By the Mountain Bound

by Elizabeth Bear

Overview

For five hundred years the immortal Children of the Light, einherjar and valkyrie, have lived together in the North of Valdyrgard. They were born out of the Sea, each with a shining crystal sword in his or her hand; they are Angels of Light created in the formation of a new world. But three have come before them, from the death-throes of the old world, Midgard: the world-girdling Serpent, Bearer of Burdens; the Wolf Fenris, eater of the Sun, who now takes the form of an einherjar; and his demon sister, stealer of souls.

The Children spend their days feasting, fighting, hunting, and guarding their human charges. But one dreadful day a woman is washed up from the sea, a Lady who is no mortal, though she is not valkyrie either. Thus begins the breaking of the Children of the Light, the tarnishing of their power, and the death of Valdyrgard.

By the Mountain Bound is a prequel to Elizabeth Bear's highly acclaimed All the Windwracked Stars, and tells the painful tale of love and betrayal, sorcery and battle, that led up to the day when Muire was left alone in the snow at the end of the world.



At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429970884
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/27/2009
Series:	The Edda of Burdens , #2
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	451 KB

About the Author

ELIZABETH BEAR was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She is the award-winning author of ten previous novels, and received the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Bear lives in Hartford, CT, with a presumptuous cat.

ELIZABETH BEAR was the recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2005. She has won two Hugo Awards and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for her short fiction. Bear lives in South Hadley, MA.

www.elizabethbear.com
@matociquala

Editorial Reviews

In this complex prequel to Hugo-winner Bear's All the Windwracked Stars (2008), Ragnarok has already occurred, but the world must still be cleansed of the residue of the former realm. When immortal einherjar war-leader Strifbjorn rescues a strange woman from drowning, she claims to be the Lady, a long-awaited deity, and defeats Strifbjorn's champion and lover, Mingan the Gray Wolf, to take command. The ensuing internal power struggles set the einherjar at odds while the Lady attempts to rally the community against a supposedly imminent attack by giants. Numerous fantasy authors adopt the tropes of Norse mythology, but Bear actively pursues them, channeling those myths directly rather than overlaying them on more familiar ones. The result demands much from readers, but repays it in vivid, sensual imagery of a wholly different world. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

After the fall of Midgard (the old world) the Children of Light—einherjar and valkyrie—share the halls of Valdyrgard until a Lady who washed up onto the shore spreads discord, signaling the end of 500 years of peace. This prequel to All the Windwracked Stars tells of a doomed love between Strifbjorn, the Warrior, and Mingan, the Fenris Wolf in human form. VERDICT Bear's skill at evoking the gravity and grandeur of Norse mythology and her talent for world building and characterization make this solemn tale a solid choice for mature readers and lovers of Scandinavian myth.

Library Journal

Numerous fantasy authors adopt the tropes of Norse mythology, but Bear actively pursues them, channeling those myths directly rather than overlaying them on more familiar ones. The result demands much from readers, but repays it in vivid, sensual imagery of a wholly different world.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher