#gudvarr is a strong contestant for the most despicable character

[theliterarygnat]

Reading Summary: 28. April, 2024 (The Hunger of the Gods, Chapters 12-28)

CHAPTER 12 | GUÐVARR Dreading this chapter hard. Hated the character so much in The Shadow of the Gods that I expect this to be as tiring as Elvar's chapters, if not worse. pg. 102 Okay, so this isn't all that bad, actually. I like how he is self-aware, for the most part. Would have loved for this to continue with Mord's death; he should've reminded himself that he killed Mord dishonorably. Mord was immobilized and vulnerable, trussed up by someone else. That was a coward's kill, an easy kill, and it would be nice to see Guðvarr have the balls to admit that to himself as well.

pg. 103 Was "and crotch" really necessary here? Really? I hope this is supposed to be foreshadowing something fucked up going on between Guðvarr and his aunt, because otherwise this just seems to be another instance of Gwynne's obsession with testicles.

Also, since the audience is used to italics being used to signify a character's unspoken inner thoughts, I don't think adding dialogue tags there is necessary, especially since it had been explained how and why Guðvarr does this. A better use of dialogue tags here would be giving an impression of what Guðvarr himself thinks about the habit and how it manifests. Like "he added bitterly" could help gain an insight into how he's feeling, or "his thought-cage supplied" implies that the insult was thought automatically and without Guðvarr's conscious input. Granted, my examples are shit, but I'm also not a published novelist or a writer. But if we are to use dialogue tags here, they should either add tone or add context; otherwise, 'he thought' is a waste of words. A reviewer on Goodreads did point out that Gwynne tends to overuse dialogue tags and I do agree. It is rather choppy and not really insightful when it comes to the tone or how the characters act, giving the dialogue a flat affect.

Worst thing is, Gwynne does drop the 'thought' dialogue tag further down this page, so I don't understand why he'd keep it here.

pg. 104 Ah, another instance where Gwynne reuses the same/very similar phrase very close together. This time it's "bound wrists and ankles". In the same paragraph no less…. divided by a whole one line…

How did Vol speak with such clarity if there was a gag in her mouth? Sólín gets "aksentéd dialogue" because she lost some front teeth but Vol just speaks perfectly well through either a rag or something else stuffed into her mouth? Nuh-uh.

pg. 105 They have the concept of hell? I mean, we didn't really hear about the afterlife these people believed in besides the Soul Road, but I find it strange that Gwynne didn't say 'Hel' or use a variation of any of the other underworlds that can be found in Norse mythos. It does feel like an oversight frankly. Also, "she-bitch" is redundant, since 'bitch' is already female by default, on account on being a female dog. "She-bitch" makes no sense; a 'she-devil' would have worked fine in this sentence, which makes me wonder if the original sentence was 'A she-devil from hell' that got clocked as too modern or unfitting for the setting, so someone during editing changed 'devil' to 'bitch', without taking the stupidity of 'she-bitch' into account.

Is Guðvarr a good man? No. Is he even all that complex? No. But somehow, he is more enjoyable to read than Elvar. Wow. I dreaded this chapter for nothing.

CHAPTER 13 | VARG So much leaping and howling. Are there really no other words you could have used?? Like 'Varg scrambled to his feet' or 'his blood boiled, a deep, beastly hiss in his ears' (which isn't even all that good) or 'Varg's blood gurgled in his veins, as though shaken by a wolf's growl'. Is that a little cheesy? Sure. But so's all the howling.

I don't know why exactly, but this chapter has been rather meh to me. Not necessarily bad, but lacking the charm that Varg's chapters are usually imbued with. It might be because of the action scene that took up most of it; though I did like the detail with the helmet strap being messed up again. It wasn't all that funny, but it did put a smile on my face.

