Rune
- A magical visionary novel by Michael Conneely
BOOK REVIEW
- by Pauline Stephenson of The Book Case, Hebden Bridge
Rune is a story of two young people, Cathal and Lucy, who are taken from this world to a parallel one which is experiencing endless winter. In that world it is the end of time when the Norse Gods are about to fall. Cathal has come not to save the dying world but to become Odin’s ‘son’ and to seize the power of the Runes just as Odin had done. However Cathal has realized all too clearly the mistakes Odin made and he knows he must also find Mimir’s Grove and the deep wisdom it contains even as the world they are in disintegrates around them.
This is more than an adventure story – it contains a deep and quite hypnotic re-telling of Norse mythology in a way that makes the spirituality and magic underlying the old stories palpable. It is also a stark warning for our own time – will we find wisdom in time or like the Old Norse Gods create our own Ragnarok?
If a real Cathal were to return with the magic of the Runes and the wisdom of Mimir how would he get us to listen? |
