Godiva (Viking Sagas) [Hardcover]

ROSE DAVID (Author)

Book Description

Series: Viking Sagas | Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Bent on conquest, King Canute and his Viking legions invade England in 1016, cutting a bloody path across the peaceful countryside. In an overwhelming show of force, Canute, the feared dragon king, destroys the town of Coventry, and a young girl watches as her once idyllic life is turned into a deadly nightmare. Ten years later, the young girl has grown into the beautiful Lady Godiva. In the midst of Canute's quiet empire, she has managed to rebuild her life and town and even find love. But the dragon king rises once more and threatens to devour her beloved Coventry. Can she save her people without betraying her faith and losing her very soul?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A predictable plot and weak characterizations mar this debut novel from Rose, a screenwriter. When the Danish warrior Canute attacks England in 1016, 13-year-old Godiva watches in horror as her village of Coventry is destroyed. Eleven years later, she tries to save Coventry from King Canute's unfair taxes by donating her own jewels, and then reaps the king's rage at her defiance. In this novel, unlike the legend, it is the king and not Godiva's husband who promises to abolish the tax if she rides naked through Coventry. The story is further embellished with a pagan-Christian twist: Godiva, a Christian, must dishonor herself by riding during a pagan fertility rite. Rose delivers solid descriptions of battles and scenery, but character nuance is lacking due to the author's reliance on telling over showing. (Godiva's father, for example, is introduced as "a spiritual man" who is "fair, judicious, and endlessly devoted to England.") Characters are either wholly bad or wholly good; Canute is godless and murderous, while Godiva is courageous, pious, physically lovely and kind to small animals and children. Technical problems include anachronistic dialogue, inexplicable shifts in point of view and didacticism. Although some readers may appreciate the novel's clear message that "it is worth every bit of trouble to save one life," the clunky storytelling will deflect others.
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From the Back Cover

Bent on conquest, the great Scandinavian King Canute and his Viking legions invade England in 1016, cutting a bloody path across the peaceful countryside. In an overwhelming show of force, Canute, the feared dragon king, destroys the fair town of Coventry, and a young girl is forced to watch as her once idyllic life is turned into a deadly nightmare.Ten years later, the young girl has grown into the beautiful Lady Godiva. In the midst of Canute's quiet empire, she has managed to rebuild her life and town and even find love. But the dragon king rises once more and threatens to devour her beloved Coventry. Caught in the eye of the coming storm, Godiva discovers that she alone stands between Coventry and destruction.But how much will she sacrifice? Can she save her people without betraying her faith and losing her very soul?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: Whitaker House (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883680289
• ISBN-13: 978-0883680285
• Product Dimensions: 15 x 9.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Give the guy a chance!, September 17, 2004

By 

John David Kudrick "Editor/Writer" (Level Green, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Godiva (Viking Sagas) (Hardcover)

I felt compelled to write a review of "Godiva" because of the unduly harsh words that the editors of "Publisher's Weekly" used in their own review of the book. As a professional editor myself, I agree that the book does indeed fall short in some of the areas flagged by "Publisher's Weekly" (but certainly not all of the areas, especially in regard to characterization). Having now read the work twice (once as a preview copy and now as a finished book), I am giving "Godiva" four stars for two reasons.

First, it's a great story. It has all of the elements that make for a timeless tale--actually, an EPIC tale. I found it difficult to put the book down, as the author's pacing kept me turning the pages. I also appreciated the author's sensitivity to the difficult decision that Godiva was forced to make. Mr. Rose creatively captured her crisis of conscience and did a fine job of weaving it into the fabric of the story.

My other reason for giving the book four stars is the potential I see in David Rose. Throughout "Godiva," I caught the heart of Mr. Rose, and it's easy to discern that he loves telling a good story. It's also obvious that he did his homework in regard to the background research.

Fine-tuning the mechanics of writing fiction will come as Mr. Rose learns the discipline of crafting a novel. For now, though, I'm more than happy to applaud what he's done with his first crack at tackling a novel.

Keep your eyes on the prize, Mr. Rose. I look forward to the next installment in your saga of Viking tales of yore!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book I Have Read This Year !, October 12, 2004

By 

Sarah Goldberg "Sarah Favorites" (Miami) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Godiva (Viking Sagas) (Hardcover)

I loved Godiva and it is the best book I have read this year.
The story is well written and I could not put it down. Thank you Mr. Rose for a beautifully written story about an incredible woman.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Godiva's Life & Legendary Ride!, November 15, 2004

By 

Kimberly Gelderman (Spring Lake, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Godiva (Viking Sagas) (Hardcover)

This was an excellent first novel by David Rose concerning the life of the legendary Godiva. King Canute and his Viking legions come to England to conquer but find a people that are willing to fight for what they believe in. He destroys Coventry where a young Godiva witnesses the destruction of her town and nearly her entire family and friends.

As she grows and matures into the beautiful women we've all heard of she marries her rescuer, Leofric, who becomes the Earl of Mercia and tries to have a normal life minus the violence. However, King Canute demands the "danegeld" be collected by none other than her husband and events become more and more shadowed by either protecting her village or honoring her husband.

Overall, the story was well-written but could use some polishing here and there. A few typos did not detract from the plot, however, the constant piety of the Christians, primarily Godiva, needs to be toned down. I'm sure she was a faithful Christian, however, she was not a saint that I'm aware of. I will be looking forward to reading the rest in this series which is known as The Viking Sagas.