Getting tea can be painful, even though the kitchen is close. Even in plain, day-to-day life it looms large. In fact, it seemed like dead weight beforehand. It’s stated that it hurts late in the book (chapter seven) but is never described before as hurting. Descriptions of how Odd’s leg felt to him were patchy. However, details weren’t the only problem.
Then there are small questions I wished the book would answer. Does the cold make his leg hurt more? Does he ever get stuck in a snowdrift and have to flail his entire body before his leg comes out (that … might just be a me problem, actually)? While this is a short book (roughly a hundred pages in print), a couple of details or an off-hand mention would have improved the narrative for me. It might just be me as a klutz, but swinging an axe, holding a crutch, and not falling over seems almost impossible to me. Odd seems to maneuver well and can easily do tasks with his hands. It was mostly details that bothered me throughout the book. Without an explanation, though, it just seemed out of place. I would have accepted Odd wanting to keep his independence, or maybe the bouncing making his leg hurt. However, Odd clearly does not share my opinion of bear-riding, as he walks some distances while still having the option of bear travel. I’d never have to put up with walking again. Canes are great and all, but a bear? I want a service bear. I even felt a grumble of jealousy when Odd rides a bear (actually Thor) while traveling. While going up a hill is difficult and painful, going down a hill is twice as difficult when your cane can’t get a grip and your leg can’t steady you. The narrative says that “down was harder than up for Odd” which, at least in my case, has rung true. From a disability perspective, though, I was confused.Įven though my limp stems from a different source than Odd’s, I could definitely relate to him. Because a giant trapped them in animal forms, they need help to return to Asgard and get rid of the threat.įrom a mythology buff’s perspective, I was delighted with Odd and the Frost Giants. They tell him that frost giants have taken over Asgard (the home of the gods). Instead he meets a fox, a bear, and an eagle, the avatars of the Norse gods Loki, Thor, and Odin respectively. Tired of this treatment, Odd decides to go off and live on his own. His step-father ignores him, and other citizens don’t like him due to his distant, irritating personality.
Soon after this raid, Odd crushes his leg under a falling tree he had been trying to cut down. Odd is a twelve-year-old boy, the son of a Viking who died two years ago after a raid.
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