Customer Reviews

Haakon, Book 1: The Golden Ax

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I've read five books that prominently displayed Viking Warriors. They were the Nurlingas Duology- Sword of the Nurlingas; Sword of Poyana, by Gerald Earl Bailey and Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey and Marauders of Gor by John Norman. Haakon: The Golden Ax is by far the best of the bunch.

The character Haakon has the honor of King Arthur, the fierceness of Ivar Forkbeard along with the swordsmanship of Tarl Cabot. He is a man that is ruthless to his enemies and kind and generous to his friends. Yet despite this he is a man willing to show mercy to those who still posess honor. That is a trait that is sorely lacking in the heroes of today's Fantasy.

SPOILER ALERT

Haakon and his crew encounter an enemy vessel that pretends to be friends but attacks them instead. They overcome the assault and take the vessel and the crew prisoner. Haakon befriends the rogues after they swear fealty to him and they raid a common enemy and loot the castle in Southern England. Haakon also gains booty of another sort-- a beautiful woman named Rosamund. They become lovers and later in the story Rosamund is kidnapped in Norway and Haakon challenges his enemies to combat all the while rescuing his love from certain danger.

This is a short novel that will interest any reader of Fantasy and historical fiction. I reccomend this book and know it will be enjoyed by all who have interest in the genre. What's great is this appears to be the first book in a double duology! I can't wait to read the others.

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.

Haakon's not your typical viking. These books are pretty cheesy. Kind of like a "B" movie or a pulp western with a viking theme. I enjoyed them a lot, but they're not significant literary contributions to the genre.

The premise of the series is that Haakon is given this golden ax by Thor, and its magic guides him in situations where there's a moral conflict. Not really congruent with the whole viking concept.

Nevertheless, they're not that hard to find, and as noted in the title, a quick and fun read.

This is a very good series. I read it many years ago when it first came out. It is fast paced and seemed to be well researched as far as fitting into a historical time period. It is well worth the read if you can still get it.