Tag: shape shifters

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Slavic Folklore: Upiór

The Upiór is present in Slavic and Turkic folklore and resembles the vampire. The Upiór is depicted as a ravenous and insatiable creature with vampiric features. Belief in the Upiór may have spread across the Eurasian steppes through migrations with its origins in the regions surrounding the Volga River and the Pontic steppes.

An Upiór is created after the death of those who practised sorcery who undergo transformations in their graves and can assume animal forms. The Upiór is described as having an enlarged cranium and an elongated tail and also capable of flight.

Upiór can assume any form including human forms. Individuals under the sway of an Ubır are tormented by a ceaseless hunger and progressively become frail. An Upiór deprived of sustenance becomes aggressive and eventually driven to consume carrion and human blood.

Upiór are blamed for causing epidemic outbreaks, distress and madness in humans and animals.

Vampire Burials

In suspected Upiór cases, the grave is exhumed and nails driven into the coffin. This practice, reminiscent of contemporary vampire narratives, is widely regarded as effective.

In 2012, the discovery in Bulgaria of an 800-year-old skeleton with an iron rod stabbed through its chest, led to speculation of a vampire burial.

Upiór and Vampires

Immortality and Feeding off Life Essence:

The Upiór and the vampire both possess an insatiable hunger – whether blood, life essence, or energy. The Upiór is voracious and devours not only the flesh but also the life force of its victims leaving them weakened and dying. The vampire is also known for its hunger for human blood in order to prolong its existence.

Shape-shifting and Manipulation:

The Upiór is also a shape-shifter, which allows it to assume various forms including animals. Vampires are sometimes suggested to take the form of bats or wolves to enable them to blend into the night. This shared attribute with the Ubir suggests a link between folklore.

Dread and Vulnerability:

Both the Upiór and the vampire evoke a sense of dread and vulnerability in their victims. The ability of both Upiór and vampires to deceive the senses, blend with humanity and consume life energy strikes a common fear of violation that transcends cultural boundaries. The shared fear of deceitful danger hidden beneath a facade.

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Slavic Folklore: Rusalka

The Rusalka is related to water-dwelling nymphs and appears in the form of a beautiful woman. Water nymphs, unlike mermaids, have legs and can walk on land.

Rusalki are found in rivers or lakes they come out of the streams at certain times a year to dance and walk in the woods especially in summer months. In prehistory, they’ve been associated with fertility, but by the 19th century, they represented aggressive water sprites who would seduce young men to a watery deaths.

The origin folklore of the rusalka is unclear, but they are always women and usually virgins who had an untimely death near water. The restless soul became a rusalka because they were un-sanctified or they’d had a violent and untimely deaths. Rusalki are almost always associated with women betrayed by their lovers. They remain in the region to haunt the area of water where they died.

Rusalki often come out of the water and climb into a tree or sit on a rock, singing or combing their hair. Rusalki have green or golden hair which is always wet and their pale skin may take on a greenish hue.

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The Salt-Black Tree

** I received an ARC for an honest review **

Publisher’s Description

Nat Drozdova has crossed half the continent in search of the stolen Dead God’s Heart, the only thing powerful enough to trade for her beautiful, voracious, dying mother’s life. Yet now she knows the secret of her own birth—and that she’s been lied to all her young life.

The road to the Heart ends at the Salt-Black Tree, but to find it Nat must pay a deadly price. Pursued by mouthless shadows hungry for the blood of new divinity as well as the razor-wielding god of thieves, Nat is on her own. Her journey leads through a wilderness of gods old and new, across a country as restless as its mortal inhabitants, and it’s too late to back out now.

…or accept the consequences of her own.

Summary

Blood may not always prevail. Magic might not always work. And the young Drozdova is faced with an impossible choice: Save her mother’s very existence…

I recently read The Salt-Black Tree(Dead God’s Heart, #2) by US dark fantasy and urban fantasy author Lilith Saintcrow.

The journey of Nat Drozdova continues but she now possesses Spring’s Arcana and is coming into her own Divinity. While she battles internally with the reality her mother has lied to her throughout her entire life, and that she was born simply to allow her mother to assume to divinity on American soil, Nat comes into her own power and makes her own decisions as she travels towards the Salt-Black Tree and whatever ending awaits her there.

She seeks the Dead God’s Heart but what she intends to do with it once she possesses it, she is yet to be sure. One thing she does know-Nat Drozdova is her own Divinity, and if that means battling her mother and Baba Yaga, she will do so.

Review

The Salt-Black Tree is the final instalment in the Dead God’s Heart duology.

Saintcrow’s writing is superb and she provides a thrilling and satisfying ending to her series. The plot is fast-paced while still being insightful to characters development and the detailed world-building. The comparisons to Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods, while relevant on the surface, Saintcrow’s duology blows them away with a darkness and ruthlessness in development and immigration of divinities and human belief which is fresh and bold. This finale is a masterpiece of talented writing while maintaining the integrity of the characters and the world building at the core of in this urban fantasy duology.

Conclusion

A highly recommended read for fans of urban fantasy, Russian folklore and world mythology. A thriller of an urban fantasy and a read!

** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **

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Steel Victory

Publisher’s Description

One hundred years ago, the vampire Victory retired from a centuries-long mercenary career. She settled in Limani, the independent city-state acting as a neutral zone between the British and Roman colonies on the New Continent.

Twenty years ago, Victory adopted a human baby girl, who soon showed signs of magical ability.

Today, Victory is a city councilwoman, balancing the human and supernatural populations within Limani. Her daughter Toria is a warrior-mage, balancing life as an apprentice mercenary with college chemistry courses.

Tomorrow, the Roman Empire invades.

Summary

I recently read alternate history and steampunk fantasy Steel Victory (Steel Empires, #1) by US author J.L. Gribble.

Steel Victory follows several protagonists including Victory, a vampire and leader of her free city state Limani and her human adopted-daughter Toria – a mage bonded to another mage to form a warrior pair. They are still in training and not yet combat ready but soon must face the realities of war whether they’re ready or not.

Victory is embroiled in the rising of an anti-Fae alliance within the council that governs the city and also within the populous itself. Brutal assaults and banning of Fae individuals from businesses sees injustice and discrimination made plain.

While the Roman army marches on the Limani, Victory is forced to battle on two fronts: a physical war looming and an internal Civil War brewing.

Review

Gribble’s vast world building skilfully uses alternate history and fantasy that is highly detailed while still fast-paced. The clever plot weaves history and magic and is a masterstroke by Gribble.

Conclusion

Highly recommended to fantasy readers, alternate history, occult, LGBTQI and readers who enjoy skilful and vast world-building. A great read!

** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **

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Greek Myth: Circe

Circe was a daughter of the Greek sun god Helios, and his wife the Oceanid Perseis. Her siblings include another powerful sorceress, Pasiphae, the wife of Midas, and their brothers Perses and Aeetes. The brothers didn’t seem to inherit any magical abilities but the niece of Circe, Medea infamous did.

Circe was one of the most powerful enchantresses of Greek mythology, who some have called a witch and others a goddess. Circe is best known as the hostess of Odysseus and his crew when they sought shelter on their return after the Trojan War.

Of the three female sorceresses, Circe, Pasiphae and Medea, it is Circe who is considered the most powerful. She concocted potions and transformed humans and animals into other shapes. She is also known for calling upon Chaos, Nyx and Hecate for assistance.

Circe was banished to the island of Aeaea and delivered there by her father, Helios using the god’s golden chariot.

Aeaea does not appear on any map and in antiquity there was great debate about where it could be found.

Circe remained an important mythological figure through until the Roman period where writers told of the Island of Aeaea as actually being the island of Ponza.

Circe lived within a stone mansion on Aeaea which was located in a forest clearing. She reportedly had her own throne and was attended by nymphs who provided flowers and herbs Circe used in her potions.

She also had a menagerie of animals including lions, bears and wolves and reportedly these wild beasts behave like domesticated animals around her. There are some stories that Circe tamed the beasts but others tell darker tales that they were once men who Circe had transformed into beasts.

One famous take involving Circe was she loved Glaucus, a minor sea deity, but Glaucus knew loved Scylla, a beautiful maiden. Circe poisoned the water in which Scylla bathed, and she was transformed into a hideous monster who later became famous for wrecking ships.

Circe is most famous for her encounter with Odysseus told by Homer in The Odyssey. Odysseus and his men landed on the island Aeaea not knowing where they were but seeking safe refuge.

Quickly it became clear that Odysseus and his men were in as much trouble as they had been previously. When one the men searched the island, came across Circe’s mansion, and they were enticed to enter by Circe herself. These unwary men ate of food given to them by Circe but as they ate they were transformed into swine.

Circe would have used her magic upon Odysseus as well, but the king of Ithaca was aided by Hermes with the god advising him about a potion to counteract that which Circe had concocted. Circe and Odysseus became lovers and Circe transformed Odysseus’s men back into their previous forms. For a year, Odysseus and his crew lived in the relative paradise on the island of Aeaea.

Eventually, Odysseus decided to leave Circe and she Circe gladly have him aid to enable to return home. Circe tells Odysseus how he can enter the Underworld and afterwards how he can safely traverse between the monster Scylla and Charybdis.

In the generation before Odysseus and his men, Circe hosted Jason and the Argonauts after Medea led the Argo to the island of Circe when Jason and his men fled from Colchis.

To enable the escape of the Argonauts from the Colchian fleet, Medea killed her own brother, Apsyrtus, and then tossed his dismembered limbs into the sea which delaying her father Aeetes, who stopped to retrieve all of the body parts of his son.

For such a crime, Medea and Jason required absolution, and Circe purified them and allowed them to continue their voyage unmolested.

Circe and Odysseus had three sons: Agrius, Latinus and Telegonus. Of these three, Telegonus is the most famous for not only being a king of the Etruscans, but Telegonus accidentally kills his father. Subsequently, Telegonus marries Penelope, while Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, marries Circe.

Circe was apparently made Penelope, Telegonus, and Telemachus immortal through her potions and all four lived on the Islands of the Blest.

Manifestations: She is eternally young, attractive and beautiful. As a great sorceress, and can appear in any form she chooses but as a descendent of the sun god, her eyes shine with brilliant light. That is clue to her true identity.

Sacred animal: Pig

Sacred plants: Alder, nightshade, junipers and mandrake

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Norse Mythology: Loki

Loki (Old Norse: Loki “knot/tangle”) is a wily trickster god of Norse mythology. While treated as a nominal member of the Aesir, he occupies a highly ambivalent and unique position among the gods, giants, and the other kinds of spiritual beings that populate pre-Christian Norse religion.

Loki is the father of three monsters with giantess and witch of the Iron Wood, Angrboda (Old Norse: “Anguish-bringer”). Their daughter Hel became the ruler of the underworld; Jormungand, a great serpent (also known as the Midgard Serpent encircled the entirety of Midgard sea) is fated to be slain and slay Thor during Ragnarok; lastly, Fenrir, the giant wolf who bites off one the god Tyr’s hands when chained by the Aesir and slays Odin during Ragnarok.

Loki also had a wife from among the Aesir – Sigyn (“Friend of Victory”) and two sons named Nari and Narfi, whose names might mean “Corpse.” They are sacrificed and their entrails used to bind Loki until he’ll break free at the beginning of Ragnarok.

Loki often runs afoul of societal expectations but also the “the laws of nature.” Loki is also a shape-shifter and in the form of a mare, he birthed Sleipnir, Odin’s shamanic stallion.

In many tales, Loki is a schemer, coward, shallow and focused only on his self-preservation. He’s also playful, malicious, and can be helpful. But all tales portray him as irreverent and immoral.

Loki’s recklessness finds him in the hands of the furious frost-giant, Thrazi who threatens to kill him unless he kidnaps the goddess Idunn. To save his own life, Loki agrees and shape-shifting again, steals Idunn away and delivers her to Thrazi. The Aesir then threaten him with death unless he rescues Idunn. He agrees to this for self-preservation and shape-shifting into a falcon and transforms Idunn again and carries her back to Asgard in his talons. Angered, Thrazi pursues him in the form of an eagle. When he has almost caught up with Loki, the Aesir gods light a fire around the perimeter of their fortress. The flames catch Thrazi’s feathers and burns him to death.

After Thrazi’s death, his daughter, frost-giantess Skadi, marches on Asgard demanding compensation for slaying her father. One of her demands is that the Aesir make her laugh, something which only Loki can accomplish.

Loki both helps and hinders the gods and the giants, depending on what course of action most benefits him at the time.

During Ragnarok, when the gods and giants engage in their fateful struggle and the cosmos is destroyed, Loki joins the giants and captains a ship made by Hel called Naglfar, “Deadmen’s nails,” that brings many of the giants to the battlefield. Loki and the Aesir god Heimdall will mortally wound each other.

Loki is best known for his malevolent role in the death of Odín and Frigg’s son Baldr. The prophesied death of the beloved god Baldr, Frigg secures a promise from every living thing not to harm her son. But no oath is obtained from a young mistletoe. Loki discovers this omission and carves a spearhead from the mistletoe. While the Aesir are enjoying testing the immortality of Baldr, Loki gives the spearhead to Baldr’s brother, the blind god Hodr who isn’t participating in the festivities. Loki aims for Hodr and Baldr is struck and dies.

After Baldr’s death, the Aesir god Hermod rides Sleipnir into the underworld to implore Hel to release Baldr. Hel demands that if Baldr is truly loved by everything and everyone, every being in the Nine Worlds must weep for Baldr and then she will release him from the Underworld. Loki disguises himself as a giantess named Thok (“Thanks”), who is the only one in the Nine Worlds who doesn’t weep for Baldr. In turn, he must remain with Hel in the Underworld.

For this last crime against the Aesir gods, he is bound within a cavern with a venomous serpent hanging above him, dripping poison onto his face (the viper care of Skadi). Loki’s very faithful wife Sigyn, sits beside him holding a bowl catch the venom. But when the bowl needs emptying, she mist leave Loki’s face unprotected and drops of venom fall onto his flesh and he writhes in agonised convulsions that cause earthquakes. Here, he will stay until breaking free at Ragnarok.

For many centuries of Norse mythology study, the meaning of Loki’s name has been elusive. A recent, the philologist Eldar Heide suggests from Nordic folklore in periods more recent than the Viking Age, Loki often appears in contexts likening it to a knot on a thread. In fact, in later Icelandic usage, the common noun loki means “knot” or “tangle.”

Manifestation: A master shape-shifter who appears in many guises.

Consort: Aesir wife Sigyn and the giantess Angrboda

Sacred animals: Wolves, snakes and possibly spiders (web-weaving).

Star symbol: Sirius also known as Lokabrenna (“Loki’s Brand”) in traditional Norse astrology

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Cabaret of Monsters

Publisher’s Description

Saturnalia in Aufleur is a time of topsy-turvy revels, of the world turned upside down. The city’s theatres produce an annual display of reversals and surprises. Women can transform into wolves. Even the rats are not what they seem.

Evie has travelled to Aufleur to uncover the city’s sinister secrets… but this newspaper reporter has secrets of her own.

As she befriends the dazzling cabaret performers of the mysterious Vittorina Royale theatre, she falls under the spell of their most charismatic celebrities: songbird Livilla and the Stagemaster Poet. Who is Garnet, and why is everyone so afraid of him? What are the secrets of the Creature Court? Evie thought she wanted to learn the truth, but now she just wants to get out of Aufleur alive.

If you enjoy intrigue, devastating plot twists, LGBT characters and sumptuous detail, you’ll adore this gaslamp fantasy novella inspired by Paris theatre, Ancient Rome and the Roaring 20s.

Review

I recently read prequel novella Cabaret of Monsters (Creature Court, #0.5) by Australian author Tansy Raynar Roberts.

The protagonist Evie is also known as the Storyteller and travels to Aufluer as a reporter the cover the fashionable and famous theatrical scene.

Evie is quickly embraced by the theatrical group run by the mysterious Stagemaster Poet at the Vitoria Royale theatre as the troupe prepares for the famous Aufleur Saturnalia plays. Evie has an ulterior motive for being in the Vitoria Royale as she discovers more about the man Garnet, the strange history of returned songbird Livilia. But Evie can’t help but learn to feel for the members of the troupe and her real reason for being in Aufleur causes internal conflict as she learns more about the Creature Court and its hold over the city.

Final Thoughts

A well-written dark Gaslamp novella set in a 1920s-esque era that is dark, mysterious and dangerous. A truly unique plot and well-crafted characters.

Conclusion

Highly recommended for fans of dark fantasy, Gaslamp themes, paranormal and supernatural tales set in an intoxicating 1920s style world.

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Inuit Folklore: The Amikuk

The Amikuk is a monster from Inuit legend that is as deadly on land as it is in the water. They possess a deep hatred for al humans and actively hunt for kayakers in the open waters off the Alaskan coast.

The Amikuk are often described as extremely long but almost human-like in shape. They are covered in thick, slimy dark skin that has the appearance of old leather and long, wide-set, spindly arms with fingers that taper off into sharp points. They’re often seen with two legs but have – on occasion – been seen to have four.

While in the water, the Amikuk is constantly hunting for passing kayaks. It presses itself up against floating sea ice and waits – perfectly still – until the ideal time to attack. Once a victim paddles close enough to the waiting Amikuk, it pushes off the sea ice and positions itself beneath the kayak. Without warning the monster pushes its long arms and legs out from the water to wrap tightly about the vessel before pulling it under the water. Once beneath the water, the Amikuk tries to drown the human kayaker.

Even though the Amikuk is extremely deadly it doesn’t always kill its victim after pulling them into the water. Sometimes people were able to swim back to the sea ice before the Amikuk disengages it’s spindly limbs from the kayak. Even is they escape the Amikuk’s grasp it possesses the ability to burrow into both earth and ice follow, unresting and unrelenting until the person is finally caught by it.

The Amikuk produces a thumping noise moving through the earth that echoes from the main tunnel and into the surrounding area. The vibrations caused by its movement are said to be strong enough to freeze a fleeing victim in their tracks and allows it enough time to burst through the ground/ice below and kill the human above.

While a majority of the legends about the Amikuk depict it as being nothing more than a deadly monster, other legends talk of it being magical as well.

In one story, the Amikuk is said to create a bird-like nest which it protects with extreme devotion even though it contains no eggs or young but a few scraps of magical fur or animal hide. If a human manages to steal the Amikuk’s nest, the scraps of fur inside are able to repair anything broken. It was also believed the furs were capable of creating great riches from nowhere if the nest remains in the possession of the one who stole it.

Another legend of the Amikuk tells of it being able to shape shift into an almost human form. While in this form, it must pull a sled and can only walk in a straight line. If a human were to see an approaching Amikuk in this form, they can sit directly in its path. Since it must only walk in a straight line, it won’t be able to avoid the sitting person and begins to panic. While in this panicked state, the Amikuk offers a gift in order to get the sitter to move, but the sitter shouldn’t accept it. The refusal of the offering causes the Amikuk to become desperate and it will offer a better gift each time the sitter refuses until the final and most valuable gift is offered. On acceptance of this offer, the sitter will move and be extremely wealthy and the Amikuk can continue on its way.

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The Hunger of the Gods

*** I received an ARC in return for an honest review ***

Publisher’s Description

Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest.

As Orka continues the hunt for her missing son, the Bloodsworn sweep south in a desperate race to save one of their own – and Varg takes the first steps on the path of vengeance.

Elvar has sworn to fulfil her blood oath and rescue a prisoner from the clutches of Lik-Rifa and her dragonborn followers, but first she must persuade the Battle-Grim to follow her.

Yet even the might of the Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim cannot stand alone against a dragon god.

Their hope lies within the mad writings of a chained god. A book of forbidden magic with the power to raise the wolf god Ulfrir from the dead . . . and bring about a battle that will shake the foundations of the earth.

Review

I recently read the dark fantasy The Hunger of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #2) by UK author John Gwynne.

The Hunger of the Gods follows directly from the The Shadow of the Gods with the imprisoned dragon-god Lika-Rifa freed by Queen Hekla and her dragon-born warriors – with the Tainted children made thralls and sworn to serve Lik-Rifa.

Bloodsworn and Tainted warrior Orka continues her hunt for Queen Hekla and vengeance for stealing her Tainted son Breca. But Orka has the blood of the wolf-god Ulfrir in her veins and aided by vessen monsters. She is formidable and ferocious when the wolf-blood overwhelms her.

Elevar of the Battle-grim warriors aims to fulfil the blood-oath to find another stolen Tainted child. But to battle Queen Hekla, her dragon-born warriors and the dragon-god Lik-Rifa, Elvar makes a thrall of a winged-god and using mad writings of Lik-Rifa, she raises Ulfrir the wolf-god from his bones and the winged thrall Skuld forges a collar for Elvar to make a thrall of Ulfrir. That accomplished, Elvar and her Battle-grim warriors follow after Lik-Rifa and wait for Ulfrir to regain his legendary strength before the battle which could remake or unmake the world.

Final Thoughts

The Hunger of the Gods continues the epic dark fantasy where Gwynne’s talent for reimagining Norse mythology and world-building is compelling.

Conclusion

A good sequel in the Bloodsworn Saga. An enjoyable dark fantasy of Norse-inspired sagas and mythology with extensive world-building and strong, well-defined characters. A recommended read!

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The Shadow of the Gods

Publisher’s Description

THE GREATEST SAGAS ARE WRITTEN IN BLOOD. 

A century has passed since the gods fought and drove themselves to extinction. Now only their bones remain, promising great power to those brave enough to seek them out.

As whispers of war echo across the land of Vigrio, fate follows in the footsteps of three warriors: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman pursuing battle fame, and a thrall seeking vengeance among the mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn.

All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods.

Review

I read The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga, #1) by UK author John Gwynne.

The Shadow of the Gods follows three main characters: Orka a Bloodsworn warrior and Ulfir Tainted mother seeking her stolen Tainted son Brecca. Elvar from the Battle-Grim warriors on a quest for battle fame. The thrall Varg seeking vengeance. In this world where the old gods fought and died, their bones hold immense power for those brave and strong enough to seek them out through lands where monsters now roam.

Queen Hekla of the Raven-feeders is determined to free and the old dragon god Lik-Rifa from her imprisonment in a chamber beneath the earth and to whom the Dragon-born like Queen Hekla are sworn to serve and follow. But the magic required to free Lik-Rifa uses the blood of the Tainted (those sharing bloodlines of the dead gods). Tainted children were the easiest to make thralls of and steal away so their blood can be used to free Lik-Rifa.

The final battle will see fame found, saga tales returned the land fall as warriors seek power with the death of their enemies.

Final Thoughts

The Shadow of the Gods is a unique reimagining of Norse mythology with extensive world-building and strong, well-developed characters. The battle scenes are visceral and can be at times, gratuitous. The female characters are strong and independent which was pleasant to find in a dark fantasy.

Conclusion

A reimagining of Norse mythology with extensive world-building. A great read for those who enjoy dark fantasy, mythology and Norse-inspired fantasy. A recommended read!