Based upon the ancient Icelandic Volsunga saga, and set in adistant, dystopian future, Blood Song by Melvin Burgess is the fast-paced,slightly gross and entirely gripping tale of Sigurd, who has been geneticallyengineered to save the world.  Hedoes battle with dragons, journeys to Hel and back, dies at least seventy-threetimes, falls madly in love and lives through all kinds of hard hittingphilosophical questions, and yet by the end of the book I had still not quitemanaged to raise any strong opinions on any of the characters other than mildirritation at Bryony.  The plot isincredible, masterfully reworked, and vividly executed – some of the gorierbits are really, truly awesome, and telling the story from the points of viewof the various characters works brilliantly to keep the plot moving where itmight have stagnated.  Burgessmanages to effectively sweep us up in the plot, so the odd jarring narrativedevice – an uncomfortably placed omniscient narrator that annoyed the hell outof me, for example, seems a small price to pay for access to a world wherehumans are in the minority in the workplace (monkey, dog or pig-people are moreuseful, dontcha know), magic swords, bad-luck rings and incredibly advancedmachines sit side by side, and love is all you need.