Valhalla
Tom Holt
277 pages
published in 2000

Valhalla is yet another in a long line of comic fantasies Tom Holt has written. Unlike his colleague Terry Paratchett, his are usually set in (an approximation of) the modern world. They're lighter than Pratchett's have been for some time; they're sort of like what would've happened if Pratchett had stuck to doing The Colour of Magic type stories. Very light entertainment than, but I still like reading them every now and again.

Valhalla is where Viking warriors used to go to if they died a deserving death on the battlefield, but it's not what exactly how you picture it... For poor old Attila Valhalla means watching paint dry for several centuries. For newly dead Howard, Valhalla is an everlasting civil war in Smethwick. For also newly dead Carol Korthright Valhalla is the more traditional viking heaven, though it's not much fun if you're the one who has to clean the toilets, scrub the tables, bring the ale and roast meat and evade horny vikings...

All of this is part of a diversification scheme by Valhalla, hoping to break into the lucrative predeath market... Hey, it beats Amazon's business model.

The plot has some potential, but I'm afraid the story failed to live up to it. Several subplots don't lead anywhere and I didn't like the plot reslution either. As usual, Tom Holt just puts too much into the story, which it can't carry. Holt is not a bad writer perse, I just get the feeling he hasn't got his heart into comedic fantasy anymore.