This is the 2nd edition of the book. The original edition was removed years ago, and now has Svartesól has revised the book and re-written sections of the book. This book is more of an explanation of the author’s personal beliefs than a re-constructionist text. If you’re interested in the Vanir, however, it’s an interesting read.

The book starts out reviewing the different gods and goddesses that the author categorizes as Vanir. He pulls from the different primary sources that we currently have for Norse mythology as well as from personal gnosis.

The rest of the book is mostly from a combination of shared and personal gnosis, and describes the structure of the non-divine residents of Vanaheim – the rulers and the different tribes of folk. Svartesól covers information about the different tribes as well as the rituals that they perform and how to interact with them.

The author is quite good at identifying what is from Personal gnosis, shared gnosis, and from primary sources so you can make your own decisions on what you believe.

Hounded is definitely in the range of popcorn reading for me.  The author does a great job of blending just enough “real” mythology with new and modern twists to keep you interested.  The characters are well written, showing flashes of their true identity while trying to blend into the modern world.  There are very few purely good or evil guys …. and lots of interesting characters in the range between!  The story takes place in a world that could very nearly be real – including most people’s great ability to explain away the unknown.  Hearne takes the world as portrayed in the modern pagan communities and stretches it just enough to hover on the edge of believable.  Once you pick up the book, it’s hard to put down!

Overall I enjoyed the book. The writing isn’t particularly amazing, but the characters are interesting and kept me engaged while the story wove its way through my geek memories. If you’re not a geek I’m not sure how much this will appeal; but for geeks who wish they could wield a lightsaber this is a fun romp through fantasy.

My Review

Someone stole Zeus’ Master Bolt and it’s up to Percy Jackson to return it.

Having watched the movie a couple times, I was interested in reading the original book that it was based on. Overall, I quite enjoyed the book and finished it in a couple of evenings. The book is fairly close to the movie for the first half, but then diverges into a much more complex story once Percy has reached Camp Half-Blood.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series and seeing how Percy and his companions continue to save the world.

This year, one of my goals is to do a lot more study.  I’m working on my Initiate Program with the ADF and am on the first class.  There are some of the classes that include work that takes a year from the time you start it, so I’m not targeting on finishing all that work by the end of the year, but I’m aiming on one class per  High Day.

To help with this study, which includes a LOT of reading, I’m joining up with the 2014 Witches & Witchcraft reading!  I’m aiming for the “Maiden” level, with 6 books read (one per 2 months) but hope to get more than that!

My first book is:

Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World (Revealing Antiquity, No. 10). Trans. Franklin Philips. Harvard University Press, 1997.