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Renshai Chronicles #4
Beyond Ragnarok
Book one of the acclaimed, bestselling epic fantasy Renshai Chronicles—discover the intricate Renshai universe, infused with Norse mythology, tangled intrigue, and cataclysmic magical battles.
They’ve survived the end of the universe.
But now, nearly three hundred years after the time of Ragnarok—the death battle of the gods—humankind faces a new and potentially fatal trial. The balance between Law and Chaos has long been maintained by the rulers of Bearn, but with the current king dying, a new keeper of neutrality must be found among his heirs.
When the search becomes desperate, a small band forms in secret to seek out the last possible heir. The team—consisting of the king’s granddaughter, a knight in training, an apprentice bard, a young and untested Renshai warrior, and a fickle thief—struggle to survive the perils of the wild as well as enemies equipped with magical powers.
And if any of them actually reach their goal, can they bring the one remaining heir back to Bearn alive?
They’ve survived the end of the universe.
But now, nearly three hundred years after the time of Ragnarok—the death battle of the gods—humankind faces a new and potentially fatal trial. The balance between Law and Chaos has long been maintained by the rulers of Bearn, but with the current king dying, a new keeper of neutrality must be found among his heirs.
When the search becomes desperate, a small band forms in secret to seek out the last possible heir. The team—consisting of the king’s granddaughter, a knight in training, an apprentice bard, a young and untested Renshai warrior, and a fickle thief—struggle to survive the perils of the wild as well as enemies equipped with magical powers.
And if any of them actually reach their goal, can they bring the one remaining heir back to Bearn alive?
752 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
18 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Zucker Reichert
89 books183 followersMickey Zucker Reichert (pseudonym for Miriam Susan Zucker Reichert) is an American fantasy fiction author of several best selling novels. Perhaps her most famous work is the epic Renshai series, which offers an intriguing perspective on traditional Norse mythology. She is also a parent and paediatrician with a soft spot for critters great and small. She has been known care for a veritable zoo of creatures, at times including mice, horses, snakes, llamas, parrots, squirrels, possums, and foxes.
Alongside her twenty-two novels, Reichert has also published one illustrated novella and fifty-plus short stories.
Alongside her twenty-two novels, Reichert has also published one illustrated novella and fifty-plus short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 26, 2023
From the back cover:
Three hundred years after the tumultuous battle of Ragnarok, the Keeper of the Balance's hardwon peace is in jeopardy. The succession of Bearn, the kingdom fundamental to the balance twixt law and chaos, good and evil, is in doubt.
As the old king's heirs fail the test of kingship or fall prey to assassins, Matrinka must pit herself against the most powerful enemy Midguard has seen in centuries. One exiled child remains alive, the key to the balance, she must find that child.
The prologue of the book opens with Ragnarok itself. Colbey Calistinsson, the hero of the first trilogy, has been recruited to fight alongside the gods and manages (despite some interference from Odin) to help the god Frey defeat the fire giant Surtr and save the world of men from being destroyed by Surtr's fires. Unfortunately, the world of the elves, Alfheim, is destroyed, and the elves that survive blame mankind for the disaster and seek revenge.
The books then fast forwards three hundred years, and focuses on a new band of characters: Ra-khir, the knight-in-training, the princess Matrinka, her Renshai bodyguard Kevral, apprentice bard Darris and young Easterner and thief, Tae Khan.
I enjoyed meeting these new characters, and enjoyed reading about their adventures. I don't want to go into the details for fear of spoiling anything, but it was an engaging journey (an honest to goodness quest; it feels like a while since I've read about one of those!). I ended up disliking many of the elves, and sincerely hope that their leader Dh'arlo'me gets his comeuppance.
It wasn't perfect - some of the characters needed throttling (Frey, you're an arse - just saying) but it was an enjoyable read; even the dreaded was reasonably well handled, for all it made me roll my eyes slightly.
This is clearly book one of a trilogy; it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it's very clearly not the end of the story. I'm going straight on to book 2 - which I guess is a pretty good recommendation in itself.
Three hundred years after the tumultuous battle of Ragnarok, the Keeper of the Balance's hardwon peace is in jeopardy. The succession of Bearn, the kingdom fundamental to the balance twixt law and chaos, good and evil, is in doubt.
As the old king's heirs fail the test of kingship or fall prey to assassins, Matrinka must pit herself against the most powerful enemy Midguard has seen in centuries. One exiled child remains alive, the key to the balance, she must find that child.
The prologue of the book opens with Ragnarok itself. Colbey Calistinsson, the hero of the first trilogy, has been recruited to fight alongside the gods and manages (despite some interference from Odin) to help the god Frey defeat the fire giant Surtr and save the world of men from being destroyed by Surtr's fires. Unfortunately, the world of the elves, Alfheim, is destroyed, and the elves that survive blame mankind for the disaster and seek revenge.
