History Literature / TheFrugalWizardsHandbookForSurvivingMedievalEngland

** Vikings and Norse Mythology are pretty popular now of days. This story goes out of its way to show what the Vikings were like from the perspective of [[RapePillageAndBurn their victims]].

* ActualPacifist: [[GoodShepherd Yazad]], who is a Zoroastrian, believes in love, peace and friendship among people and preaches to those around him -- even though life in the dimension's verion of medieval England is brutal and overall dangerous.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In classic North Mythology, Wotan is a rather dark antihero who at least is motivated by trying to stop Ragnarok. Here, Woden is an outright JerkassGod who delights in sacrifice, favors the Hordamen and takes his anger out on his own followers.
* AdaptationalHeroism: [[spoiler: In the original myth, Loki uses his Thokk persona to delay Baldur's revival until after Ragnarok. Here she uses the Thokk persona to... walk around being weird and annoying.]]

* AGodAmI: "Interdimensional wizards", people venturing into less technologically advanced dimensions, are expected to and usually do use their technology to perform feats of 'magic' to win over the locals. Sometimes they're content to be perceived as 'wizards' but the handbook mentions being regarded as a god more than once. [[spoiler: Judging from the very end of the book Woden, Logna, and the other gods also appear to be dimensional travelers that may or may not be doing the same thing.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Sefawynn is a mild case of this. While she is a kind and brave woman, she's also knowingly misleading people to get by. She can see spirits and knows the history and storytelling arts and that these ''used'' to have power, but has lost faith in the ability of skops, herself included, to work meaningful magic. She's still willing to risk her life to protect others at least. Jen, on the other hand, is a much straighter version of this.]]
* BoringButPractical: Due to the structure of the multiverse and [[ScienceDestroysMagic magic's reliance on quantum uncertainty]], magic can't be exported to Earth. Ulfric's evil plan is essentially using magic [[ParanormalGamblingAdvantage to keep winning the lottery]] (and other luck-based events) in his home dimension, and then use the money to become untouchable (and make more money).

* BorrowedBiometricBypass: At the end of the novel, [[spoiler: Ealstan cuts an arm off a mook so he can use his biometrically locked gun]].

** [[spoiler: Runian]] is ready for it as he believes this is the only way to save the reality. Logna proves him wrong.

* HiddenDisdainReveal: [[spoiler: Sefawynn claims to be devoted to Woden, but in truth she loathes him. When he helps the Hordamen launch an invasion of the entire country, she snaps and starts insulting him causing her [[NotSoPhonyPsychic Skop powers to activate]] as the wights flock to her.]]

* BoringButPractical: Ulfric's evil plan is essentially using magic [[ParanormalGamblingAdvantage to keep winning the lottery]] (and other luck-based events) in his home dimension, and then use the money to become untouchable (and make more money).

* BavarianFireDrill: Rurian finally realizes that he ''doesn't'' suck at everything, that he was actually really, really good in the arena and that Ulric disabled his plating because it was the only way to guarantee Rurian would take the fall. So Rurian decides to take advantage of the dimension's weird influence on luck and pretend he's gotten his plating back so he can psych out Quinn and Ulric and win the final fight.

* BornUnlucky: Rurian is just a crappy dude with a best friend who's better than him at everything... and doesn't like him. A plot point has him finally convincing Ryan that maybe Johnny's not a terrible person and Ryan great, but that luck can compound. Johnny gets a computer virus that makes him miss a test, that costs him a good school, that means he can't get an opportunity, etc. etc., whereas Ryan gets into school, makes a valuable connection, gets a good placement after the academy, etc. etc.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: Ryan is a heroic example. He's a good guy, but he treats his "best friend" Johnny like shit, not even bothering to call the guy by the name (or names) he's chosen for himself (John in the past, Rurian in the present). He's so convinced Johnny is a worthless piece of shit that he convinced ''Johnny'' that he was a worthless piece of shit. Overcoming this and realizing that he actually was good at some things and is a good person is Rurian's arc.

A man wakes up in the middle of a field with no memory at all as to who he is, where he is and what has led him to arrive there. And his only clues are some scattered and partially burnt pages from ''The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England''.
Soon he realizes that he has arrived in an alternative dimension, similar to medieval England, makes (grudging) friends with some of the locals and embarks on a mission to rescue a kidnapped kid -- and find his way to escape.