God of Thunder by Alex ArcherMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the 7th in a long-running pulp series written by multiple authors (Mel Odom for this one) and I liked it quite a bit. Entertaining. Annja Creed and the whole Rogue Angel series is like an updated version of men's adventure fiction, like Doc Savage or Mack Bolan or Remo Williams, and though there's still a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, globetrotting, and gun-wielding bad guys the protagonist has to face, the violence feels a bit toned down and secondary. She's interested in history and artifacts, and that focus leads to cool connections with hidden or little-known bits of history that are a pleasure to read about.
The history in this one leads her from the US to Venice, then finally to Latvia, where there is a legend about an ancient viking who once joined a Baltic tribe and protected them with a device that can only be described as Thor's hammer. The usual bad guys get involved and try to beat her to it, and the usual regular folk get in the middle and need protected. Despite the genuine supernatural elements (including a sword that Annja can summon at will) the story and series seems realistic in most ways, like urban fantasy that leans more toward urban than fantasy. It's a mix that works well.
The action plot serves the purpose here, and the writing is quite good, IMO; better than Doc Savage, anyway. The pacing leans toward quick, moving along like an action movie (which it resembles in almost every way) and it makes it a perfectly fun read. (Some people would call these books a guilty pleasure, but my position is that there is no guilt in reading entertaining books. They are produced by Harlequin, the long-time romance publishers, and they know how to make a fortune off books that people enjoy but feel like they shouldn't!)
Anyway, for those who enjoy action books or other pulp fiction, this is a fun series, and this is a good title. Recommended for those readers.
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