Bloodhoof

Bloodhoof is the recasting into compulsively spare modern verse of an ancient Eddic poem but this only begins to hint at its attractions. It is a minimalist epic telling of the abduction of Gerdur Gymisdottir from the land of giants to the court of Freyr of the 'wolfgrey eyes', and the subsequent events culminating in the birth of her son and her hopes of being saved by her own kin. It is full of ironhard rocks and ice, serpents in the breast gnawing at the harness of hope, but also widereaching fields of corn whispering in the breeze and a throne carved with beasts and dragonsheads. You could read the whole book in perhaps half an hour but it will take many months or years to begin to clear the ghosts and longdead heroes from your mind.