'In The Serpent and the Dead, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie, the fearsome Asgardian warrior entrusted with conveying worthy souls to the heroes’ afterlife, stalks a battlefield finding only empty husks. Yet the souls are not already in Valhalla, or the lesser afterworlds—they have vanished.
'She enlists the aid of the valiant Lady Sif, and together they scour Asgard for answers. Rumours abound of towns being attacked by a horde of soldiers who cannot be killed. Someone is building an immortal army and stealing Asgardian souls… A worthy challenge for two of Asgard’s mightiest champions!'
The Legends of Asgard novels have been a ton of fun; focusing on the more fantastical element of the Marvel Universe, where gods fight monsters and travel to different realms, they've read more as mythological fantasy than super hero books, and as such have really stood out against other Marvel prose novels. The third entry in this series sees the return of Lady Sif, who we followed in The Head of Mimir, who teams up with the Valkyrie Brunnhilde to find out who's been stealing the souls of the honoured dead of Asgard.
Whilst battling forces encroaching on the borders of Asgard Sif sees one of her friends fall in battle. This is something that causes her grief, but she also knows that her friend will receive a heroes place in the afterlife, getting to go to Valhalla, so when the Valkyrie Brunnhilde tells her that her soul was snatched away before it could be escorted to the afterlife Sif in enraged.
Determined to discover who is behind this awful crime, Sif asks Thor to allow her to investigate. He agrees, but insists that Brunnhilde must accompany her on her quest. Together with Inge, Brunnhilde's lover, they head to the very borders of Asgard, prepared to travel into the realms beyond in their search for answers. However, upon reaching one of the border towns they discover their task might be even more complicated than they first thought, as the three women learn that creatures called Deathless, hulking, unkillable monstrosities, have been invading the realm.
Now Sif and Brunnhilde must fight through this army of monsters into the frozen wastes of Jotunheim in order to find out who's behind it. Are Sif's suspicions correct, is this the latest plot by the trickers god Loki? Or is there something much darker at play behind the scenes?
One of the things that immediately felt different about this book to the other entries in the Legends of Asgard series is that the nature of the quest felt very different. In the first book, The Head of Mimir, Sif and Heimdal were setting out to clear their name after it looked like they'd betrayed their kingdom; and in The Sword of Surtur Tyr was engaging in his own quest to make himself a hero. Both of these stories saw our heroes working outside their regular bounds, one with them being fugitives, the other with is being a secret, unsanctioned mission. This time Sif and Brunnhilde are sent out on their quest by the rulers of Asgard, in a mission that is for the benefit of the entire realm.
This simple change alters the entire feel of the story, and whilst the two of them do do a lot of sneaking around, like in the other books, this is only a small part of the story. It opens the scope of the book somewhat, and feels more like the stories we hear of knights and brave warriors being sent out on quests by their kings.
The other big change that this book sees over the other two in the series is that the core cast is all female. Whilst this doesn't make too much of a difference on a surface inspection, the women of Asgard being just as brave and capable warriors as the men, it's in the small moments where we get to see how this plays out differently. There are moments where Sif and Bunnhilde's minds are being manipulated by their enemy, where they're being made to feel emotions that aren't their own. Instead of being stoic and keeping their feelings beneath the surface they admit to each other that they're frightened, that their emotions are all over the place. They discuss how their feelings aren't right, and this helps the two of them to watch each other's backs and overcome this magic. They admit that the men they know wouldn't be so open, and this shows how in this case an all female team actually ends up being the best thing for this situation.
The story also has some great queer representation as Brunnhilde's partner is another woman, a shield maiden names Inge, and it's never once commented upon. Nothing is made of this same sex relationship by any of the other characters. There's no scene of them being looked down upon for loving another woman, and none of the issues or worries that queer people in the real world face are present here. Their relationship is treated as no different from a heterosexual one, and it's wonderful. This is how all relationships should be treated, but it's especially delightful to see it for a queer one.
The Serpent and The Dead is also a comic book novel too, so it is of course packed with action sequences as our two warrior leads battle against hordes of enemies in their quest to bring this evil to an end. These moments are spaced throughout the book pretty well, and there's a good balance between the quiet, character driven scenes and the moments where Sif and Bunnhilde are battling for their lives.
Overall this proves to be a great addition to the ever expanding roster of Marvel prose novels that Aconyte Books are producing, and might be my favourite of the Legends of Asgard line so far. The story is interesting and grand in scope, yet manages to stay focused on these two warriors and keeps the focus on their journey and the trials that they go through. An ideal read for any Marvel fan, and anyone who likes stories with powerful female leads.
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