The books then fast forwards three hundred years, and focuses on a new band of characters: Ra-khir, the knight-in-training, the princess Matrinka, her Renshai bodyguard Kevral, apprentice bard Darris and young Easterner and thief, Tae Khan.
I enjoyed meeting these new characters, and enjoyed reading about their adventures. I don't want to go into the details for fear of spoiling anything, but it was an engaging journey (an honest to goodness quest; it feels like a while since I've read about one of those!). I ended up disliking many of the elves, and sincerely hope that their leader Dh'arlo'me gets his comeuppance.
It wasn't perfect - some of the characters needed throttling (Frey, you're an arse - just saying) but it was an enjoyable read; even the dreaded was reasonably well handled, for all it made me roll my eyes slightly.
This is clearly book one of a trilogy; it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it's very clearly not the end of the story. I'm going straight on to book 2 - which I guess is a pretty good recommendation in itself.
November 19, 2017
The beginning of this was so good! But the ending was so bad...
June 26, 2017
Regrettably under-read 1990s epic fantasy series that can stand toe to toe with the better known and highly regarded "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series (Tad Williams) and "Sun Sword" series (Michelle West). Granted, Williams may have a smoother prose style and West more complex characterization, but Reichert's book is engaging and energetic, with intriguing details and a sense of wonder in its world-building, an abundance of action, a hint of romance, and a cast of heroes to root for, flawed and sometimes irritating though they may be.
I'm particularly pleased with how Reichert sidesteps the pervasive "sucks-to-be-a-woman" cliche when she builds her world. In Bearn, the story's most prominent kingdom, women may occupy important positions in government and male and female heirs have an equal shot at the throne. (We get hints of a more sexist culture in other kingdoms, but thankfully we don't spend much time there.) One backstory, which occupies very minimal page space, involves the seduction of an underage girl, but on the whole, Rape as Drama isn't a key item on the menu here. Also, we get to see male and female characters interacting as comrades and kicking butt side by side. Romance, as I've mentioned before, does rear its head, but comradeship is still a key element in those relationships. It's always good to see an epic fantasy in which men and women interact as equals and actually LIKE each other. Also, the two women in the hero group forge a solid bond of friendship early on, one which remains unquestioned through the rest of the story. One is a warrior and the other a healer (tomboy and girly girl, ahoy), but both are fleshed out and have significant contributions to make.
I will be following this set of characters as they continue their adventures.
I'm particularly pleased with how Reichert sidesteps the pervasive "sucks-to-be-a-woman" cliche when she builds her world. In Bearn, the story's most prominent kingdom, women may occupy important positions in government and male and female heirs have an equal shot at the throne. (We get hints of a more sexist culture in other kingdoms, but thankfully we don't spend much time there.) One backstory, which occupies very minimal page space, involves the seduction of an underage girl, but on the whole, Rape as Drama isn't a key item on the menu here. Also, we get to see male and female characters interacting as comrades and kicking butt side by side. Romance, as I've mentioned before, does rear its head, but comradeship is still a key element in those relationships. It's always good to see an epic fantasy in which men and women interact as equals and actually LIKE each other. Also, the two women in the hero group forge a solid bond of friendship early on, one which remains unquestioned through the rest of the story. One is a warrior and the other a healer (tomboy and girly girl, ahoy), but both are fleshed out and have significant contributions to make.
I will be following this set of characters as they continue their adventures.
April 18, 2009
A two may seem like a harsh rating, but I will admit that this book had it's redeeming qualities. The plot moved along at a decent pace. I will warn interested readers that I found the prologue very difficult to read, but the pace speeds up quickly. I also thought that this book did raise some interesting questions about cultures clashing and why people think the way they do. However, I was rather unimpressed by the writing. There is something of a romantic plotline in the book, but it's silly and not very good. The descriptions are earnest and very emo.
Another complaint about this book is that the author didn't do enough with the ending, in my opinion. I felt like the author decided to cop out with the epilogue instead of giving the reader more details. I felt like I could almost see her get tired of writing, which is always unfortunate. howeverm I enjoyed the read overall.
Another complaint about this book is that the author didn't do enough with the ending, in my opinion. I felt like the author decided to cop out with the epilogue instead of giving the reader more details. I felt like I could almost see her get tired of writing, which is always unfortunate. howeverm I enjoyed the read overall.
July 17, 2020
So after the first series ended without showing any of the actual Ragnarok this book makes up for by starting with it. It is just the prologue though and the rest of the book is set something like three hundred years after it. By the way I think with the title none of this a spoiler.
