I don't know Tom Holt. Never read any of his books. But what caught my eye was the cover design of a woman dressed like Wonder Woman holding a vacuum cleaner with mice scurrying in a hurry. And the title: "Expecting Someone Taller". This might be worth a read, I thought.
And what a journey it was. Honestly I didn't expect it to dwell on things I am interested about. A lot of it is about Mythology. Norse Mythology, that is: Yggdrasil, Loki (Logi in this book), the ravens Thought and Memory, some river spirits. With a twist on how they have evolved (or not!) with the times, and how Malcolm Fisher, a man who has not done anything spectacular or noteworthy in his life (and constantly being overshadowed by his elder, more intelligent sister), suddenly - by a twist of fate - becomes the ruler of the World.
With great power comes great responsibility (hmmm... that sounded familiar), and Malcolm took it upon himself to be more conscious of his thoughts and actions, as it has a direct impact on how the world operates, so to speak. But aside from worrying about about the fate of the world, he also had to worry about Norse gods and deities after him - or rather after the power he has accidentally acquired.
Or was it accidental?
Inspite of the premise that it works on material that has been making waves recently (think Harry Potter and Percy Jackson), "Expecting Someone Taller" reads quite differently. For one thing, it has a lot of humor injected in it. It's fun and witty. Makes me want to categorize it under "divine comedy". And at the same time it deals with pretty serious stuff, like personal worth and how we value others.
The great thing is, this book has been around for some time now and so you can get it rather cheaply. It's a great read. Grab one and give it a go.
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