Twilight of the Gods (The Valkyries)
Fifth century: Brynhild, once a proud Valkyrie, is now an old woman, bent with age and fire-scarred. With her soul-friend Thora, she continues to struggle against Odin, Old One Eye. The god has cursed his former shield maidens, these two women who dared defy him, with curses which may yet come to fruition through the women’s own children.
Brynhild and Thora travel throughout Germania, Gaul, and many other lands of Europe. They rescue Yrsa, Thora’s daughter, the unwitting wife of her own father, and strive to escape the wrath of Odin. Their flight leads to an encampment of the Huns and later to the city of Colonia. Ancient magic and curses play out as strands of fate spun by the ancient Norns unwind and the twilight of the old gods inevitably gives way to a new era.
Ann Chamberlin’s masterful retelling of this epic story draws from The Volsunga Saga, The Nibelungenlied, and the Old Norse Poetic Edda. The drama enraptures and delights, drawing the reader into an imagined world of 5th-century Europe infused with the magic of old ways and old gods. Brynhild’s struggle against Odin, her love for Siegfried, and the resolution of the story transports the reader to ancient, mystical realms grounded in historical reality. For a richer experience, I would recommend reading the first two volumes in the trilogy, Choosers of the Slain and The Linden’s Red Plague, before Twilight of the Gods, but the saga, at whatever point one enters it, will sweep the reader away like the fierce flowing waters of the Danube. Like all of Chamberlin’s work, this book comes very highly recommended.
