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Valhalla by Tom Holt

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Category: humourous fantasy fiction
First published: 1 Jun 2000
Publisher: Orbit, published 3 May 2001
ISBN: 1841490423, Paperback, 288 pages
Size: 2.5 x 11.4 x 17.8 cm
Publisher: Orbit, published 1 Jun 2000
ISBN: 1857239830, Hardcover, 277 pages
Size: 21.6 x 14.4 x 2.8 cm
Publisher: Hachette Digital, published 5 Nov 2009
ISBN: B002TZ3DDU, Kindle edition, 288 pages

"'Valhalla' is about a bunch of people who get what they deserve in the afterlife... more accurately, it's about the way we see ourselves, and the problems we create for ourselves by not facing up to who we really are. Actually, it's about 22 cm X 14 cm X 3cm, assuming you're buying the hardback."

Book synopsis (The back of the book says)

When great warriors die, their reward is eternal life in Odin's great hall, Valhalla. But Valhalla has changed and like any corporation has adapted to survive. Unfortunately nothing could have prepared it for the arrival of currently-dead cocktail waitress Carol Kortright, who is not at all happy.
As everyone knows, when great warriors die their reward is eternal life in Odin's great hall - otherwise known as Valhalla.

But Valhalla has changed. It's grown. It's diversified. Just like any corporation, the Valhalla Group has had to adapt to survive.

Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared it for the arrival of Carol Kortright, one-time cocktail waitress, currently dead, and not at all happy.

Sparkling comic fantasy from one of Britain's sharpest, funniest writers.

Reviews of this book

After reading this book David Langford wrote this

Rewriting the classic gods for comic effect is a Tom Holt speciality, and Valhalla returns to Odin the Skyfather, much mistreated in Holt's first funny fantasy Expecting Someone Taller 1987). Valhalla is the afterlife where warriors forever feast, get drunk, laugh at each other and are reborn the next day--the Viking idea of fun. But Odin, a devious bastard, has made changes ...
For Howard the pretend Viking, who joined the War-Band of Sigurd Bloodtooth (Smethwick chapter) in hope of pulling girls, Valhalla is a gory shoot-up with modern weapons. For older killers like Attila, Napoleon and Hitler it's like the thrilling suspense of watching paint dry. For Lin Kortright, theatrical agent to the gods, it's endless gruelling auditions for the part of Lin Kortright--every time, he "dies" on stage. Carol the cocktail waitress lands in a similar dead-end job as a serving wench in the traditional Valhalla, where there's a special briefing for Americans:

"Skyfather, his message: You in Kansas any more are not."

Indeed Odin gives everyone personalised Valhallas that nastily twist their own wish-fulfilment dreams. Clever one-liners and bizarre ideas come thick and fast as ever--few people suspected that the "voices" heard by Joan of Arc included police radios and Fairy Liquid ads. But Holt's emphasis on death and afterlife makes Valhalla a darker than usual comedy. There are manic chases aplenty, but can anyone escape Odin forever? Carol at least intends to have fun trying. Wild humour with a bracing touch of grimness.

Other people's reviews of this book

Tom Knapp's review (from 14 Dec 2001)

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Valhalla by Tom Holt

Book synopsis (The back of the book says)

Reviews of this book

Other people's reviews of this book

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