CHAPTER 14 | BIÓRR pg. 120 Inconsistent hyphenation strikes again…

Also, again, because of who Elvar is as a character, I simply do not see why Biórr would fall in love with her, or care. Like he says, she was happy to live a slaver's life, and while he doesn't know what Elvar is doing now, there wasn't anything really worth liking about her before she became a typical conservative slave-owner. Biórr feeling regret or any emotional attachment to her honestly cheapens his character for me; I was in Elvar's head and there is fuckall going on there. What does he see in her? I feel like Gwynne wrote himself into a corner here a little. It's distracting that Biórr is longing after a cardboard-cutout of a slaver, but Gwynne also cannot really have Biórr thinking about what he likes about Elvar. It would give context to why he likes her, sure, but it also would distract even more from the story, and make Biórr seem weaker-willed than he already appears to me. Writing Biórr this way is a lose-lose situation in my eyes; Gwynne could have written a significantly more compelling character if Biórr truly was removed from the Battle-Grim on an emotional level. Gwynne already is competently writing Guðvarr (somehow???) so I think it would have maybe worked with Biórr.

I have to admit to a fault of mine in understanding the last chapter from Biórr's perspective, I think? I have thought that, at the beginning of Chapter 9, we have already crossed the Isbrún Bridge and left that region of Vigrið, mostly because of how time supposedly had passed. And I thought at the end of Chapter 9 that we were returning in direction of Oskutreð to kill Ulfrir immediately. But apparently not? I'm somewhat tempted to blame the text for being written awkwardly enough to lead me to that conclusion, but I think in this case I'm the idiot who just didn't understand. I'm taking the L on this one.

CHAPTER 15 | ORKA pg. 131 I do rather like the bit with Lif and Vesli. Lif has a solid characterization that goes really well with his background. Solid guy.

Although the prose with "a soft, sucking sound" was a rather awkward. The more I pay attention to Gwynne's writing the more I notice just how weak it sometimes can be. It's not the best to read, and it's not really imaginative. For example, in Varg's chapter, when they go into the meadow and there's sheep running, I would have loved for the environment to be better described. There isn't any atmosphere, any mood, any sense of the world or what it looks like; just character x and y doing things and events happening around them. Combined with the writing style, it doesn't paint the picture of a living world, nor is it particularly immersive. This book is already chunky and honestly maybe even clunky, and I do not believe the story necessitates the length.

CHAPTER 16 | GUÐVARR pg. 138 Ah, would yoou look at that? This ties perfectly into my point on the prose not being the best. We didn't need to be told that Guðvarr thought the italicized phrase and refrained from speaking it; one would imply the other. A better-flowing sentence would be "Guðvarr thought to himself, knowing better than to anger the hard-looking man with cold eyes and scarred hands."

pg. 140 The dialogue tags strike again. Too much 'said', too many tags in general. Also, instead of doing the stupid "'With my life,' Guðvarr said. Never with my life, he thought." why not just have it be "'With my life,' Guðvarr lied easily." If the dialogue tags weren't used so abundantly and awkwardly, then the original version would have worked; but because the dialogue tags already feel cluttered and clunky, this type of 'he said, he thought' combo is a little grating.

pg. 141 I. Don't know how I feel about the people of color in this world apparently being Slavic? Like I thought that they were described as 'darker-skinned' because they were tanned, their climate warmer, since there is much sun in the Balkans and Central Europe. But. 'Crow-black'? Not to mention the way their hairstyles to seem to me to be inspired by Manchurian queue (since the Cossack oseledets isn't braided like described in this book). This hodge-podge does make me rather uncomfortable. Like, if you are including people of color and want to give them "ethnic" names different from the "ethnic" names of Vigrið's people, then use the languages of the people that you based the aesthetics of the culture from, instead of pasting another ethnic group's culture on top?

pg. 143 Hmmm… I think that's a little redundant. There is already a clear implication that Guðvarr does not care what happens to the others as long as he's safe, considering he is "relieved that it wasn't him" who was to follow the Galdurfolk into the tower. I think that thought could have been shortened to "Or perhaps it won't, but truth be told I don't really care" without losing anything. In fact I think it would be clearer/less repetitive.

pg. 144 Damn. Did Guðvarr and Vafri fuck??? Poor girl.

Also, why write that sentence like that? Just ssay "The female Úlfhéðnar stepped closer to Skalk" instead of dividing it so awkwardly. It's such stilted prose.

pg. 145 Honestly, with how much attention Gwynne tends to pay to the every-day disgusts of medieval life, I'd have expected him to actually talk, or at least mention, the air being hard to breathe in Queen Helka's chamber, since the smoke from the torches cannot escape on account of the room being windowless. I'm actually a little hung up on that detail now. How are people there breathing?

