Sci-fi fantasy books roundup: A trend is emerging in fantasy for mining Norse mythology for stories

David Barnett's sci-fi fantasy roundup of new and forthcoming books includes an impressive debut, 'Defender' by GX Todd, Laura Lam's 'Pantomime' and Neil Gaiman’s 'Norse Mythology'

Ben Aaronovitch continues his mission to cover every inch of London with his acclaimed Peter Grant series of urban fantasies,

There seems to be a trend emerging in fantasy for mining Norse mythology for stories… well, if we can call two books a trend.

Still, that’s the number of ravens on Odin’s shoulder, and twice as many eyes as he has, so let’s run with it, especially as the books are both from big names.

It’s still a while until the February release of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology (Bloomsbury), but his retelling of the old myths in very Gaiman-esque style is hotly anticipated.

For Norse-flavoured myths you can get your teeth into right now, there’s Runemarks (Gollancz) from Joanne Harris, who has form with the old gods due to last year’s well-received The Gospel of Loki, which re-cast the old villainous trickster in a more appealing light.

For Runemarks Harris has again adopted the middle initial M à la Iain Banks, to slightly distinguish this work from her more commercial/literary fiction such as Chocolat. Runemarks was actually first published in 2007, but has been handsomely repackaged here, no doubt to capitalise on the success of The Gospel of Loki and the fresh appeal the Norse myths have thanks, in part, to the characters of Thor and Loki in the Marvel series of movies (just don’t take to Twitter to accuse Harris of “copying” Loki from Marvel. Seriously, just don’t).

Laura Lam's 'Pantomime' is a highly original fantasy about a rich kid with magical abilities who runs away to the circus

Runemarks is set in what is probably a far-future post-apocalyptic landscape, almost indistinguishable from the distant past, in which a young girl discovers she has a destiny inextricably linked to the all but forgotten gods of the northlands, and positively zips along on the back of Harris’s never-dull prose and storytelling.

While we’re talking about Gaiman, it’s worth mentioning that his Norse Mythology is cunningly timed to tie in with the TV adaptation of his 2001 novel American Gods, which comes to the UK via Amazon Prime in the spring. American Gods does, of course, posit all the old deities in the contemporary US, including those from the Norse pantheon. Also timely is a beautifully liveried release of the four books that ostensibly make up the American Gods quartet (Headline), rather stunningly illustrated by Daniel Egneus.

The four hardbacks are made up of the author’s preferred text of the title book and a new edition of Gaiman’s sort-of related Anansi Boys, in which easy-going Fat Charlie discovers not only does he have a slick brother he never knew existed, but their dad is an actual African spider trickster god, which is a story Davina McCall would kill for on Long Lost Families. These novels are accompanied by new releases of the two American God sequel novellas, The Monarch of the Glen and Black Dog, all with fantastic interior illustrations from Egneus.

From Old Gods and old hands to new talent, an an incredibly accomplished and impressive debut from GX Todd, Defender (Headline, January 12). The novel is of a piece with Stephen King’s The Stand, set in a post-apocalypse world where the majority of the population has killed each other or themselves after a plague of voices in their heads urged them on to cataclysmic actions. Across a dusty landscape, a mysterious wanderer called Pilgrim and a young girl, Lacey, go in search of the girl’s family. In a crowded genre, Defender stands head and shoulders above most recent post-apocalyptic offerings.

Another fresh voice is Laura Lam, whose Pantomime (Pan Macmillan) is just out. This is a highly original fantasy that splices secondary world adventure with the mysteries, awe and vibrancy of the circus. When rich kid Gene – who is both male and female – displays magical abilities, it’s not welcomed by her parents, so she runs away and joins the circus, reinventing herself as Micah Grey and becoming a trapeze artist and aerialist as the RH Ragona’s Circus of Magic wends its way across an exotic and well realised landscape.

G X Todd's impressive debut, 'Defender' is about a population killing each other or themselves after voices in their heads cause them to be fatally destructive

Speaking of well realised locations, Ben Aaronovitch continues his mission to cover every inch of London with his acclaimed Peter Grant series of urban fantasies, with the latest, The Hanging Tree (Gollancz), taking Peter and his boss Nightingale – the Metropolitan Police’s go-to guys for supernatural crime – concentrating on the site of the old Tyburn gallows (modern-day Marble Arch) and the rich folk of Mayfair.

This is the sixth Peter Grant book and, while they are standalone novels, it is recommended to read them in order as Aaronovitch has more ongoing plotlines than EastEnders, so newcomers starting fresh with this might have a few head-scratching moments. Not that reading the rest, beginning with Rivers of London, should be seen as a chore – this is one of the most joyful, accessible and engaging contemporary fantasy series of recent years.

Looking further ahead, a new book from Charles Stross is always a pleasure, especially when it’s the first in a new series. Not that the world of Empire Games (Tor), which is out 17 January, is entirely unfamiliar, set as it is in the same universe as Stross’s Merchant Princes series. Those books established a scenario of alternate timelines that could be navigated, which the US military very swiftly learned to. In this first book, Rita Douglas is co-opted by the security services because of her genetic talent to switch between time-streams, meaning she has to very quickly get up to speed to become a rather reluctant reality-hopping secret agent. The world is not enough for America… not when there are all these other ones out there.

And who can resist a new Claire North? Released 26 January, The Sudden Appearance of Hope (Orbit) looks to be a fine companion to North’s existing oeuvre including Touch – about individuals who could shift between different bodies – and The Fifteen Lives of Harry August, a very original time-travel tale. The Sudden Appearance of Hope looks to occupy the same thematic territory, with the title character in the unfortunate position of everyone immediately forgetting about her as soon as she’s out of sight – even her own parents. Which is not a situation Claire North is ever likely to find herself in if she keeps turning out startlingly original novels like this.