The Children of Ragnarok is an epic, high-fantasy inspired by Norse mythology. The narrative is in third person and alternates between Eiric, a sixteen-year-old from a long line of Vikings, and Reginn, a young woman with magic flowing in her veins. Their stories briefly cross at a couple of points in the book, but in general they are loosely running in parallel. Eiric tends to address everything in his path with either his axe or his sword; Reginn is much more subtle. Both characters are likeable and easily hook the reader. There are also some interesting and mysterious supporting characters such as Liv and Asger. Throw in a handful of others who are acting on their own motivations and interest and it becomes evident that all is not as it seems and what is really going on is obscured in deception.

Following the Norse mythology and names was a little challenging at times; it was unclear whether that was just this reader’s general unfamiliarity or by author design to conceal the direction of the plot and maintain suspense. While the book does not end in a technical “cliff-hanger”, it certainly ends in a tense environment with essentially everything unresolved.

Chima has always been a strong author for young adult books in the fantasy genre. Generally, she doesn’t get too deep into romance so she is a good choice for those readers who don’t necessarily want their stories to revolve solely around a romantic relationship. With lots of action, world-building, and magic, this page-turning book is a great choice for YA fantasy lovers.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 1 religious exclamation; 1 mild obscenities; 3 derogatory names; 4 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore: Report of deaths of family members (non-detailed); character says they overheard others discussing a plan to kill someone; someone says they have a plan to kill someone later so it won’t come back to them; report of domestic abuse, especially when a character is drunk; step-father hits teenage boy, drawing blood and he trips him; baby is left in the woods to die (wintertime); parent dies while saving infant from elements; extended fight scene with weapons, fists, mention of blood, severe injuries, and a death; report of a master hurting his slave and killing those who made him angry when they intervened; master inflicts pain on his slave; characters fight with whip, fists, etc. resulting in injury; report of the killing/murder of a character; magic induces men to jump to their deaths; son says he killed his father; speculation of child sacrifices; character burned at the stake, injuries to those trying to save her, and character stabs her in the heart to kill her to spare her from the flames; warnings that someone will be killed; extended fight scene with outlaws, wolves, resulting in injuries, death, blood and gore, lightning exploding men and decapitation; runes carved into skin for magical/ritual purposes, mention of blood; scene in which knife is used to carve a rune into someone’s chest and then there is fighting where many are killed by the sword/axe; scenes in which there are bones of people and of creatures; instructions given to someone to kill people they encounter but there is no further mention of whether any deaths resulted; character poisons self to spare someone from killing her; character attemps to kill someone, slaps them, cuts rune into their skin and in scuffle is pushed and falls to death; characters come upon someone who has died by suicide via hanging self; report that a character has been captured and imprisoned, fate unknown; brief scene in where a character kills multiple people with axe/sword, non-descriptive; scene in which character has been severely injured by animals (mention of blood) and other creatures are released who kill all the animals; report of missing children and the worst is assumed; injuries incurred in a shipwreck.

Sex/Nudity: Innuendo; flirtatious behavior; child is born out of wedlock and father is married to someone else; implied that young man is very popular with the girls; shirt removed to treat wounds and female notices the physique of male; upon several occasions females notice/comment on a male’s physical attractiveness; mention that a male becomes aroused by the nearness of a female and that this is somewhat embarrassing to him; when male and female kiss he feels her “small breasts” against his chest; character learns in a culture how to address people by their gender or how to address those not committed to a gender; reference to men wondering what it would be like to lie with a witch; character’s intuition tells her a man is someone a girl shouldn’t go near; reference to young people coupling and that only certain people are allowed to couple; it is said that two females were very close, but there is no clarification as to whether this was a romantic relationship or just a friendship; female character kisses male and then bites lip to draw blood.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death, death of a family member, slavery, betrayal, murder, poverty, physical abuse, domestic abuse, suicide.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Taverns; drinking of ale and wine by all ages, sometimes to excess; mention of poison; individual drinks poisoned wine; individual drugged with dart; individual drugged with strong ale.