CHAPTER 17 | ELVAR Elvar, how are you more frustrating and disgusting than Guðvarr?

I really don't want Elvar to take Agnar's place as the leader of the Battle-Grim. Without Grend her ass would be grass many times over; her achievements hardly feel hers when she'd been dead without an oathsworn protector to save her.

Also, the gods don't really have the presence of gods. It's part of them constantly transforming, for one, plus with how easy they are to resurrect and tame. Why is resurrection so easy, anyway? Why isn't there a bigger struggle, a greater sacrifice necessary? Why is magic just so easy?

pg. 159 Well, Elvar is not really proving Huld wrong with that petty ass attitude. I can see Gwynne trying to add depth to Elvar's character but that is in many ways too little too late. This growth, this depth, should have been present and explored in the first book, especially when the Battle-Grim were in Snakavik, where Elvar and her father could have talked, where Elvar could have proved better than Thorun, where Elvar should have been brimming with emotion and anger and rage and be constantly reminded of her past. But she wasn't. She was swaying and weak and considering returning until somebody else had to tell her that her father, whom she knew was a conniving and manipulative ass, was probably not being genuine in his offer. She also should have seen him handing her a warband just like that as an insult! He had not seen her in action, he knew nothing of her reputation; he just saw her with the Battle-Grim and leveraged her past and current desires against her. She should have been livid. She wasn't. She was tempted. And nothing happened between then and now to make her grow and suddenly gain this depth. This is an inept handling of her character. It reads more like a reaction to the poor reception Elvar's character got.

Frankly, if the first book had been a meal, Elvar would have been a medium-cooked, unseasoned chicken. Her portrayal in THOTG is the equivalent of being given a spoonful of salt and pepper after one already had been forcibly fed said chicken.

CHAPTER 18 | ORKA The banter is fine. Not the best, but fine, not as comedic to me as to the characters, which is alright. But god, the length of that sentence as Orka and Ingmar fought on pg. 168… no thank you. I did toy around with adding periods into it and frankly, it got better. Some 'ands' and -ing verbs can be removed or swapped out, keeping the speed of the action but making the passage less exhausting to read.

CHAPTER 19 | VARG Well, Varg, I hope you get to live up to that promise, and fuck Elvar the hell up if y'all ever meet.

CHAPTER 20 | ORKA Why are the brynjas always splitting and falling apart. No matter how well made they supposedly are, they literally never seem to offer any protection. Also, since most if not all Raven-Feeders proper are Tainted, why the fuck is it so easy for Vesli and Lif to kill one? We keep being told that the Raven-Feeders are a great danger, but on-page they are weak, constantly dying in greater numbers to lesser combatants. They feel like a joke; not like anything actually scary. It's difficult to take them seriously, and as such I don't really care when they appear on page. I feel no fear, no sympathy, don't see the stakes in the fights against them.

Also, the word 'land' exists. The word 'crash' exists. There is enough modern language that there is no need to use 'alighted' every single goddamn time Vesli or Spert land somewhere. It's repetitive and distracting with its frequency. It also lacks any mood or gesture. Do they land softly? Do they crash into bodies in a battle? Do they drop on the ground gracelessly? Everything is written so flatly, including much of the dialogue, which isn't even punctuated correctly. I feel like this book needed one more round of edits at least to make sure the grammar and punctuation were decent, the language more varied and captivating.

CHAPTER 21 | GUÐVARR pg. 186 Yeah, this really needed another editor just to check over the formatting and punctuation. There is a misplaced comma outside of the quotation marks during a dialogue. The flat affect is also at its highest hear. Everyone's bellowing and yelling and shouting, but there are no explanation points, creating a dissonance between the tone and mood of the dialogue and the dialogue tags themselves. It's rather unfortunate that the prose--surrounding the dialogue especially--is so weak here.

pg. 193 "palpable, like a physical thing" ah, yes, what wonderful prose; definitely not at all redundant and repetitive. Why is the writing so unimaginative ToT I'm fucking weeping. What is this??