The world is now still familiar but different. The setup Colbey had chosen is still in place and the world is progressing with little or no mention of magic. This all starts to change as the current king of Bearn is dying and the heirs to the throne start to disappear or die in mysterious circumstances. As missions to protect the heirs are failing, it ends of falling to a disparate crew of teenagers to go and try to find the lost heir to the throne as it's felt nobody will believe they are up to anything important.
This book definitely had a different feel to the first trilogy, mainly I think to the age of the protagonists. Most of the viewpoints are from these five kids, and though it shows skill as a writer, I did find it annoying as even though they all showed a lot of responsibility they often acted like the kids they are. There was a lot of hormones raging through the group, including my hated love triangle, and it ended up taking up quite a lot of page count.
The characters themselves are good though pretty stereotypical: A princess, a bard, a warrior, a knight and a street kid with a heart of gold. Even with this and the hormones that accompanied it I did actually like all of them and was engaged throughout this very long book. I missed the characters from the previous series (though we did get a few chapters from good old Colbey) but the new ones were interesting enough for the new world. There were other POV's and thankfully they were from older perspectives and I really enjoyed them.
The world itself is still amazing and I really liked that the consequences of what happened in the previous series is the catalyst for what happens here. It is a very long book however and honestly not too much happens of any significance, particularly in the middle part. Perversely the end also felt kind of rushed. Though not so good as the first series so far, there is enough here to make me excited as to where we are going and am looking forward to continuing the series.
3.5 rounded down
Please see this and other reviews at https://barrysbloodybooks.home.blog/
The world is now still familiar but different. The setup Colbey had chosen is still in place and the world is progressing with little or no mention of magic. This all starts to change as the current king of Bearn is dying and the heirs to the throne start to disappear or die in mysterious circumstances. As missions to protect the heirs are failing, it ends of falling to a disparate crew of teenagers to go and try to find the lost heir to the throne as it's felt nobody will believe they are up to anything important.
This book definitely had a different feel to the first trilogy, mainly I think to the age of the protagonists. Most of the viewpoints are from these five kids, and though it shows skill as a writer, I did find it annoying as even though they all showed a lot of responsibility they often acted like the kids they are. There was a lot of hormones raging through the group, including my hated love triangle, and it ended up taking up quite a lot of page count.
The characters themselves are good though pretty stereotypical: A princess, a bard, a warrior, a knight and a street kid with a heart of gold. Even with this and the hormones that accompanied it I did actually like all of them and was engaged throughout this very long book. I missed the characters from the previous series (though we did get a few chapters from good old Colbey) but the new ones were interesting enough for the new world. There were other POV's and thankfully they were from older perspectives and I really enjoyed them.
The world itself is still amazing and I really liked that the consequences of what happened in the previous series is the catalyst for what happens here. It is a very long book however and honestly not too much happens of any significance, particularly in the middle part. Perversely the end also felt kind of rushed. Though not so good as the first series so far, there is enough here to make me excited as to where we are going and am looking forward to continuing the series.
3.5 rounded down
Please see this and other reviews at https://barrysbloodybooks.home.blog/
August 16, 2020
I may not finish all things I begin, but I generally finish reading books. Something to do with the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Well, not this time.
I read 250 out of 750 pages... and this is book one of a series.
There were some things I did indeed like. There was some fun characterization, and some real effort put into the linguistics.
But there was a lot I didn't like. My main beef was the writing style. Wordy. Longwinded. Over-explainy. I felt like I was being mansplained to while my hand was being held.
I really didn't like a couple of key characters. Didn't/couldn't connect to them.
And I stopped reading months ago. Tried to continue a couple of weeks ago. And couldn't be bothered. Credit where credit's due. I could see the effort that had gone into the story, the plot, the novel as a whole. It just didn't resonate with me, didn't tick my boxes, and I had to stop pretending that I wanted to read the rest of it.
So here it is: goodbye...
Well, not this time.
I read 250 out of 750 pages... and this is book one of a series.
There were some things I did indeed like. There was some fun characterization, and some real effort put into the linguistics.
But there was a lot I didn't like. My main beef was the writing style. Wordy. Longwinded. Over-explainy. I felt like I was being mansplained to while my hand was being held.
I really didn't like a couple of key characters. Didn't/couldn't connect to them.
And I stopped reading months ago. Tried to continue a couple of weeks ago. And couldn't be bothered. Credit where credit's due. I could see the effort that had gone into the story, the plot, the novel as a whole. It just didn't resonate with me, didn't tick my boxes, and I had to stop pretending that I wanted to read the rest of it.
