"Take A Great Adventure Back Into The Past"The first book of this series, "Beyond Hades" astounded me. It was excellently written and edited, and I felt I was reading a modern classic. It was awesome and spellbinding. As this novel begins, Zoe is a beautiful young woman who has men naturally idolizing her and willing to follow her anywhere. She opens the door to her New York City apartment to depart on her exercise run. A man blocks her way and is as much surprised as Zoe. The stranger dressed in full combat fatigues is looking for the resident Talbot Harrison. Zoe is Talbot's daughter. The stranger, Wes, was aghast as he knew Talbot since he worked with him. Wes is not much older than Zoe, and Wes is having trouble thinking that he has advanced about 20 years in time, without recalling it. Zoe sadly tells him her father died about six months earlier in a rockslide. Zoe spends time with him recalling all the stories of her dad in battles with monsters wanting to take over Earth. Suddenly, there is a loud, crashing sound and the apartment is tumbling to the ground. Wes protects her from injury and as the dust clears, Zoe sees Wes take aim with his rifle at something she's never seen before, ... a huge, fierce dragon! The dragon is Prometheus, and he reveals the new mission to Aesic, where Zoe's father is still alive, but trapped. But has 20 years really passed? Is Zoe really Talbot's daughter? Thus this wild, imaginative saga begins. Luke Romyn's character, Wes, is a very vibrant character -- witty, offensive to many, determined, brave, and sometimes obnoxious. But he provides the humor in this daunting tale that takes Wes and Talbot back in time once again to different dimensions to confront many ancient cultures, many different beasts, and those who have mystical powers as well as shape-shifting capabilities. Luke Romyn must be mystical himself to create such an amazing novel. Another stellar adventure for all readers. Chock full of the trademark irreverent humor which I have come to expect from this author, I found Slaves Of Valhalla to be a decidedly entertaining read. I was drawn to the first book, Beyond Hades, because of my general interest in mythology and that interest was once again piqued with this book. In this edition of the story we are taken on a trip through the land of the Norse gods in the course of chasing the evil demigod/Titan, Prometheus. There is more fun to be had with Wes, the half-crazed Australian commando, and more battles with strange and wondrous creatures born of fables. If you liked the first book then I am sure you will like this one as well.The only thing I can offer in the way of a criticism centers around the level of gratuitous fawning over Wes early on in the novel through the use of descriptive asides. One or two such instances should have been sufficient to explain the character's eccentric behavior to a reader who didn't read the first book, but there were far more than that. Wes is a strong, dynamic, humorous character and I did not see the need to point those things out as often as was done. Bear in mind that by the time you get beyond the first five chapters or so all of these instances are gone and the actions and dialogue are left to their own devices.Again, I believe this is an excellent book and delivers exactly what I had expected it to. I read this over a period of a few days with whatever spare time I could muster because I wanted to see how it was going to turn out. It grew more compelling for me as I advanced through the plot and I found the ending to be very well conceived. Whatever Luke Romyn writes in the future, I will be waiting eagerly to read
What do You think about Slaves Of Valhalla (2012)?
This one felt more drawn out compared to the first one.
—Crook