CHAPTER 22 | ORKA Literally what is the reason for Vesli/Spert's dialogue being italicized only sometimes. Why is that not consistent.

pg. 200 If Myrk is smirking as she speaks, then there is no need to end that paragraph with "Another smile." since she is presumably smiling throughout the dialogue. It's so unnecessary. Likewise, there was no need to specify that Myrk was the one speaking. If Gwynne had used any other dialogue tag besides 'said', then perhaps that choice would have been justifiable. Maybe he wanted to add mood, establish tone… but no. 'said' is used, which is unnecessary and redundant here. As am I, with how often I repeat that something is redundant, but that is a testament to the lack of technical skill displayed in this prose.

CHAPTER 23 | GUÐVARR pg. 206 Too much 'follow'. I get what Gwynne wanted to achieve on some level, but it doesn't sound as good on the page as one might have hoped. It'd have been more fitting with a description of distance, giving us a mood and visual.

"Guðvarr followed, Yrsa close at his heels." this feels oppressive, like Yrsa is hounding Guðvarr, cutting off any escape with her body, not giving him a chance; an intimidation tactic.

"Guðvarr followed, Yrsa marching three steps behind." professional, at a distance, a cold disregard and hatred towards Guðvarr; or hinting at some different duty, perhaps there to stop Guðvarr from running away. I just think these two options would have been much evocative than "Guðvarr followed, and Yrsa followed him." Like, I get it, but getting it isn't good enough to excuse that flatness.

pg. 207 "Skálds" are capitalized, for some reason. That wasn't the case in the previous book at all, nor really in this book before now. The more I read the more does this book feel like an unpolished product. It really needed an outsider's eyes to catch on the formatting issues and the weird inconsistency going on.

pg. 208 "He felt Yrsa's presence behind him." "Guðvarr gulped, tried to take a step back, but Yrsa's solid presence was a wall behind him." "Guðvarr followed, a little reluctantly, but Yrsa's presence behind him felt like an unseen hand, pushing him on." In case you didn't get it, Yrsa's presence was behind him. Behind him was Yrsa's presence. Yrsa's presence behind him was. Yrsa's pres-

I stand corrected. My initial impression that Guðvarr was capable of self-reflection and had any cunning about him was entirely unfounded.

CHAPTER 24 | VARG See, because of how minimally the book is written, I cannot tell if the confusing description at the end is supposed to be this way for storytelling and mood purposes or if that's just how Gwynne would have written it regardless.

CHAPTER 25 | GUÐVARR The first fight scene I enjoyed! The writing really flowed well and didn't feel as repetitive as in other battles. There was this sense of swiftness and brutality, without anything being confusing. There was such clarity to the prose that I really could picture Taras the Bull on fire, the hole in the wall, the warriors piling in, Skalk's apprentices falling, and so on. I enjoyed the eagle's presence and the payoff to the focus on it the previous chapter. It was actually decently well masked what with the other monsters and critters around, but it was given enough special attention that I knew to expect something. Overall, this was truly a great moment and a fun segment to read.

It was fun to see the Iskidan people get proactive. They certainly have a lot of skill. I don't really care for the way Gwynne is portraying and focusing on Guðvarr's bodily fluids and reactions, but eh, mileage may vary. The way we saw Jökul's death from Guðvarr's point of view though… I actually really love this choice. Love to see how easy it was to recognize the characters, more by their weapons than appearance, but at least I knew who was getting their brains burst open with their own weapon. I cannot wait until Guðvarr finally dies…

CHAPTER 26 | VARG pg. 238 Not gonna lie, I did not actually remember or read who's descendant Æsa was, but I did remember that Fjalla the Mountain Goat was a god, so that… was not hard to understand. On one hand, the simile makes sense. Mountain goats are good at scaling mountains and cliffs. On the other… I dunno. I think I'm just not enjoying myself to the point where even fun prose and hints like this don't land well. I'm not saying this is bad, by the way; that's actually a fun way to work Æsa's divine ancestry into the descriptions! It's fitting and all. I just didn't care for it. Which sucks so much when I know it's actually competently done.

