Places to Chat
All right, the
Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Loki's Wolves
All right, the...
All right, the main purpose of my writing this is to rant very loudly and very purposefully against this book I happened to walk past on the shelf at the library.
So, yesterday, I was at the library, browsing the shelves and humming "Live While We're Young" by One Direction. Life was good, hunky-dory, I was thinking of the movie I would watch that night and of the other book I had waiting at home, and then I walk past this book on the shelf and I stop. Literally. And look at the title again to make sure that my recent Norse mythology obsession hasn't made my eyes see a Norse name when it is something else.
No, my eyes did not decieve me, there is a book on the shelf and it is entitled Loki's Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr. I am intrigued and look at the back cover synopsis, wondering what this kind of story could be about.
Turns out that is is some sort of Rick Riordan knockoff that is completely trying to RUIN the entire foundation of Norse Mythology by making nonexistant demigods and an evil that is supposed to be long dead. I mean, come on. Rick Riordan can get away with it, because there IS no Downfall of the Gods in Greek myth. The Olympians and Titans and all still could exist.
But there IS such a thing as Ragnarok in Norse myth, and all the Aesir die, bascially, so you can't really go and invent new characters and myths all of a sudden! It just is not reasonable!
Note that I have not yet read this book, and although I am rather upset, I still intend to, and if it ends up being all right, I shall apologise. Nevertheless, it still does not make up for the fact that someone is trying to A, rip of RR and B, plagerize--yes, plagerize!--these anicent Myths.
Admittedly, Marvel Comics did, and has made a subsequent movie out of it. Note that I am not bashing that because, A--it's a movie and it is the actual gods, which I am not as hot under the collar about as with nonexistant demigods. B--Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth are in it. I am not going to say that there is anything wrong with that, or them.
:)
submitted by Everinne, age 14, Asgard
(July 8, 2013 - 3:53 pm)
(July 8, 2013 - 3:53 pm)
Wait, is Ragnarok supposed to have happened already? I got the impression it was a prophecy. I'm not sure, though. My brother would know (he's kind of an expert on Norse myths; I mean, he's actually read the original sources that scholars use and stuff, and he remembers it), but he's upstairs, and I'm lazy, and my parents are asleep, so I can't just shout.
Either way, adding demigods is still inexcusable.
(July 8, 2013 - 11:21 pm)
Top!
(July 10, 2013 - 11:57 am)
@ Ima:
Thank you very much for agreeing!
I read the Prose Edda, and from what I gathered, Ragnarok did happen (you should read the Edda, it's pretty cool) because nearly all of the gods died (Odin, Thor, Tyr, Heimdall, etc.) at the hands of Loki's demon children. There is a rebirth after Ragnarok, and some of the minor gods did survive, but it seems like the mythology ends there, with the rebuilding of the world.
(July 10, 2013 - 2:37 pm)
Oh, okay, that makes sense.
I know my brother at least has the Poetic Edda and possibly the Prose Edda as well; I've been meaning to read them for ages, but I've never gotten around to it.
(July 10, 2013 - 8:06 pm)
Not gonna lie, when I saw the title, I thought it was an Avengers fanfic.:)
(July 10, 2013 - 8:05 pm)
Exactly what I thought.
(July 13, 2013 - 7:22 pm)
Sadly, I never write fanfic...I just enjoy whatever Joss Whedon directed, then go write my own thing. :)
(July 11, 2013 - 4:07 pm)
Yeah, fanfic is hard. I'm always nervous about writing the characters wrong while I'm writing it.
(July 12, 2013 - 12:26 pm)
Still regarding fanfic: Frankly, I dislike when people write it because I feel they take unreasonable liberties with the characters and situations.
Regarding this book, which I have been reading:
1st unreasonable point: The gods are supposed to have died, which just continues to illustrate my point that the authors are being ridiculous in remaking the myths.
2nd point: I read this in a review about the book: why do these new heroes that must save the world have to be children? Why not adults? Because there must be a book, yes. Although, I wish there hadn't been a book.
3rd point: The action seems to move too fast without enough emotional evolution. I mean, I never like when there is too much thinking, and not enough action, but there are books where both are balanced perfectly. And there is not enough explanation about a place, the characters, etc. And the mythological ideas are not nearly well enough described to those who may not be that well versed in Norse myth.
4th point: There isn't all that much humor to carry along the meager plot. I can tell they are trying, but they are failing.
All in all--very bad. Going back to reading Tolkien. The Silmarillion is confusing but at least it is original.
I miss The Heroes of Olympus. Please, RR, hurry and get book 4 out before I cry.
(July 12, 2013 - 3:16 pm)
Re: fanfic: It's not supposed to be canon, though; it's supposed to explore what the characters would do in hypothetical situations, or what things might have been like for them during a part of the chronology that the canon material didn't describe, or what would have happened if something had been slightly different--that sort of thing, although there are more variations. Sometimes, it fails to do that, and the characters don't act like themselves, and it doesn't fit the spirit of the book at all. But a good fanfic writer avoids that and knows exactly what the characters would do if this stuff was happening to them. Some really good fanfic writers can actually write stuff that is as good as canon, that you would not be at all disappointed with if it had been written by the original author. If you just go skim a fanfic site, you're going to come across a whole lot of really bad stuff before you reach that, but it's there.
Basically, unless the author is specifically against it (which... does happen sometimes), I'm not sure what's wrong with writing fanfic, especially as it has produced some really, genuinely good works of art.
Oh, and I suppose I might also point out that the Avengers comics, movie, etc. could be considered fanfic of Norse mythology. It's just that Norse mythology is in the public domain, so it's legal to make money off of it.
(July 13, 2013 - 1:10 pm)
Re: Fanfic
Most of the authors I know of that have addressed fanfic actually encourage it. I probably would. I think it's a great way to appreciate a work.
I suppose the Peter Pan story I'm currently writing is considered fanfic, but I consider Peter Pan a fairy tale, so to me it's just one of those fantasies that's a different interpretation of a fairy tale. Other than those kind of stories, I don't really write fanfic. Wait, I write fanfic for the Kingdom Keepers Insider website. But that's to get my username in the book. I really need my username in that book, so I've written a LOT of fanfic.
(July 13, 2013 - 10:53 pm)
Yeah, actually, the only author I know of who specifically is against fanfic is Anne Rice. Although I believe the author of the Dresden Files wants people to put a disclaimer before their work mentioning who wrote the original stories. Most authors are fine as long as you don't try to make money off of it.
(July 14, 2013 - 11:46 am)
@ Ima:
I guess you do have a point that the Marvel Norse myth is a form of fanfic, and I will admit that I once read a fanfic and thought it was actually written by the author. So I have nothing against it, if it's done well enough.
(July 15, 2013 - 1:05 pm)
Someone the other day was hoping for a book of that exact desciption...
Actually a few weeks ago.
(July 20, 2013 - 7:53 pm)