Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful viking adventure!, August 4, 2000
The author of numerous romance-adventures in the 19th century tradition, Haggard turned his hand, at least once, to the older saga tradition of the northern peoples. The result may well have been his best work. Skillfully crafted, this tale proceeds at breakneck pace to unfold the saga-like adventures of the stout Icelandic yeoman, Eric Thorgrimurs' son (surnamed 'Brighteyes' for his most notable trait), as he struggles to win the hand of his beloved, Gudruda the Fair, despite the vigorous opposition of her half-sister, Swanhild the Fatherless (who seeks Eric for her own). Caught between these two beautiful women and faced with the need to overcome the opposition of Gudruda's father, Asmund the Priest (not the Christian sort) and his son, the greedy Bjorn (who would prefer to marry his sister off to a wealthy chieftain in lieu of a liaison with the farmer's son Eric), our hero must prove himself worthy of his destined bride while dodging the snares of those who would unman him. Conspiring with her mysterious mother, Groa the witchwife, Swanhild arranges to have Ospakar Blacktooth, a northern chieftain from Swinefells, pay Asmund's household a visit in order to see and woo Gudruda for himself. This Ospakar and Eric become immediate foes for Ospakar is as ugly and vile as Eric is handsome and honorable. And the tale only accelerates from here. From death-defying feats of derring-do to duels between deadly foemen to treachery and mayhem in blinding blizzards and on the high seas, this is an adventure which, once having grabbed you, will not let you go. Written in an archaic prose, mirroring the old nineteenth century translations of the original Icelandic sagas, and intended to simulate the voice of the old sagas themselves, the power of this narrative is compelling and unrelenting. And yet it is less exhausting than exhilirating as it unfolds the tale of Eric and the two women who loved him -- no matter what the cost. If the tale has a flaw at all it is that the characters are not real in any sense of that word but only larger-than-life actors who strut about upon the stage which Haggard has drawn for us here. At the same time the sensibility offered is one of pure and unmitigated adventure. But it's great fun and marvelous escapist fare. A must for lovers of Norse and viking times.
SWM
The King of Vinland's Saga
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rousing derring-do and romance in Icelandic Saga style, November 29, 1999
A must for all Haggard fans, "Eric Brighteyes" is strongly recommended to anyone who enjoys a great tale of heroic endeavour. Perhaps the fastest-paced of all Haggard's many novels, it races from one highspot to another with manly verve and vivid scene-setting. The stalwart Eric and his "thrall" Skallagrim fight back to back against a horde of foes, while two beautiful women vie for Eric's love. The eerie battle at sea is an exciting read in itself, to say nothing of all the rest. Eric is one of the most virile of Haggard's heroes and, like so many of them, is susceptible to earthly temptations and ambitions---unlike Haggard's too often impossibly spiritual females. The reader familiar with Haggard's favourite "archetypes" will recognize in Eric, Skallagrim, Gudruda the Fair, and the wicked Swanhilde the traits of a cast of characters immortalized under other names, in other times and places, in other titles of his famous canon. "Eric Brighteyes" is also distinguished by an interesting author's preface that furnishes some insight into Haggard's imaginative overlay of "high romance" and occult themes on what, in a writer of less lively invention, might have been just a simple adventure story. Both heroes and villains come on strong with splendid confrontational dialogue before coming to blows. A feast for escapists of all ages! Long may it remain in print.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A magnificent melding of saga and old style "romance"., June 4, 1997
By A Customer
The author of numerous romance-adventures in the 19th century
tradition, Haggard turned his hand, at least once, to the older saga
tradition of the northern peoples. The result may well have been his
best work. Skillfully crafted, this tale proceeds at breakneck pace to
unfold the saga-like adventures of the stout Icelandic yeoman, Eric
Thorgrimurs' son (surnamed "Brighteyes" for his most notable
trait), as he struggles to win the hand of his beloved, Gudruda the
Fair, despite the vigorous opposition of her half-sister, Swanhild the
Fatherless (who seeks Eric for her own). Caught between these two
beautiful women and faced with the need to overcome the opposition of
Gudruda's father, Asmund the Priest (not the Christian sort) and his
son, the greedy Bjorn (who would prefer to marry his sister off to a
wealthy chieftain in lieu of a liaison with the farmer's son Eric),
our hero must prove himself worthy of his destined bride while dodging
the snares of those who would unman him. Conspiring with her
mysterious mother, Groa the witchwife, Swanhild arranges to have
Ospakar Blacktooth, a northern chieftain from Swinefells, pay Asmund's
household a visit in order to see and woo Gudruda for himself. This
Ospakar and Eric become immediate foes for Ospakar is as ugly and vile
as Eric is handsome and honorable. In an intial conflict between them, Eric outwrestles Ospakar, winning his magic sword from him, despite
the evil workings of Groa to bring about Eric's defeat. In this
