Customer Reviews

Brisingamen

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Author, Diana Paxon is a respected elder in Asatru and so seeing a modern fantacy by her I had to read it.

As the other reviewers here have noted, it is rather dated, there is a lot about the Vietnam war, including some social commentary on it, but that doesn't interfere with the story, rather gives background to some of the charachters and why they have developed in the way which they have.

It begins as Karen, a shy grad student on the faculty at Berkley has discovered the legendary neclace of Freya, Brisingamen. Not knowing it's power, she wears it and soon the power of Freya, and those enemies and allies of Freya begin to work in her life. Soon, these forces culminate into an epic battle of the gods to stave off Ragnarok.

Another note on the relgion portraied in the book. It was written at the time that the modern Asatru movement was only begining and those of you who are Asatru may be interrested in seeing how someone who is now an elder in the faith percieved things before any orgainisations existed.

A very good book, and one I'll be sure to read again in the future.

What would happen if Freya showed up in San Francisco in the not so distant past? This is the basis of for a very entertaining work which incorperates Norse Paganism, occultism and other supernatural streams which one might find in San Francisco in this time period. Sword and Sorcery during the Reagan era.

A fun read from a past master of the art.

I thought that Brisingamen was an engaging,interesting story,yes at first the lead protagonist starts out as a wishywashy,whiny girl who has no self worth. But slowly she comes to see her own inner strength, to stand on her own. My only dispointment was that there were not more female charecters who took on a "Goddess persona" but oh well. All the charecters,one can understand and sympathize with,even Loki/Duncan Flyte. I do not consider it to be out dated, I mean yes to a certain extent, the Vietnam war was over talked about,even today, But we should pause and concider,why is it so much talked about? Because it made a HUGE impact on alot of people's lives. Thank you for reading and have a blessed day

I felt that the book was somewhat dated. The Vietnam war references served to place the book in a particular time (not a bad thing), but it was the main character's actions which made it seem dated. She was such a wimpy character that, unless possessed by Freya, she didn't even drive her own car if there was a man around. Her relationship with Mike was predictable and conformed to outdated gender roles. (I don't consider this placing it in time, as I have read other books written at about the same time where the women are much stronger.)

Furthermore, the book was peppered with references to people who were real, and presumably friends of the author. I recognized this with some of the poets, but for all I know there were more friends snuck in with Terry's religious companions. In general, I find that including (non-famous) real people in fictional works makes the work seem more like an in-joke, written for a specific audience that I am not a member of.

Of course there were some things I liked about this book, or it would not have received a 3. The story was entertaining enough, and the writer's style is pleasant and illustrative. I have enjoyed the author's short stories about Shanna and would probably pick up some of her other, more recent books if I chanced upon them in the second-hand bookshop.

It was written in the 70's and boy, can you ever tell. The female character is powerless, confused, and lets herself be ruled by any of 3 different men, all of this in SPITE of the fact that she is supposedly the embodiment of the Norse goddess Freyja. Over this weak foundation, Paxson includes overdone political commentary on the Viet Nam war (it felt as if she really wanted to talk about Viet Nam, and wrote the Freyja story as an aside), male characters who are flat and predictable, a storyline that tries, but fails, to sell itself, and superficial exploration of dated stereotypes.

I read the book through, hoping that it would redeem itself. It didn't. For me, the only enjoyable aspect of this book was that it let me flex my critic's muscles long enough to articulate just WHY I hated it. If you like good mythological or fantasy fiction, AVOID this book.