Happy book anniversary to Monster Ridge!

Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime?

Victor and Silje thought they'd already left Hotel Fen and its horrors behind. But hunting them are Victor's godly brothers: Thor the Thunderer, Tyr the Battle-God, and Hodr the God of Winter. Convinced that Ragnarok, the end of all things, is about to begin, they either want Victor fighting on their side — or out of their way.

With Ada the gretten katt and their dwarven weaponsmith Ivaldi, Victor and Silje set off for Vanaheim, seeking out the Vanir runemistress Freya, and a safe haven. But the more their pasts unfold, the more they realize that they're caught in the crosshairs of an ancient feud between Odin, the King of the Nine Realms, and his blood brother Loki, the Destroyer of Worlds.

Monster Ridge turns 1 today! 🎉 If you like action/adventure and modern spins to the myths ala the Thor films and Percy Jackson, then you might want to grab the free review e-copy at the end of this post and check it out 🎁 While this is book 2 of a trilogy, you can actually start here and treat it and book 3, Mist Gallows, as a duology! (They have a different feel to book 1, which is more horror and romance. This series can be read in a number of ways depending on which genres you vibe with 😉)

This was one of my favorite books to write because I had the opportunity to bring the story closer to my home country of the Philippines, despite the core plot being about Norse mythology! 🥰

We intentionally left the Filipino dialogue untranslated — because if you’re not Filipino, you’ll be able to relate to our heroes and their confusion, and if you are, it’s going to be a treat 🤭

And since we’re celebrating a book anniversary today, I’m going to shed some light on the Filipino-related shenanigans that went on in this one! 😎

First off, there’s a fair bit of food and snacks mentioned in the chapters set in the Philippines, because Filipinos love to eat. Here are some of those goodies specifically named in the book, from left to right:

• Sakto - Coca-Cola, but specifically the 200ml one that’s perfectly snack-sized. I don’t know how much it costs now, but it used to be super cheap back in around 2010. (I loved to pair it with a red Chippy.)
• banana cue - Fried caramelized bananas.
• buko pie - Coconut pie, which is a popular delicacy in Laguna.
• suman - Rice cake.
• bibingka - Baked rice cake.
• bulalo - A beef soup dish native to the Southern Luzon region, particularly the provinces of Batangas (where Silje’s mother is from) and Cavite.

Next, expressions!

• opo / po - These are ways to show respect to older people or people in authority, which is very important in Filipino culture. (Aside from using honorifics and titles like Sir or Madam. We only picked up the first-name basis thing when Western companies opened in the country and employed our generation.) Anyway, here’s a whole article about it, but to sum it up:

Opo is the polite way of saying yes. But to politely say no, you have to add po, like, “Hindi po.” (Some of us are comfortable enough with English that we mix it up with whatever local language we’re using, so it’s actually fine to say “no po” — but people will likely call you conyo and think you’re arrogant and elitist 🙄 It’s not always the case, but smart-shaming is, alas, a thing.)

Po, as shown above, is added to everything else. “Are you okay?” “Okay po.” / “What are you doing?” “Nothing po.”

• mahal - Either means “love” or “expensive,” but in the book it was used as a term of endearment, hence meaning the former.
• mamser - So, remember honorifics? This is basically ma’am + sir and is used to greet people regardless of gender. In my hometown, the security guards say this a lot. (Because establishments in the Philippines have guards. Malls, airports, office buildings, banks, you name it. That chapter with Thor getting stopped at the entrance of the theme park? Yep, bag check with a metal detector is a thing.)
• ate - Big sister. That’s not pronounced like the past tense of eat but as a-te. On the other hand, big brother is kuya. Up north in Luzon, they call their youngest siblings bunso, but in Bisaya, the term is manghud, though not necessarily to mean the youngest, but any sibling who’s younger. So yeah, Lulu saying Ate Silje = Big Sister Silje, and she would use Kuya Victor because that’s polite. (Incidentally, repeated syllables for nicknames are common among Filipinos — which is what Lulu has, since her full first name is Luella. Silje will probably be Yayang because the je in her name is pronounced as ya, and adding the ng is a thing too.)
• susmaryosep - An exclamation, like “oh my gosh” or “holy sh*t,” derived from the Spanish/Filipino equivalent names of… you guessed it, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Hesus, Maria, Jose. Some will even cross themselves while saying that, which is ironic given that you’re not supposed to use their names in vain and all that.

And a few other things:

• tricycle - A vehicle comprised of a motorcycle and a sidecar, commonly used outside urban areas. Like jeepneys, tricycles were created from the military vehicles abandoned after WW2. Can seat as many people as needed, because what is personal space? (Can you imagine Hodr’s predicament now? The dude’s a six-footer, and don’t be deceived by everyone saying “he’s smaller than the average Aesir” - he is, in fact, built like Captain America.)
• amusement parks - Enchanted Kingdom (or simply “EK”) is a popular theme park in Laguna, which is the closest we have to Universal Studios or Disneyland. There’s also Star City in Pasay. The theme park you’ll find in the book, Enchanted City, is… yep, a mashup of the two, and fictionally located right next to EK in homage to the fact that Filipino businesses will set themselves up right next to each other because that’s just how it is to do business. And let’s not forget the imitations, and the punny shop names, such as:

• Mt. Makiling - A famous volcano, though inactive, located in the provinces of Laguna and Batangas. It is sacred to many pilgrims and widely believed to be the home of Maria Makiling, a diwata (nature spirit) and the guardian of the mountain. (While Maria’s last name was never mentioned in the book, our Filipino readers immediately knew who she was!)

Now you see how fun this was for me 😂 (And if you still need the direct translations of the dialogue, just comment on this post or send me a reply and I’ll be more than happy to send them your way.)

That said, please enjoy a free review e-copy of Monster Ridge, and when you're ready for the sequel, just let me know and I'll send that over too! You can also add it to your TBR on Goodreads or just check out the reviews ✨

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.