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Thief Eyes, by Janni Lee Simner
Thief Eyes, by Janni Lee Simner
(Disclaimer: I know the author and consider her to be a friend.)
After Haley's mother disappears during a trip to Iceland, Haley and her father return, and Haley seeks to figure out what happened. But it turns out that "what happened" is a more complicated question than Haley could possibly know, involving her many-times-great grandmother Hallgerd, an equally ancient spell, the fire spirits that dwell beneath the surface of Iceland, and Odin's own servants. Together with Ari (whose presence is, in itself, another problem: Ari is both sweet and attractive, but Haley already has a boyfriend), Haley must figure out what her ancestor wrought, what she herself has done, and how to resolve it before it tears apart Iceland, and the world.
I have to confess: my first response to hearing about this book was delight that a YA novel had been written about one of the Icelandic Sagas. I first read Njal's Saga (the story that is central to this book, and one of the greatest and most famous of the Sagas) when I was in college, and then reread it a couple of years ago. It's a story of both grand scope and intimate detail, and I'd recommend it to anyone. (Don't go with the free Gutenberg translation, as that's a thoroughly expurgated Victorian one; get a modern translation.)
But anyway! Thief Eyes! As I said, I was delighted (after years of Greco-Roman and Celtoid fantasy) to see a fantasy based on the Icelandic Sagas and Norse mythology. Freki and Muninn, both familiar figures from Norse myth, are distinctive and well-rounded characters... but even more so are the characters from the Sagas: Svan the sorcerer, ancient and amoral, and Hallgerd, who reaches across the generations to avoid a fate she doesn't want.
But the star of the show was Haley, an Arizona teenager who happened to be one of Hallgerd's descendants, who came in search of her mother and accidentally fell afoul of ancient magic, and who then had to find a way to turn back that magic. She was tough and determined, but realistically sheltered and sensitive, and I liked that. I also really liked her relationship with Ari, an Icelandic boy who was sweet and shy and charming, a total geek (he kept making Star Wars references, and I loved him a great deal just for that), and attractive to Haley. But Haley also had a boyfriend in the States, Jordan, and while she was undeniably attracted to Ari, she also felt loyalty to her boyfriend, which I found pretty admirable.
The way that Haley's conflicted friendship-and-proto-romance with Ari reflected her love-hate relationship with Iceland and her ancestry seemed to me to be particularly well-done.
I was particularly pleased with the treatment of Hallgerd. Hallgerd is a complicated figure: a woman with a great deal of agency, who has the protection of both an extremely physical foster-father and a magic-wielding uncle, who is perhaps best known for her refusal to give two locks of her hair to her third and last husband to use as a bowstring. I really liked the way Thief Eyes neither attempted to rehabilitate her by making her nicey-nice nor presented her as a one-dimensional demanding bitch. Hallgerd was as she is in the sagas: complex, human, tough, and a little bit of a cipher.
Similarly, I loved the way that Haley's romantic conundrum was addressed, by not giving an easy answer: it wasn't that she was no longer in love with Jordan, it was that she was young, and too young to pledge eternally to anyone. Very realistic.
Finally: Freki. Oh, Freki. Even though I knew that he was not a "real" fox, and would survive and reappear in one form or another, his sacrifice really touched me.
Recommended. And I also recommend Njal's Saga: find it in a recent-ish translation, and enjoy.
(Disclaimer: I know the author and consider her to be a friend.)
After Haley's mother disappears during a trip to Iceland, Haley and her father return, and Haley seeks to figure out what happened. But it turns out that "what happened" is a more complicated question than Haley could possibly know, involving her many-times-great grandmother Hallgerd, an equally ancient spell, the fire spirits that dwell beneath the surface of Iceland, and Odin's own servants. Together with Ari (whose presence is, in itself, another problem: Ari is both sweet and attractive, but Haley already has a boyfriend), Haley must figure out what her ancestor wrought, what she herself has done, and how to resolve it before it tears apart Iceland, and the world.
I have to confess: my first response to hearing about this book was delight that a YA novel had been written about one of the Icelandic Sagas. I first read Njal's Saga (the story that is central to this book, and one of the greatest and most famous of the Sagas) when I was in college, and then reread it a couple of years ago. It's a story of both grand scope and intimate detail, and I'd recommend it to anyone. (Don't go with the free Gutenberg translation, as that's a thoroughly expurgated Victorian one; get a modern translation.)
But anyway! Thief Eyes! As I said, I was delighted (after years of Greco-Roman and Celtoid fantasy) to see a fantasy based on the Icelandic Sagas and Norse mythology. Freki and Muninn, both familiar figures from Norse myth, are distinctive and well-rounded characters... but even more so are the characters from the Sagas: Svan the sorcerer, ancient and amoral, and Hallgerd, who reaches across the generations to avoid a fate she doesn't want.
But the star of the show was Haley, an Arizona teenager who happened to be one of Hallgerd's descendants, who came in search of her mother and accidentally fell afoul of ancient magic, and who then had to find a way to turn back that magic. She was tough and determined, but realistically sheltered and sensitive, and I liked that. I also really liked her relationship with Ari, an Icelandic boy who was sweet and shy and charming, a total geek (he kept making Star Wars references, and I loved him a great deal just for that), and attractive to Haley. But Haley also had a boyfriend in the States, Jordan, and while she was undeniably attracted to Ari, she also felt loyalty to her boyfriend, which I found pretty admirable.
