Bloodhoof

Bloodhoof is the re-casting into compulsively spare modern verse of an ancient Eddic poem - but this only begins to hint at its attractions. It is a minimalist epic telling of the abduction of Gerour Gymisdottir from a land of giants and the subsequent events culminating in her return from the court of Freyr of the 'wolf-grey eyes' with her beloved son. It is full of iron-hard rocks and ice, serpents in the breast gnawing at the harness of hope, but also wide-reaching fields of corn whispering in the breeze and a throne carved with beasts and dragons' heads. You could read the whole book in perhaps half an hour but it will take many months or years to begin to clear the "ghosts and long-dead heroes" from your mind.