
As an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner, Menrva Books earns from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Forget Santa Claus, this festive season the old gods are coming to town. And they're taking Christmas back. Christmas is for giving, for sharing, and for spending time with loved ones. Santa Claus...Santa Claus...Santa Claus. For Jessie it's about spending time with his little girl, even though his ex-wife is trying to move on. Even though he's living in a beat-up trailer and running drugs for money. How vile your name upon my tongue. Like acid, hard to utter without spitting. Yet I find myself capable of speaking little else. It has become my malediction, my profane mantra. He can't even afford to buy his daughter a birthday present. This Christmas isn't looking very merry at all. You have sung your last ho, ho, ho, for I am coming for your head. For Odin, Loki, and all the fallen gods, for your treachery, for chaining me in this pit for five hundred years. But most of all I am coming to take back what is mine, to take back Yuletide. But when Jesse witnesses a heavily-set man in a sleigh being attacked by a gang of feral men, his life is thrown into chaos. Time is running out and he might have to make a pact with a devil if he's going to have any chance of saving his daughter, his family and even his life...
When a desperate man witnesses a violent assault on a mysterious figure in a sleigh, he is thrust into a brutal conflict between ancient, vengeful gods and the modern world. Jesse, a man struggling with poverty and a fractured family life, finds his existence upended after intervening in a supernatural skirmish. He must navigate a landscape where forgotten deities, including Odin and Loki, seek to reclaim the Yuletide season from the commercialized figure of Santa Claus. The narrative weaves between Jesse's gritty reality and the dark, mythic history of the Yule Lord, forcing the protagonist to weigh the cost of a pact with forces beyond human comprehension to protect his daughter.
This work is characterized by the author's signature blend of dark fantasy and visceral horror, which shifts the focus of the holiday season toward its ancient, often violent roots. The narrative structure suggests a deliberate attempt to contrast the mundane struggles of a modern protagonist with the grand, destructive ambitions of forgotten deities. Readers likely encounter a tone that is both cynical and imaginative, prioritizing atmosphere and mythic weight over traditional festive cheer. The book serves as a grim exploration of belief and the consequences of long-held grudges, positioning the Yule Lord as a force of nature rather than a figure of benevolence.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
2013-01-01
Publisher:
HarperVoyager
ISBN-10:
0007503954
ISBN-13:
9780007503957
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!