Monday, August 12, 2013

Heard: "Odd and the Frost Giants" by Neil Gaiman

Heard: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, 2009, 9780061808319 (CD).

Picked out by my wife for the drive to KS.  We all listened.  Only 1.5 hours long.

Odd lives in a Viking town.  Odd does not say much and wears an enigmatic smile for all occasions.  Odd's father died on a raid when he tried to rescue one of the ship's pack animals from the sea.  Odd's foot was crushed when he tried chopping down a tree.  Odd's mother remarries to a man whose existing family treat Odd like dirt.  They mock his behavior and bad limp.  Odd skips town for his father's old cabin in the woods.

Odd is stared at by a fox.  Odd follows the fox to a stuck bear.  The bear is caught between a big tree ,holding a bee hive, and the smaller tree that was pushed aside to access the honey.  Odd frees the bear.  Odd returns to the cabin and the fox, bear, and an eagle join him.  Odd goes to sleep.  Odd awakes to voices.  The animals are talking.

Turns out the animals are goods who were defeated by an ice giant who took over Asgard.  Odd helps them out.  Odd prevails.

Read by Gaiman.  The usual fun story with unexpected events and characters. Gaiman does not always follow the usual happy ending path.

1 comment:

Kelly Robinson said...

I just read an interview with Gaiman where he says he thinks every book he's written could have a sequel. I wonder if he's including that bio he did of Duran Duran?