manner, Eric at last wins over the reluctant Asmund, who now promises
him his daughter. But in the process Eric incurs the jealousy of Bjorn
who resents his successes as much as he does the possibility that this
bright but impoverished hero will win his sister's hand. The lost
sword proves a sore point for Ospakar as well who tries to regain it
via a dastardly ambush, but Eric and his new found companion,
Skallagrim Lambstail, a former berserker and thief who has himself
been the victim of Ospakar's ill-doings, overcome the larger force
arrayed against them, wounding Ospakar and killing some others to
boot. As a result, Eric must go into exile as an outlaw for three
years, after which he is to be free to return and marry Gudruda. But
Swanhild, in a pique at how things have turned out, contrives to kill
Gudruda. Discovered in this perfidy, she is married off against her
will to a visiting Orkney Earl, Atli the Good, who is well on in years
and sent off with him to the Orkneys. Eric again reveals his warlike
talents in another ambush by Ospakar's minions, this time at sea, but
is finally taken captive with Skallagrim due to the dastardliness of Eric's own first mate. Yet Eric is able to free himself when warned of
the impending treachery of his captors by the sorcerous intervention
of Swanhild who has continued to monitor his progress from her unhappy
abode in Atli's hall. Eric goes on to a distinguished career in the
service of the English King Edmund but refuses all of that king's
urgings to remain with him at the royal court once his three year
outlawry is up. Turning his back on the royal largesse (including a
lovely royal bride), Eric takes ship to Iceland on a road which must
take them past the Orkney Islands. Now Swanhild the witchwife of Atli,
perceiving Eric's return raises a storm to overthrow his ship,
beaching him on the very island where Atli has his hall. Atli is
delighted at the arrival of such a heroic guest but Swanhild contrives
to have Eric to herself while Atli and his men are away and she soon
tempts and seduces this paragon among vikings, using a love draught of
her own concoction. In the end, Eric is distraught to realize that he
has betrayed his beloved Gudruda and flees from Swanhild's embrace --
but too late, for she has betrayed him to Atli in revenge for his
desertion of her. And she has taken a clipping of Eric's fine golden
hair to send to her half-sister, together with a token that only Eric could have had. Gudruda, on receiving this and on hearing the lying
tale Swanhild has concocted to go with it, angrily vows to break her
engagement to Eric and agrees to wed Ospakar instead. Eric thereafter
arrives in Iceland, a scorned man (for having betrayed and finally
killed Atli his host in the aftermath of his indiscretion with
Swanhild) only to learn of Gudruda's plans to wed Ospakar. He makes
his way to Asmund's hall (though that viking worthy has also now
passed on to his reward) on the eve of the much heralded wedding and,
in a fierce confrontation, reveals the truth of their betrayal to
Gudruda. The result is more bloodshed including the death of the
miscreant groom Ospakar and of Bjorn Asmundsson. But Swanhild is also
present and with Ospakar's son Gizur she contrives to deny Eric and
Gudruda their final happiness, even now. Gudruda dreams a dream of
Odin the All-Father and in it he grants her one night of pleasure with
her beloved before taking this hero for his own. Thereafter and with
the momentary cessation of the killing, Eric and Gudruda wed. But in
the morning they are attacked while still asleep, for Swanhild
secretly guides Gizur into their bedchamber and directs his hand to
the killing of Eric. But it is to Gudruda's fair head she guides the sword which Gizur holds and not to Eric's so that when Eric wakes he
finds his beloved dead in his arms. Beside himself with grief, Eric
buries his new bride and now Gizur leads his followers and the men
whom Swanhild has brought with her from the Orkneys against Eric and
Skallagrim. To make their final stand, these two flee together to the
nearby heights. And there they turn to face their foes in a bloody
scene worthy of the gotterdammerung itself. Here Eric and Skallagrim
cut down their enemies in one last orgy of killing and vengeful
recriminations and, in his own last dying moments, Eric seizes Gizur
and plunges with him over the cliff to their common doom. In the end
only Swanhild is left to supervise the funeral arrangements on board
the viking ship she has selected for this purpose and to sing the
death song, as she and the bodies of Eric and his faithful servant
Skallagrim burn on a pyre of those men they have slain between
them. Haggard wrote his tale with the romanticist's flair, making an
artist's use of Shakespeare's English to evoke the antique flavor of
these events, and giving full rein to his love for the occult --
though such rein is rarely encountered in the real sagas
themselves. Nor are the sagas usually so tightly drawn as this, while they are frequently a great deal more realistic in their portrayal of
people and the motives which drive them. If there is criticism to be
levied here it's that the tale, itself, is much too pat and the
characters, though sharply drawn, are not real folk in any normal
sense of that word -- they are players only who never breathe the
breath of real life, or even briefly fool us that they do, albeit they
are larger than life actors with parts to play in a whopping good
tale. By Stuart W. Mirsky (mirsky@ix.netcom.com).
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