Book Review: Day of the Giants

"Jordsson's voice rang out again, like a clap of thunder, and the hammer left his hand in an air-piercing sweep. Something splattered out in the snow, and the maul seemed to rebound as if it had a spring instead of a head. It bounced back squarely into Jordsson's waiting hand. Leif noticed it abstractly, but his eyes stayed riveted to the headless thing on the ground."

From Day of the Giants by Lester del Ray (1950).

Revolving around the adventures of Leif and Lee Svenson, twin American brothers of Nordic descent, our story is set in an uncertain future, rife with global strife, conflict, and war.

Sacrificing a collegiate career in engineering, Leif Svenson remains at home to tend the family farm. His brother, meanwhile, scours the globe, gaining fame and fortune as a mercenary for hire. 

Here, the action picks up when Lee Svenson returns home to recuperate from some serious injuries sustained during his latest campaign -- just as the entire world, already on the brink of collapse, is crippled by an unearthly weather pattern:

From Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

A blizzard of mythical proportions is currently socking the entire planet, sending an already spiraling civilization into pure chaos. And on top of all that, are several reports of mass-hallucinations concerning large, busty women riding giant steeds that thunder across the sky, who sing ear-splitting songs "loud enough to raise the dead."

Turns out Lee had an encounter with one of these unearthly visions when he was badly wounded, and his description of what followed reminds Leif of the old Norse tales their grandmother used to tell them about the Valkyries and the Fimbulwinter: the first sign of the Ragnarok -- the Twilight of the Asgardian gods; or to put it more bluntly, Teutonic Armageddon and the end of the world as we know it.

Now, once that's all properly set up, two strangers come into the lives of the Svensons. First is Laufeyson, a shifty fellow who can seemingly disappear at will; whereas Jordsson, the second stranger, is a surly brute, who carries around a very large hammer. (And for those of us who read a lot of Journey into Mystery and The Mighty Thor comics growing up, or have seen the recent Marvel films, like me, you probably already know where this is headed.)

Lee recognizes these two as the fellow mercenaries, who saved his hash on several occasions, which is strange because Leif knows them, too, but by different names. Regardless of monikers, the Svensons have no time to clear up their true identity before trouble comes calling.

Seems that Leif has been having some trouble with his neighbors lately, ever since his dog was accused of getting loose and killing other people's livestock -- pivotal provisions in these dire times. However, the over-sized canine is innocent of these crimes; but tempers are quick in this desperate climate; and as far as the injured parties are concerned, it's lynch first and ask questions later. 

And when this pack of vigilantes storm the Svenson farm, Laufeyson and Jordsson stand by the brothers, which really confuses the mob since Laufeyson was the one who riled them all up for blood in the first place.

What in the name of Odin goes on here, you ask? Well, we're about to find out:

Armed with an automatic pistol, axes, and Jordsson's hammer, the battle commences against the armed mob. Though greatly outnumbered, these four hold their own as Leif overcomes his nerves and joins the fracas.

But in the end, the numbers overwhelm them and both brothers wind up mortally wounded. Then, as he lay their dying, Leif sees the Valkyries circling above them -- but this isn't a hallucination:

"Wild singing was coming from the air above, and with it came the thundering of hooves, beating down like a muffled drum … A big woman on an immense horse, dropping out of nowhere … Leif felt her hands clutch his hair, felt himself lifted with a single heave of her arm and dropped across the shoulders of the horse."

Leif then takes a wild ride over the Bifrost, the rainbow barrier that leads to the fabled land of Asgard: home of the Norse gods, where it appears that the Ragnarok is indeed fast approaching.

Now, according to the legends, Asgard needs a mortal champion from Midgard (Earth) to turn the tide and save the Asgardians from extinction. But to get into Asgard, one must die a heroic death in battle first. Thus, the All-Father Odin, leader of the Asgardians, staged that dust-up with the mob, explaining Laufeyson's treachery.

Truthfully, Odin had sent his two elder sons, Thor (Jordsson), and the trickster Loki (Laufeyson), to Earth to bring back Lee, a proven warrior, to be their champion; but Loki, probably up to something no good, tries to pass Leif off as his twin brother.

Seeing through this deception, Thor brings Lee across the rainbow bridge as well, accuses Loki and Leif of high treason, and then demands they both be tossed into the infernal pit of Niflheim for these transgressions.

But with some fast talking by Loki, Leif is spared this grisly fate when he convinces Odin that his champion can build them some weapons of mass destruction -- like Lee's automatic pistol -- for the Einherjar: the army of dead heroes who will help the Asgardians fight against the perpetrating hordes of the pending Ragnarok. And the Einherjar need all the help they can get.

Imagine an entire army of Three Stooges clones -- or a battalion of Black Knights from Monte Python and the Holy Grail (1975), who spend the entire day training by hacking each other to pieces, only to be reassembled by Odin at the end of the day to do it all over again tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this dismemberment and recombulation has been going on for so long these guys have kinda lost their fighting edge. So while Lee is put in charge of whipping the Einherjar back into fighting shape, Leif is assigned to the mines, where the dwarf craftsmen will help him reproduce any materials he needs. 

