limited (P)2016 Orion Publishing Group

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A great, fantastical, and epic tale

I really loved all the little references to popular culture: all the subtle and not so subtle references to texts such as the war of the worlds , lotr, got. This was a surprise from the author of Chocolat. The sideways jump from magic realism to fantasy was unexpected. But why should an author be limited by her past achievements in a particular genre?
I thought that this tale had more than a little similarity with the writing style of Neil Gaiman, but there are subtleties in this text I've never noticed in his work. Nonetheless, there is at least a homage here to his style of writing. This book, unlike Chocolat, is more insular and contained. I think this is because of the fantasy genre. References to Lands End cannot carry the broad cultural values and nuance of New York. Yet there are universal ideas that are unpacked in this novel. And, like all great works of fiction, there are themes and ideas running through the text that elevate it beyond a simple reiteration of a genre. I like the way that Christianity is associated with a nameless horror, bent on mindless conquest, throughout this text. I also liked the way that the story takes the old mythology of northern Europe and imagines that these myths have actual substance. This literary conceit is a really nice way to propel the narrative. I am, however, still scratching my head trying to work out why the old fortress on the hill had cannon in a pre-ragnarok context.
While this story was good, it has to be acknowledged that the narration by Rosie Jones was superb and made some of the duller sections of the text enjoyable to listen to. She brought the story to life and her voicing of characters was brilliant. Everytime she read Sugar's dialogue I laughed out loud. each character had a different timbre, accent and intonation and she was really consistent throughout the entire novel. It is a wonderful performance and her talent is really only rivalled by Stephen Fry. I hope to listen to more books narrated by her in the future.

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Very interesting

Great story with great narration. Really interesting and modern spin on the old Nordic gods. Looking forward to the next book (if there is one). Suitable for younger people.

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