Heroes of the Valley - Jonathan Stroud
I bought Jonathan Stroud's HEROES OF THE VALLEY because I'd loved two of his four-book Bartimaeus series. I wondered: Could Stroud build an entirely different world from the one he created for Bartimaeus; fill it with interesting, funny, and well-developed characters; and spin yet another riveting tale? The answer: He could! He did!
Let me sum up the book for a second. Its protagonist, Halli Sveinsson is unusually short (and therefore the subject of much ridicule), ugly, and mightily disgruntled. The latest descendant of the legendary hero Svein, Halli is disgusted by the peacefulness of his times. He relishes the stories of Svein's daring against other valley heroes and creepy, monstrous trows. Unable to fight heroic battles of his own, Halli picks fights and pull pranks. When one of those pranks has unintended, fatal consequences, Halli sets off on a quest that ends up upending his views of valor, truth, and legend.
I have a little difficulty pinpointing why, exactly, I so enjoyed HEROES. Unlike the Bartimaeus books, which feature Bartimaeus's standout voice as well as wry, unusual footnotes, HEROES has no signature elements that set the book apart. Still, I felt from the start that I was in the hands of a masterful storyteller--someone who uses language carefully and well; creates funny, credible, and multi-dimensional characters in a fully realized, imaginary world; is skillful with pacing and thoughtful about theme. HEROES is an atmospheric page-turner that has something interesting to say about the pros and cons of a society's tying itself, in an unexamined fashion, to age-old belief systems. My one quibble is that the final struggle (I can't say more without spoiler problems), though interesting in concept, felt flawed in execution.
Stroud has an interesting site that provides snapshots of his writing process for HEROES, which was inspired by Norse myth and the Icelandic Sagas of the Middle Ages: http://www.heroesofthevalley.co.uk/the_book.html. It's worth checking out.
I'll admit it. If I had spotted HEROES OF THE VALLEY in a bookstore without seeing Stroud's name, I would've passed it by. I don't tend to seek out novels steeped in medieval times and Norse legend. But I don't care what Stroud's next subject is. Polynomials with matrix coefficients (whatever those are)? Fine by me. I'll happily read it.
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