C. GockelI don’t read much traditional mythology anymore. There was a time in school when we were forced to read Greek, Roman or Norse mythology. So, stories have gotten stuck in my head over time. Names, places and situations pop up in entertainment in books, movies, TV shows and comics that borrow from these stories, always reminding me of the good old days.

[easyazon-link asin=”B008UUIGB2″ locale=”us”]I Bring the Fire Part I : Wolves (A Loki Story)[/easyazon-link] by C. Gockel is that kind of story, using Loki as one of its main characters.

The good news is that I didn’t need to have much knowledge of Loki to enjoy the book. Gockel involves enough back story of the character to create a compelling history for Loki. (I have no idea how much of that is true based on original mythology, but it didn’t matter here).

The book begins in the present day with Amy on break from school. She has a dog, Fenris, with her that is ugly and smelly and all hers. On the way home, her car runs off the road and instead of being saved, she is attacked by a serial killer. She prays for someone to help.

That’s when we jump to Loki. He’s in Asgard and in Odin’s prison to be kept from saving his sons who are about to punished in the worst way. Loki gets away to rescue his sons, but things don’t go well and Loki ends up on Earth when he suddenly hears Amy’s silent cry for help.

Even though he’s a trickster and known to get in trouble, Loki seems to have a good heart. He helps Amy, who eventually aids him on his quest.

The characters are interesting and layered. One of the more intriguing characters is Amy’s grandmother Beatrice, who definitely knows more than she has let on. Gockel mixes the current storyline with Loki’s backstory explaining his reputation and giving the readers a reason to care about him and his family.

This isn’t a stand-alone book. While the answer to the initial questions gets answered, the author ends the book on a major cliffhanger and with more questions. What happened to the FBI agents? Will Loki get passed his anger to help the other gods? Will we learn more about Beatrice?

I Bring the Fire is part of a longer story. Gockel gives the first book away for free to entice readers to purchase the other books in the series. The story is intriguing enough that many will find it worth it to spend a few bucks to learn how it ends.

The biggest issue for me was with tense of the writing. Maybe it’s just a pet peeve, but I don’t care when writers use present tense in fiction. I find it distracting especially when an author jumps between present and past tense.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I didn’t notice the tense after the first paragraph; it remained consistent throughout the story.

    And it was one of the more interesting stories I’d read in a while. Part II & III were even better. The emotions rang true, it was exciting, and, rarities of rarities, under all the action there was a point.

  2. I liked the free Kindle offer and immediately bought the next two. Then I bought the first paperback and am looking forward, not only to the others being published in book form, but also the fourth in the series, Fates.
    I find it interesting that a few people aren’t comfortable with them being written in the present tense …. I find that it is a refreshing change and brings a sense of “being there”. Fun for me …..

The TeleRead community values your civil and thoughtful comments. We use a cache, so expect a delay. Problems? E-mail newteleread@gmail.com.