Amazing mechanical magicians these dwarfs are, too, who concoct what's needed by first eating the raw materials and then spitting out the desired elements (-- including some volatile Uranium). 

Realizing these methods aren't really refined enough for the delicate work of gun-smithing, Leif settles on a crude hand-grenade instead. As work on these commence, Leif knows Loki is his only true ally; but he also knows that according to the legends, he can never truly trust the God of Mischief, either.

Ergo, convinced that Loki is up to something, Leif must also keep his other eye on Odin's younger sons, Vali and Vidarr, who are destined to survive the Ragnarok, which is why Loki purports they're the ones who are up to no good, trying to speed this process along.

Meanwhile, Leif has fallen hard for Fulla, an Asgardian maiden charged with tending the Tree of Life -- whose golden apples supply the Asgardians with their preternatural power. But Fulla doesn't trust Leif because of his association with Loki; and as their budding romance runs hot and cold, much to Leif's consternation, the former farmer also notices that the Tree is in pretty dire shape.

Barely producing enough apples to keep the Asgardians going, it’s readily apparent these mythical gods know a lot about magic, fighting, and guzzling mead, but know diddly-squat about farming. And seeing an opportunity to ingratiate himself, Leif tries to win Fulla over by helping the Tree.

First, he has the dwarfs belch up some fertilizer and then trimmed out all the dead branches, giving the newer ones a better chance to grow and bloom. However, when Fulla catches him doing this, she doesn't understand the pruning and assumes Leif is trying to destroy it. And between allegedly attacking the Tree and several industrial accidents -- that weren't really accidents, but sabotage -- Leif is once more accused of treason and dragged before a high tribunal.

Things look bad, but Lee, Thor, Loki, and the dwarfs all stand by Leif, defying Odin's inevitable guilty verdict. And things are about to get even uglier, when suddenly, Fulla brings word that the Tree is now producing bigger and better apples! One succulent taste sways the court in Leif's favor, and he's spared -- for now.

Next, as preparations for the Ragnarok continue, rumors abound that enemy agents are spying on Asgard in the guise of giant hawks, meaning time is short. With eternal darkness looming, Fulla harvests all the apples and carries them in her satchel for safe-keeping. Then, when Leif comes out of the mines to meet her, he spots the treacherous Vidarr moving to intercept her!

Alas, Vidarr was just a distraction as one of those giant hawks swoops down and snatches Fulla and her precious cache of apples, which then flies away toward the realm of Niflheim, home of the evil frost giants. Desperate to save her, Leif quickly steals one of the Valkyrie's flying horses and immediately gives chase.

Lester del Rey.

Author Lester del Rey was probably better known for publishing magazines and compendiums of other people's Science Fiction stories than for his own writings. Day of the Giants and Rocket Jockey are the only two things of his I've ever read.

Now, this tale was first told in the pages of Fantastic Adventures (Vol.12 No.12, December, 1950) as When the World Tottered, and was later collected from the pulps and expanded into a novel in 1959 as Day of the Giants.

Barely breaking 120 pages, Rey's tale of fabled fantasy is a quick and extremely entertaining read. Small chapters and a quick pace keeps things humming right along. In fact, you almost wish that Rey expanded a little bit more in some parts. Like how I got the biggest kick out of the dwarfs and their manufacturing prowess, and I wish we could have spent more time with them.

But my only real complaint is that horribly misleading cover; the paperback I have shows several UFOs raining fire down on a doomed Earth. The hell? I definitely like the Fantastic Adventures’ version better.

As I got deeper into it, Day of the Giants kept stirring up memories of some old comic books I had read in my younger days concerning the Ragnarok, where the Asgardians fought and lost to the fire and ice giants, the Midgard serpent, Loki, and several large wolves. According to the legend, it's predestined that after all the Asgardians die, the fire demon Surtur will then destroy the world by setting it on fire with his flaming sword. 

Author Walter Simonson touched on these events during his fantastic run on The Mighty Thor (No.348-353), and the old Justice Society of America sacrificed themselves to stop the Ragnarok in the classic The Last Days of the JSA one-shot. And while prior knowledge of these legends does help a bit, they really aren’t necessary as Leif remembers and constantly rehashes these old legends as the story progresses to help the reader keep up. 

Does Leif save Fulla? Is Ragnarok truly on its way? Is Surtur and the fire giants of Musspelheim ready for the end of the world? Or are the frost giants jumping the gun and stirring up trouble? Regardless, can Leif and Lee stem the tide? Should they even try? If they lose, the world ends in ash. If they win, then the Asgardians will take over and rule the Earth with an iron hand.

Unfortunately, if you want those answers, the book appears to be long out of print, meaning you'll probably have to scour the used bookstore stacks for a copy to find out. I won't tell you how it ends, but I can tell you that the whole experience was well worth more than the twenty-five cents I paid for my copy.

Originally published on July 31, 2001, at 3B Theater.