The way that Haley's conflicted friendship-and-proto-romance with Ari reflected her love-hate relationship with Iceland and her ancestry seemed to me to be particularly well-done.
I was particularly pleased with the treatment of Hallgerd. Hallgerd is a complicated figure: a woman with a great deal of agency, who has the protection of both an extremely physical foster-father and a magic-wielding uncle, who is perhaps best known for her refusal to give two locks of her hair to her third and last husband to use as a bowstring. I really liked the way Thief Eyes neither attempted to rehabilitate her by making her nicey-nice nor presented her as a one-dimensional demanding bitch. Hallgerd was as she is in the sagas: complex, human, tough, and a little bit of a cipher.
Similarly, I loved the way that Haley's romantic conundrum was addressed, by not giving an easy answer: it wasn't that she was no longer in love with Jordan, it was that she was young, and too young to pledge eternally to anyone. Very realistic.
Finally: Freki. Oh, Freki. Even though I knew that he was not a "real" fox, and would survive and reappear in one form or another, his sacrifice really touched me.
Recommended. And I also recommend Njal's Saga: find it in a recent-ish translation, and enjoy.
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Like you, I think the use of Norse mythology is refreshing. Not that different from celtic, but still. It's always a danger if the idea of the 'unseen' should be too fixed in literature, and always called faerie.
I'm thinking of incorporating some Nordic folk lore into the book I'm trying to write as well, calling the 'invisible neighbours' The Hidden, instead of fairies or elves or something. That's a direct translation from the Norwegian 'Hulder'. Don't know yet how it will play out, and I might reconsider.
I like your reviews. Saw we had a few interests in common as well. I'll friend you. (If you mind, I'll 'unfriend' you again.)
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---L.
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In modern Iceland the various feys, including what other places might be called elves, fairies, dwarfs, and trolls, are collectively called the hildufolk. How many Icelanders actually believe in them is difficult to pin down due to Icelanders' notorious reluctance to pronounce upon agnostic issues (when they don't know, they won't commit to a belief one way or another) but surveys typically find about 10% report either they or close relations have had encounters with hildufolk. Roads under construction are routinely routed around landscape features local lore associates with hildufolk, just to be safe, and there's a thriving segment of the tourist industry that caters to foreign interest in the lore.
I am, to be honest, more interested in Icelandic magical traditions and ghost lore, including ghosts so corporeal that they were wrestled with. (And then there's the saga where ghosts were exorcised by lawsuit (!) ... )
(Full disclosure: I'm married to Janni and so got to partake of her research.)
---L.
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Not too many in Norway still believe in the Hidden in their various forms (Hulderfolket is another term, that would be the same as the Icelandic Hildufolk...) - but some old people still do. I had a friend whose mother was certain she had seen one of them in front of their barn one evening...
Care to share any references to source material, if you have any? - on both the Hildufolk and the ghost lore. Would be great! (Sadly, I don't read Icelandic - I suppose I could get through some with the help of a good dictionary, though. But any other Nordic language is OK, and English and German...)
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---L.
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---L.
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I love Celtic mythology and I'm still getting a little bored of Celtoid fantasy. Part of that is because it's so often interpreted in the same way (the "not Disney fairies!" backlash has come full circle, to where many books about 'faerie' have become what I call "Gossip Girl with wings," which is just as two-dimensional as the Disney-esque fairies but in another direction), but part of it is... there's so much interesting to do with hidden-folk myths, so why limit the genre so much?
I do love the huldre/hildufolk, and would love to see more about them.
(And you are more than welcome to friend. :) )
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Couldn't agree more about the emerging 'faerie' cliche. 'Gossip Girl with wings' - LOL. I do hope I will be able to pull off the "Hidden" element in my novel...
(Thanks)
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Bear has written another Norse-inspired fantasy (that I also haven't read, but that seems to have better reviews) called All the Windwracked Stars, which is higher on my list because it's got a female protag. But as I said, I haven't read it.
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Also - I am not so much into High Fantasy. Epic battles where the fate of the world itself is at stage tend to not interest me very much. All too often it is big religious and philosophical themes treated like they were not. And I just don't buy that the fate of the world itself should rest on one or a few individuals. That spells mundane pretty fast to me. Perhaps I take it too seriously or something, but...
Personally, I'm thinking more in terms of using themes from folklore and Norwegian fairy tales - the way the unseen influences the lives and fates of my protagonists, and more individual fates. I may end up with a pretty big, bad villain, though - but more bad in the common dictator way (Hitler, Stalin, Saddam & friends) than the Sauron way, if you know what I mean.
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My only complaint about the book is the horribly confusing names, since there are a lot of characters who change names partway through, which other people mentioned in the reviews as well.
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I liked how it was set somewhere where I don't read much, (I'm getting tired of books set in NYC or London, for instance), and I liked that the main character did not express disbelief for the situation she was in (I think the memory wipe may have helped with that) or even much fury for her nasty luck along the way. I hope to see more interesting stuff from Janni Lee Simner.