Five books with elements that echo Norse myth

April Genevieve Tucholke is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Between the Spark and the Burn, and Wink Poppy Midnight.

Her new novel is The Boneless Mercies.

At Tor.com the author tagged "five books with classic fantasy elements that echo Norse myth," including:

WIZARD IN A FLOPPY HAT
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Lord of the Rings is teeming with Norse myths and Norse beasts, but even the concept of Gandalf’s wide-brimmed hat traces back to the sagas. Odin often wandered the land disguised as a traveler, and was described as having a long, white beard, a cloak, a staff, and a floppy hat.

I adore how Susanna Clarke played with this trope in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Early on, Jonathan is subtly referred to as the Knight of Wands, which is depicted on the Marseilles Tarot—the deck that the (secret protagonist) Childermass uses in the novel—as a man in a large-brimmed hat, carrying a staff. Jonathan Strange does become a wizard/magician, and a wandering one at that ... though he never grows the beard.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue