‘Children of Ragnarok’ by Cinda Williams Chima

I recently completed Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima (Grade 7 and up - School Library Journal). Published in 2022, this book was “new to me” when I purchased it at a second-hand bookstore. I was deeply interested in the fantasy setting that incorporated Norse mythology and I quickly became caught up by the story, which centered around three young people whose respective quests and challenges converge in New Jotunheim: a seeming paradise that is tainted by hidden evil. School Library Journal says: “Hand this to fantasy fans and younger readers aging into YA.” Children of Ragnarok is the first book in Chima’s Runestone Saga. The story continues in Bane of Asgard, published in 2024 — currently on my “want to read” list.

Publisher’s description:
Ever since Ragnarok — the great war between the gods and the forces of chaos — the human realm of the Midlands has become a dangerous place, bereft of magic, where most lead lives of desperation.

Sixteen-year-old Eiric Halvorsen is among the luckier ones. Between fishing, going vikingr, and working his modir’s farm, the family has remained prosperous. But Eiric stands to lose everything when he’s convicted by a rigged jury of murdering his modir and stepfadir.

Also at risk is his half-systir, Liv, whose interest in seidr, or magic, has made her a figure of suspicion. Then a powerful jarl steps in: he will pay the blood price if Eiric will lead a mission to the fabled Temple at the Grove — the rich stronghold of the wyrdspinners, the last practitioners of sorcery.

Spellsinger, musician, and runecaster Reggin Eiklund has spent her life traveling from town to town, performing at alehouses all for the benefit of her master, Asger, the fire demon she is desperate to escape. Then after one performance that amazes even Reggin herself, two wyrdspinners in the audience make her an irresistible offer: return with them to the temple to be trained in seidr, forever free of Asger.

Eiric, Liv, and Reggin’s journeys converge in New Jotunheim, the site of the Temple at the Grove, a paradise fueled by magic. They soon realize that a great evil lurks beneath the dazzling surface, and that old betrayals and long-held grudges may fuel another cataclysmic war. It will require every gift and weapon at their command to prevent it.