Written by Anna Wheeler

“Three years ago, Ben’s beloved friend and tutor Jason died in mysterious circumstances. And Ben begins to wonder if his old friend Hobie had something to do with it…” (cover blurb for The Other Life)

The Other Life by Julia Gray is about a boy named Ben who starts seeing weird occurrences around him, both in the back of his mind and all around him after his father accidentally hits him in the face with a baseball bat. He starts getting really bad headaches as well. 

Just after this whole situation happened, he meets a bully called Hobie, whom he befriends. Hobie is a ruthless bully who enjoys seeing others in deep dread and annoyance. When Ben first arrives at the new school, Hobie barely notices him. However, this changes when there is a study about philosophy and other similar topics, where Ben explains every single thing he knows about Norse Gods. Hobie and Ben study philosophy together and are both very into writing when they first meet. The book explains how they both enjoy writing about their life and writing about some imagination theme. Hobie, seeing this, thinks it is interesting, and decides to investigate further. He becomes Ben’s friend to learn more about this and use him.   

I would definitely recommend this book to my peers who like thrillers and humor. The second I got to the first word, I was hooked. I loved the mention of Norse gods, and how no one but Ben could see them. Until…

My favorite character is probably Ben because he’s totally misunderstood. He’s seen as this puny poor kid, but really, he’s in contact with some of the most powerful ‘beings’ on the planet. 

What I like about the start is that it brings up the backstory with Ben and Hobie, whilst also giving small chapters of Hobie’s diary from the past. One part that really shocked me was when Zara, Hobie’s sister, reaches out to Ben saying that she is hearing and seeing things. This led me to think that Ben wasn’t the only one who could see the Norse gods, but Zara could too.

One connection that I made was the mention of the Norse gods. This book helped me understand more about them since all the Norse gods that I knew before were just Thor and Loki from the Marvel movies.

My favorite Norse god is probably Hati, the wolf who chases the moon across the sky each night, hoping to devour it and plunge the night into eternal darkness. Ben can’t talk to him or his brother Skøll because they’re always up in the sky circling the sun and moon, their mouths wide open in the hopes of plunging the land into eternal darkness for all living forms. 

I think this old Norse poem from the book is really beautiful because it shows how life was back in the Norse lands. :

“The sun grows dark,

Earth sinks into the sea,

The glittering stars,

Glide from the sky.

The smoke- reek rages,Reddening fire,

The high heat licks,

The Heavens itself.”

This poem refers to the time when Norse world collapsed, since one of the main Gods was murdered by the god of mischief, Loki. In short, the poem describes the last moments on the Norse lands.