So here it is: goodbye...
November 28, 2018
I am a True Renshai fan.
I have followed the Renshai Saga from the very beginning. I anxiously wait for the next installment. If you like adventure, excitement & graphic battles & sword play. You'll love the series. The Author spins an intricate web of violence, honor and dedication, combining elements of past story lines with the present day. Mickey Zucker-Riechert is truly a gifted story teller.
I have followed the Renshai Saga from the very beginning. I anxiously wait for the next installment. If you like adventure, excitement & graphic battles & sword play. You'll love the series. The Author spins an intricate web of violence, honor and dedication, combining elements of past story lines with the present day. Mickey Zucker-Riechert is truly a gifted story teller.
June 23, 2020
It's a nice change of pace having a fantasy series set in a Nordic-themed and styled setting, and the story has been pretty good. The author has the tendency to explain all of his characters' thoughts and motivations at all times, which got to the point it interfered with the actual story and made this book much longer than it needed to be. I will probably borrow the next in the series from the library, but not real soon.
May 14, 2017
A good book, reasonable story, but not at the level of the original trilogy. I found the original trilogy an excellent work after a slow start, and these books lack the depth of story and character appeal for me.
April 27, 2020
This (mostly) new set of characters is shaping up to be just as interesting as those in the previous Renshai trilogy. It's great to get to see some more detail of the other societies in the world as well.
Read
October 23, 2025A continuation of the Last of the Renshai trilogy backs up several centuries before the time of the previous novels, when a young, untested Renshai warrior tries to stop a crew of demonic elves bent on bloody vengeance against humans. Reprint.
November 10, 2017
I struggled through about 1/4 of this book before giving up. Had some good possibilities but never took off.
October 9, 2010
The first time I read this book I couldn't put it down. I just re-read it, after it sat on my shelf for about 12 years. I found I could put it down this time. It's fantasy, set in the time after the end of the world according to Norse legends. The Norse pantheon are minor characters.
Reichert invests much--both in ink and in emotion--in ensuring that her readers understand where every single character is coming from. This makes for a VERY long read, and many, many plot lines to keep track of. The book ends, of course, with the main characters, but their climax/denument felt quite rushed. There are two other books in this series. Yes, they're on my shelves, but I don't think I'll be reading them soon.
Reichert invests much--both in ink and in emotion--in ensuring that her readers understand where every single character is coming from. This makes for a VERY long read, and many, many plot lines to keep track of. The book ends, of course, with the main characters, but their climax/denument felt quite rushed. There are two other books in this series. Yes, they're on my shelves, but I don't think I'll be reading them soon.
September 27, 2016
I first read this book a very long time ago, and to this day it (and, honestly, almost everything by this author!) ranks among my all time and forever favorites!
And there you thought it was all over, that there was nothing after Ragnarok... but you would be wrong! 200 years after Ragnarok, to be precise, is where the second Renshai trilogy picks up, with all new adventures and a whole new cast of characters. Although a few familiar faces do pop up, here and there! Plenty of new surprises and reveals, with characters you will love every bit as much as you did their ancestors!
Enjoy!
*** Please note that I am playing "catch up" with some old and favorite reads! Enjoy my Backlog! ***
And there you thought it was all over, that there was nothing after Ragnarok... but you would be wrong! 200 years after Ragnarok, to be precise, is where the second Renshai trilogy picks up, with all new adventures and a whole new cast of characters. Although a few familiar faces do pop up, here and there! Plenty of new surprises and reveals, with characters you will love every bit as much as you did their ancestors!
Enjoy!
*** Please note that I am playing "catch up" with some old and favorite reads! Enjoy my Backlog! ***
Currently reading
June 6, 2012I have had this book sitting in my book cupboard for about five years. It was given to me by a friend who had never read any further than the prologue stating that "it was far too dense to hold her attention." I have just finished reading the prologue and I am stunned at how well written and intricately fashioned it was. I greatly look forward to reading the rest of this book and indeed the rest of the series.
April 30, 2013
I've owned this book for years, and I must have read it, but I don't remember a thing about it. However, the premise is fairly classic; things are falling apart in the land of humans, and a bunch of kids band together to solve the problem, since they'll be under the radar. Not a bad story, probably more of a 3.5 stars than 4. I'll have to see if the next two books are at the library, as they are not available for the Kindle.
February 7, 2017
This book was pretty good, despite being crazy padded like most other fantasies. 8) I liked the elves and their super long names, and Mior the talking cat. They be my favorite parts. :P
May 25, 2017
The first series had an unsatisfying ending, but this one more than makes up for that. The writing is solid and the characters are great. My only wish is that there was an ebook version of this series.
May 25, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews