Ymir

By Rich Larson

Publisher Description

"Phenomenal, visceral, high-octane scifi... Altered Carbon unsleeves in a dystopian Beowulf."―Derek Künsken, Aurora-award-winning author of The Quantum Magician

As glittering and treacherous as an icy cavern, Rich Larson's far-future tale of revenge and revolution is a gripping thriller, perfect for fans of Richard K. Morgan and inspired by the legendary story of Beowulf.

Yorick never wanted to see his homeworld again. He left Ymir two decades ago, with half his face blown off and no love lost for the place. But when his employer's mines are threatened by a vicious alien machine, Yorick is shipped back home to hunt it.

All he wants is to do his job and get out. Instead, Yorick is pulled into a revolution brewing beneath Ymir's frozen surface, led by the very last person he wanted to see again—the brother who sent him off in pieces twenty years ago..

16 Reviews

4.0

Sprinkle_Twinkle

Created about 2 months ago

IntotheHeartwyld

Created 3 months ago

Suspenseful Dark Dark Descriptive

FastAG

Created 4 months ago

Jijilechat

Created 4 months ago

“J’avais entendu des reviews décrivant ce livre comme très dur. Bon ça l’est un peu mais je trouve injuste de résumer le roman à ça. on est en marquage spoiler donc je le dis : ça fini bien, même si c’est peu doux et assez amer. La révolution a gagné, les personnages sont libres de relations toxiques, ou d’obsessions, et d’autres familles se reconstruisent. et même si ça passe par la fin d’une relation un peu déchirante, ça reste un happy end. Yorick le dit : ça n’a jamais été sa ballade. Çe n’est pas lui le héro, même tragique, de l’histoire. Avoir adopté son point de vue permet en revanche de voir une révolution sans risquer de réellement héroiser un personnage de chef, et je trouve ça plutôt malin. Mon rapport à la « représentation » aro/ace est un peu plus ambigu parce qu’à la fois il y en a un peu marre d’être lié a des personnages de sociopathes (et thello renforce ce sentiment en disant son frère incapable d’aimer) ; et à la fois je ne pense pas que Rich Larson lie réellement ces deux choses, et puis les quelques lignes sur le sujet ont fait bien echo à ce que je peux ressentir. Est ce que je suis juste affamée de représentation? Peut être. Et ACAB bien sûr”

theheelerbooklife

Created 11 months ago

“Ymir is a sci-fi retelling of Beowulf and follows Yorick who has left his homeworld over two decades ago. He has wished he would never see his homeworld ever again, but he ends up being shipped back to his homeworld due to his employer's mines are being threatened by an alien machine. So, he is tasked to hunt it down. I am finally going through my backlog of NetGalley books, and I ended up requesting this as an audiobook from Libby. As I was listening to Ymir, I felt like I was thrown right into this story not knowing what was actually going on. I was left confused for most of it. When looking on Goodreads it does say it is the second in a series, BUT it is read as a standalone. Ymir does have an intriguing plot line when you read the synopsis and Rich Larson does a great job of building the world and its characters. Larson does well to creating the world in this book and making us as the reader see it clearly as a cold, bleak, and dark place. When it comes to Yorick and the side characters, they were not developed super well to where you would have that connection with them. Due to this I think that is why I was not in love with this story. I found Yorick to be boring and one dimensional. I do wonder if I read this physically if I would have enjoyed this story more, but with me not being a fan of Yorick and finding the execution of the plot boring it made it a different experience for me with the audiobook. Also, to note I think I have come to the conclusion that I am not a fan of Beowulf retellings because I seem to rate these types of retellings around a 3 star or lower rating. I totally recommend this book to people who love Beowulf or is super into sci-fi but read this physically.”

About Rich Larson

Rich Larson was born in Galmi, Niger, has lived in Spain and Czech Republic, and currently writes from Grande Prairie, Canada. He is the author of the novels Ymir and Annex, as well as over 150 short stories—some the best of which can be found in the collection Tomorrow Factory.

His fiction has appeared in over a dozen languages, including Polish, Italian, Romanian, and Japanese, and his translated collection La Fabrique des lendemains won the 2020 Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire. His first screen adaptation, Ice, won the 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program.

Find free reads and support his work at patreon.com/richlarson.