Odin's Voice by Susan Price

Odin’s Voice is a sci-fi novel set several hundred years in our future, amongst a population who have returned to polytheism, and where half are ‘bonded’, enslaved by debts that are but rarely repaid. The world is intriguing, and the book itself a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner.

The main character is called by several names over the course of the novel, but the name she choose for herself is Odinstoy - as she is his priestess, a Godspeaker, and her life his will. Odinstoy was born a bonder, her freedom bought by the worshippers at Odin’s temple when she is fired from her position as a maid-of-all-work. Our other protagonist has gone in the opposite direction - Affroditey is a former Freewoman who becomes bonded after her father kills himself, and she discovers she has been left as repayment for her debts - with no-one caring enough to prevent it. Her path crosses with Odinstoy’s when she is employed by Odinstoy’s former mistress - and one of her tasks is care of the young boy who is, in fact, Odinstoy’s son.

The setting of Odin’s Voice is an odd one, a future world whose everyday technology seems not that far beyond our own, and whose society has fallen behind. Their genetic engineering, however, is heighly developed, with children born to unbonded parents all being ‘designed’ for beauty, and intelligence - Affroditey even has jellyfish genes that give her flourescent, colour-changing hair. It is perhaps because of this that democracy seems to have fallen by the way-side, with those whose parents could afford to have them designed believing themselves innately superior to the natural-born bonded. The bonded have very few rights, and all are microchipped - things that only horrify Affroditey when she finds them done to her.

As the names suggest, this society is also heavily religious - although monotheism seems to have gone out the door and it is whole pantheons that are worshipped. But this is definitely religion, not magic. Though Odinstoy is able to speak with the voice of her god, this, as are the other ‘magical’ elements, such as rune-reading, are shamanistic in type, and believable in a way that means Odin’s Voice is science fiction rather than fantasy.

The result of all this is a contrast between old gods and new technology that is not entirely resolved in this novel - which is quite obviously the first in a series. The sci-fi elements become most obvious towards the end, when Odinstoy makes the decision to serve in a Martian temple - Mars having been colonised three hundred years earlier and terraformed since - although it is apparently much the same culturally as Earth, with the same paganism and system of bondage. Still, Odinstoy decides she will make a new life for herself there, taking her son, Apollo, and Affroditey with her, and the climax of the book occurs with Affroditey kidnapping Apollo and the three of them trying to get on the ship to Mars without being apprehended by the authorities - and it comes very close. The final note is one of relief and hope - and certainly a desire to know what happens next, as well as more about the world in which this occurs.

Even before the rush at the end, Odin’s Voice is highly engaging. Affroditey is not always a likable character, but she grows and develops, so that you come to care about the poor little rich girl, fallen so far. She is more relateable than the intense Odinstoy, who for all her oddness commands great love and respect, and whom Affroditey becomes quite infatuated with. And yet Odinstoy herself can be quite naive - her bonder upbringing meaning she’s ignorant of some things - such as the fact Mars is a planet, and not just some place over the sea. These are rounded, interesting characters whose future adventures I look forward too.