pg. 240 Another misnamed character moment. Instead of Svik and Æsa coming to Varg after he called them, it is apparently Varg that comes to himself with Æsa.

pg. 245 Oh, I absolutely love Einar getting bit in the leg! The fact two Úlfhéðnar tried to sink their teeth into him and only Varg succeeded is just chef's kiss. Love the reference/callback. I also think that if Varg's sister was alive (and who knows, mayhaps she is…) this would be a wonderful way of introducing her. The italicization of Úlfhéðnar is grating when the word is used so many times on the page though.

pg. 246 Damn. I really love the way Gwynne writes Varg figuring out and seeing that his ear was bitten off. I can't articulate why exactly, but there is a comedic timing to it; the slow realization of something being off, the snap to the Úlfhéðnar, the one-liner… I love it. It's so fun.

CHAPTER 27 | GUÐVARR Why is Guðvarr so important to Gwynne. A couple of chapters here and there, like with Biórr would have been fine, but the more I see this man, the more page time he consumes, the more I despise reading from his point of view. I enjoyed the first few chapters, was even pleasantly surprised; but Gwynne's presentation of Guðvarr is getting tired. I have the unfortunate feeling that Guðvarr is never really going to get resolved satisfactorily. There's just something about him that makes me think Gwynne will focus on Guðvarr long after the niðing drengr has overstayed his welcome, to such a degree where whatever is coming for him will feel like it's come too late narratively to feel cathartic in any way.

pg. 250 I am begging Gwynne to stop mentioning Guðvarr pissing and/or shitting himself every single godsdamned chapter. It's not even adding to Guðvarr's sorry, pitiful, pathetic characterization at this point. It's just another one of Gwynne's weird fixations, like testicles in the first book. It is not making any meaningful impact when it's used with such frequency; it grows annoying, borderline childish and immature. Much like Guðvarr's POV chapters turning into something grating, some of the "jokes" and "running gags", especially those related to Guðvarr, are being overused.

CHAPTER 28 | ELVAR Damn. Am I counting right it has been 11 chapters since we last saw her?

Also, the opening to this chapter is a little confusing but did not really have to be that way. We could have played catch-up with what had been going on with the Battle-Grim first, describing the camp, and then have Elvar go to Uspa; it would have flowed better and made more sense. Like, it's so weird that Elvar wakes Uspa up just to say "my thanks". Thanks for what? I'd be great to see the thought process there, see why it's being said. This isn't a strong start, to be honest.

pg. 259 Again, where was this characterization last book? Elvar has not done any deep thinking or reflection upon herself, her father, or anything from what the audience has been shown, nor was any of this part of her motivation last book. Where did this sudden spark of complexity come from? Elvar didn't even reject her father's offering because it had been an insult; she had refused it because Hrung told her "a wolf cannot become a lamb" and she realized her father was likely being facetious and trying to manipulate her! It wasn't about her reputation and earning her fame back then!

pg. 260 That prose would have been better if it was like this instead: "Elvar nodded, and as she listened, her hand wrapped around her sword hilt. She drew it a short way, checked that the blade was not sticking, and let it slide back down."

"Elvar nodded, as she listened her hand wrapping around her sword hilt, drawing it a short way, checking the blade was not sticking, then let it slide back down."

pg. 263 That. Actually pissed me off. On pg.259 we have the text saying "her injured shoulder". If that hadn't been there, then this would have made sense, and justified the strange opening of the chapter. I still don't think it had to start the way it did; Elvar could have, in her narration, be vague about the interaction, only putting "my thanks" into proper dialogue. Regardless, the fact that Elvar herself (since, while this is 3rd person POV, it is limited and thus the world is viewed through Elvar) refers to her shoulder as "injured" is deceptive. Did I pick up on the lack of pain? Yes. Did I assume it was done for brevity's and clarity's sake because of the line on pg.259? Also yes.

Worse yet, because of all the mistakes and awkward phrasing in this book I cannot even tell if Gwynne meant for that to be there, or if the "injured shoulder" was included in the text by accident. If it was purposeful, then it was deceptive, and frankly I hate the fact Gwynne resorted to outright lying to the audience here. I also personally do not find this particular scene to be interesting beyond the frustration it caused. I had hoped Huld would win when the holmganga was officially happening, but knew at once there were no stakes in this situation because it was "to the death".

