Line #19 Literature/Runemarks


1	->"Five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again..."
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3	Maddy Smith has always been an outsider. Born with a rusty-coloured rune on her hand - what the villagers call a ''ruin''mark - she is scarred by this symbol of the old gods, a sign of ''magic''.
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5	And everyone knows that magic is dangerous. Except for Maddy, who actually thinks it's rather fun. Until now. For suddenly her friend One-Eye, a rascally Outlander, wants her to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below - a world filled with goblins and far worse - to retrieve a relic of the old gods...
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7	A novel by Joanne Harris, ''Runemarks'' is the story of Maddy Smith, a fourteen year old girl who is sent on a quest to retrieve an artifact of the old gods called the Whisperer.
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9	A sequel, ''Runelights'' has been released, set three years after the original book; a prequel, ''Literature/TheGospelOfLoki'', was released in February 2014, detailing the "Lokabrenna" that Runemarks and Runelights quote.
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11	----
12	!!Tropes found in this book:
13	* TheAce: Skadi. In addition to being good at everything besides controlling her temper, even things she doesn't actually like, her rune, Isa or \|, has no reversed position. This means she's lost none of her magical oomph.
14	* AfterTheEnd: The story takes place 500 years after Ragnarok.
15	%%* AndManGrewProud: With bonus Norse gods.
16	* ApocalypseWow: As soon as Jormungand starts tearing apart the neverworld, there's splashes of this. It never quite takes out the whole universe, but it came pretty close and was more impressive than most portrayals of Armageddon.
17	%%* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: The Whisperer.]]
18	* ColorCodedCharacters: Each person's glam gives off a specific color.
19	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Loki.
20	%%* TheDitz: Idunn and her husband Bragi, to a somewhat lesser extent.
21	%%* ElementalShapeshifting: Loki's wildfire Aspect.
22	* EmbarrassingNickname: Jormungand seems a [[SarcasmMode little irritated]] when Loki calls him "Jorgi" for short.
23	* ExactWords: How Loki got out of having his head cut off when he offered it in a bet with the dwarfs and lost. He claimed that he had never mentioned his neck in the bet and, since they couldn't get his head without harming his neck, he kept his head on the technicality. However, he got his lips sewn together for his trouble.
24	* FantasyKitchenSink: Much like Myth/NorseMythology itself, with numerous mythologies referenced and indicated to be coexisting. (Hel, for example, tried to induce Balder to stay with her in the land of the dead by feeding him her food, having heard of a previous ruler who pulled that trick with pomegranates.)
25	* FateWorseThanDeath: The MO of imprisonment in Netherworld, complete with a gaoler appointed from the prisoner's worst fears. Ominously, it's revealed that the Gaolers themselves are trapped as a result of those that fear them being there, and get pretty bitter about it
26	* FieryRedhead: Thor. Played with for Loki who, although having a Wildfire aspect and the fire rune ''Kaen'' on his arm, keeps his temper almost completely in check.
27	* GodWasMyCopilot: Many times. A large number of people, [[spoiler: including Maddy,]] turn out to be fallen Norse gods. And by the final, [[spoiler: many more have seemingly inherited the titles.]] or something. It's kinda ambiguous exactly who is who after the River Dream bursts it's banks.
28	%%* HeWhoMustNotBeNamed: The Nameless.
29	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Balder,]] who gives up his second chance at life in order to save the world.
30	* HumanPopsicle: The Seven Sleepers are [[spoiler:seven Vanir gods]] frozen in blocks of ice.
31	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: ''Runemarks'' and ''Runelights'', which are also examples of {{Portmantitle}}, and OneWordTitle, with their being compound words and starting with ''Rune'' and both being plural.
32	%%* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Balder.
33	* IKnowYourTrueName:
34	* LukeIAmYourFather: It is revealed that [[spoiler:Maddy is Thor's daughter.]]
35	* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:The Whisperer seeks to start the End of Everything so that it can create a new world where it is in supreme control of everything, a desire stemming from being used as, essentially, a Magic 8-Ball by the Norse gods.]]
36	* OneWordTitle: ''Runemarks'' and ''Runelights'', which are also examples of {{Portmantitle}}, and IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming, with their being compound words and starting with ''Rune'' and both being plural.
37	* PalsWithJesus: Maddy encounters, and in some cases befriends the entire Norse pantheon. And she's trained in magic by [[spoiler: Odin One-Eye himself.]]
38	* {{Portmantitle}}: ''Runemarks'' and ''Runelights'', which are also examples of OneWordTitle, and IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming, with their being compound words and starting with ''Rune'' and both being plural.
39	%%* PrimalFear: The coin of the realm in Netherworld.
40	* ProphecyTwist: Everyone except [[spoiler:the Whisperer]] assumes that the "traitor" is Loki (instead of [[spoiler:Mimir]]), and ''everyone'' assumes that the "sacrifice" is Maddy (instead of [[spoiler:it actually being Balder]]).
41	%%* QuirkyBard: Bragi.
42	* ScarsAreForever: Both Odin and Tyr suffer under this, in keeping with the Norse myths. Loki's scarred lips also seem to be this.
43	* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: When the Aesir and Vanir shift back to humanoid form after transforming into something else, they tend to be naked. [[spoiler:Loki and Skadi don't seem to care much.]]
44	** Use of Freyja's magic cloak can avert this.
45	%%* TheWorldTree: Yggdrasil.
46	* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:Maddy turns out to be Modi,]] who is chosen by destiny to [[spoiler:rebuild Asgard.]]
47	%%* TricksterGod: Loki, obviously.
48	* UnwittingPawn: Pretty much ''everyone'' is one for [[spoiler:the Whisperer.]]
49	%%* VoluntaryShapeshifter: All the Aesir and Vanir.
50	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Loki's biggest fear is snakes; rather ironic considering that the World Serpent is his son.

Context Literature / Runemarks