| Runemarks | |
| Author: | Joanne Harris |
| Cover Artist: | David White |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | fantasy novel |
| Publisher: | Doubleday |
| Pub Date: | 2 August 2007 |
| Pages: | 500 pp |
| Isbn: | 978-0-385-61130-5 |
| Oclc: | 124958523 |
Runemarks is a 2007 fantasy novel by Joanne Harris. The book was published on 2 August 2007 by Doubleday Publishing and is set in a world where the Norse gods still survive as outlaws, their powers diminished, while a new and more powerful religion, the Order, tries to wipe out magic from the world. Harris has stated that she was inspired to write the book due to her love of Norse mythology as a child, with the book being loosely based on a novel she wrote in her late teens.[1]
The book was followed up with a 2011 sequel entitled Runelight.
Runemarks follows Maddy, a young loner who has been ostracised from her town for the rust-coloured rune mark she carries on her left hand. Animals born with a rune mark on their bodies are seen as cursed or deformed and are usually quickly slaughtered. Maddy is allowed to live because she is human, but is always viewed with suspicion despite this. Her village does not follow the Norse Gods, as the puritanical regime known as the Order has mandated that no one is to speak or acknowledge any of the old ways, let alone use magic. It is only after she helps rid the local inn's cellar of goblins that Maddy discovers her latent magic, with it quickly becoming something that is occasionally useful to herself and those around her. As the book progresses Maddy flashes back to her childhood where she learned about runes and Norse legends through the old traveller One-Eye, who later reveals himself to Maddy as Odin and involves her in a quest to find a treasure buried beneath Red Horse Hill. As they search, they come across several other Norse gods and are led into a confrontation with the Order and their leader.
Critical reception for Runemarks has been mostly positive.[2] [3] The Guardian praised the novel, stating it "has a narrative nonchalance which just about evens out its ponderous infrastructure."[4] The SF Gate wrote that Runemarks "comes up short in terms of thematic rigor and depth of imagination" but that it also "delivers an adventure that will please a wide array of readers".[5]