I'd have preferred if Elvar didn't kill Huld; instead maybe forced her out of the holmganga spear-square, make her feel like a true leader. It had been noted that every good warrior counts. It should have been Elvar's priority to ensure that. But noooo. There is nothing cunning about her; not even the shallowest puzzle. At least Guðvarr is trying to manipulate people and get out of the shite he gets himself into, which shows at least some conniving, if not intelligence. Elvar doesn't even have that. It's hard to appreciate her healing her shoulder and creating an advantage out of it when the reader is lied to this way.

Okay, I am being facetious and purposefully exaggerating. Elvar's trick with the shoulder is smart though strangely conveniently timed. However, there is nothing about Elvar to like, nothing to be enjoyed about her. Even with the newer depth of her motivation with her father, she does not have any appeal for me and continues to be a weak character. If Elvar was smart and skilled enough to both win the holmganga and ensure Huld survives it, showing that she is serious about the quest to save Bjarn and cares for the Battle-Grim, I could have at least appreciated her as a leader. But Elvar doesn't show any true regard for the Battle-Grim around her, doesn't think about the future, their future, does not have the makings of a leader, which could have been her thing. It could have been her appeal. She is a shit person, a slaver, but she loves her fellow battle-brothers and battle-sisters, and she will keep them alive with brains and brawn at any cost, even when feuding with them. But this holmganga squanders that possibility, that complexity and appeal; and for what? Elvar could still have pulled the shoulder-trick to force Huld out of bounds and win.

Besides, why the hell did Elvar wait so fucking long before getting it healed? Uspa didn't seem tired or tuckered out by reviving a dead god at all; why wouldn't Elvar get herself up to fighting speed earlier, especially since she knew there would be difficult encounters ahead (such as the tennúr)? It feels like Gwynne just came up with this oh-so-very-cool idea for a scene and stuck with it even when it doesn't make much sense on this level.

I also think it's both funny and depressing that my first thought when reading this chapter was "oh god, another shit order of events" rather than "hmm, mysterious". Gwynne has failed to make logical progressions and sensible prose before (see: Orka's first chapter) so if something is worded vaguely I just assume it's another case of inept writing rather than a meaningful choice.

pg. 264 Misplaced quotation mark in Sighvat's dialogue.

I also don't really like the fact Ulfrir smiles at Elvar here. There is too much congeniality between Elvar and Ulfrir; I would have much rather the god not make any expression. After all, Elvar has enslaved him. This honestly adds to the lack of grandeur the gods possess. Skuld, Ulfrir, and Lik-Rifa both just… don't feel like much. The reader can see right through Lik-Rifa, and her threats are ultimately banal, lacking the 'deep-cunning' necessary to make her feel like a grand villain. The Raven-Feeders come off as pathetic and I cannot see them as ever having posed any legitimate threat. I would have loved if Gwynne actually made Lik-Rifa a loving, genuinely caring individual with extremist views, who would be kind to her followers, show understanding and sympathy, make her promises full of conviction. It would have been such a beautiful thing to witness a loving corpse-eating, starving, malnourished dragon god who, for all her flaws, truly loves her children, who have slaved over her freedom for centuries. It would have been so painful for Biórr and maybe others to realize that Lik-Rifa, as much as she loves them, is flawed and will not make the world better.

I can imagine a heartfelt, emotional, gut-wrenching scene of the Raven-Feeders, or perhaps just Biórr, taking part in the last stand against Lik-Rifa, crying because they truly love her: I want Lik-Rifa to be unwilling to fight and hurt her children, begging them to stop, asking why they've turned on her, and maybe have her kill Ilska and Drekr or someone, any dragonborn, and I want her to stop and take in that she killed her own child, and I want her to howl in despair and stop fighting back, letting herself be killed by her children; because now she is no better than Snaka.

Epicness of violence can only get this story so far when I don't like the characters. When there's no emotion to be felt or had. I'm quite pessimistic about the fact that, with the story as-written, Gwynne will not be able to top my emotional investment in a half-baked scene that doesn't exist in any tangible or meaningful way.