Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Stormbringer
SERIES: The Wyrd #2
AUTHOR: Alis Franklin
PUBLISHER: Penguin Random House Publishing
LENGTH: 374 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015
BLURB:
Ragnarok—aka the end of the world—was supposed to doom the gods as well. Instead, it was a cosmic rebooting. Now low-level IT tech and comic-book geek Sigmund Sussman finds himself an avatar of a Norse goddess. His boyfriend, the wealthy entrepreneur Lain Laufeyjarson, is channeling none other than Loki, the trickster god. His best friends, Em and Wayne, harbor the spirits of slain Valkyries. Cool, right?
The problem is, the gods who survived the apocalypse are still around—and they don’t exactly make a great welcoming committee. The children of Thor are hellbent on reclaiming their scattered birthright: the gloves, belt, and hammer of the Thunder God. Meanwhile, the dwarves are scheming, the giants are pissed, and the goddess of the dead is demanding sanctuary for herself and her entire realm.
Caught in the coils of the Wyrd, the ancient force that governs gods and mortals alike, Sigmund and his crew are suddenly facing a second Ragnarok that threatens to finish what the first one started. And all that stands in the way are four nerds bound by courage, love, divine powers, and an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming lore.
REVIEW:
Coming back with the second book in The Wyrd Series, things pick up fairly close to where they left off in the first book, Liesmith, as Lain is preparing to return to Asgard in order to tie up some loose ends before coming back home to his boyfriend, Sigmund. Things will never be that easy when it comes to the God of Lies, however, and after the dust cleared after bringing about Ragnarok, things are worse than ever in the other realm. Death threats, unanticipated quests, backstabbing and plots within plots are only some of the things Lain will have to endure if he plans to make it back home alive but he isn’t called Silvertongue for nothing and the God of Lies has always been more than he seemed.
Alis Franklin is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors; she has such a way with words that I’m fairly certain she could re-write the dictionary and have it end up on the New York Times Best Sellers List. 😀 While I wasn’t immediately enthralled with this book the way I was with Liesmith, I still had a really good time reading it. I just love how the author blends the modern day with the Norse Mythology; its really obvious just how much research has been put into the writing of these books. In this installment, however, most of the book takes place in Asgard and the realms around it so there’s less modern day than in the first book but it was also really packed with a lot more lore.
This book really gave you a kind of firsthand look at Loki’s life via his traveling companions and the side stories that act as extra nuggets of information and explanations. That was actually really interesting to me as I’m not familiar with a lot of this mythology. The only thing I didn’t care for in the book, honestly, is that Lain and Sigmund are apart for a pretty good chunk of it though I totally understand why it was necessary. A lot of things were wrapped up here, however, and that leaves the field wide open for the third book which I can’t wait to get my hands on. 😀 If you’ve read and liked the first book or are a fan of Norse Mythology, I can’t recommend this enough; it was a great read and made a nice break from the stories I usually go for.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Penguin Random House Publishing