Runemarks
As seen:
By Harris, Joanne
avg rating
1 review
On a Monday morning, 500 years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. Maddy Smith was born with a mark on her hand – a symbol of the old gods. Maddy enjoys working magic. Even if it is just to control goblins. Now Maddy needs to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below to retrieve a relic of the old gods.
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St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 2nd July 2020.
Runemarks. Joanne Harris.
Only four members of the group read this book; two liked it and the other two did not.
The positive comments were that it was an interesting story, reminiscent of an Indiana Jones film, and the Norse mythology element was appealing. A happy ending was also appreciated, and one reader thought that Joanne Harris writes so well that she can make a readable story out of (almost) any subject. Another commentator 'loved it' – the writing, plotting, characters and the fantasy element, and the good/evil ambiguity.
Negative ones were that the story was unengaging and 'sappy', too much 'magic', and 'unless one can write like Tolkien about elves/goblins/underworld etc, you really don't have a chance'. The idea (promoted on the cover) of finding out how British history might have run if the Vikings had taken more hold than the Romans, failed to emerge, which was a disappointment.
This group does not normally read fantasy genre novels, and this one, aimed also at younger readers, was probably not appropriate and appeared not to be much of a success!
This book was read during June 2020 and the national lockdown because of the Covid-19 virus, and so the discussion was not 'live' as usual, but took place via a Facebook group, email and telephone conversations.
