Customer Reviews

The King of Vinland's Saga

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The false accusation that some have leveled at this book--that of having stiff prose--is patently false. It may be a tad long for some, but I have greatly enjoyed this massive epic of the North.

I have always had a love-hate relationship with the great Norse Sagas. They are full of wonder and discovery. They can also be somewhat one-dimensional. Perhaps it is something that gets lost in translation.

Mirsky captures all the wonder and adventure of the ancient Norse landscape while at the same time somehow bringing to his tale of Sigtrygg to fully three dimensional life. What a great journey this tale is!

I know that my enthusiasm for this book will no doubt be taken with a grain of salt by those predisposed to overlook of Norse literature as a regional oddity. Such a dismissive view would be a crime. It would be like never reading Tolkien because one does not enjoy books with dragons and elves.

Is Mirsky a new Tolkien? No. And I doubt he has ever intended to be. Is he a very good writer who has made an exceptional book? Yes. And you should read it.

I give The King of Vinland's Saga my heartfelt recommendation.

I enjoyed the book even more the second time around! The King of Vinland's Saga is fiction about a subject difficult to research, it is based on scant record and few viking runes left behind by the Norse. However Stuart Mirsky has seamlessly filled in the historical record with a colorful and knowledgeble imagination! Stuart has crafted a saga of adventure and intrigue, even of unrequited love that alas even an ole macho like meself could handle! A drifting together and gathering of a small group of down and out n'er-do-wells, political refugee's from King Harald, and incorrigibles have Norseman sailing west from an overcrowded Greenland. There is little land available in Greenland to farm and therefore little wealth to be had for those without. No land, no farm, no status. Status was above all of vital importance to a norseman for status was power. Those without status were looked down upon by the 'haves' and treated not much better than the clan goats. However they see a way out by voyaging to a new land, ostensibly to claim the heroes inheritance, Leif Ericksons lost colony in Vinland, America. The personalities in this saga are distinctly individual, they are alive and vibrant. They're just like ... us. You know, not every norseman was at all eager to go on what they thought was a fools errand, and some that went did so just to keep a step ahead of viking justice. But what makes fictional history and this book fun for me is this ... that the story is alogether plausible! It is written in a style that that seems to have a thrumming rhythm, almost lyrical at times and is written in syntax that is appropriate to the Norse and that period of history. I found myself being drawn deeply into the tale every time I settled in to read, angering at the injustice inflicted on hero Sigtrygg, the betrayals and lies by his arrogant, treacherous kinsmen. To me Sigtrygg is the Clint Eastwood of the Norse, but he keeps a cool head. If it were me in his place I'd of been lopping off heads left and right! Each evening when I opened the book I became a part of the tale, when I become part of the story I know I am reading a superb work by a superb author.

I was initially drawn to the novel because Mr. Mirsky asked that I review it several years ago. Lack of time prevented me from doing so at the time but after reading it once again I made it a point to review. I was also drawn to the book because I had yet to read any substantive account of real or surmised Norse interaction with 'skraelings', American Indians, a subject barely recorded and virtually ignored. Inasmuch as I am a student of history and American native tribes in particular, I was very interested in Mr. Mirsky's treatment of two diverse cultures colliding unexpectedly, how the skraelings may have reacted to these rather arrogant, burly giants with beards coming from the sea. The book passages and events involving viking prejudice and treatment of the stone-age skraelings and the skraelings subsequent response rang true to what I know of viking culture, native indian culture, beliefs, and history of the time. Also, the premise that the Norse may have penetrated much farther inland in America than previously thought is not just wild speculation; ancient stone forts have been discovered as far inland as Kentucky, implements discovered far inland not of indian technology, and blue-eyed indians were a fact. In my view it is more credible that such is derived from a culture we absolutely can prove came to America, the vikings, than other theories that have been advanced.

For the history buff and adventure-minded this book is a keeper for the ole bookcase, and even though it is a large volume, an intimidating volume, the tale still ends much too soon. Thanks Stuart!

Stuart Mirsky is one heck of a story-teller. He manages to replicate an archaic verbal tradition, while hooking us into an incredible action/adventure involving characters we genuinely come to care about.

The story line involves Greenlanders, descendents of Eirik the Red who live in a less swashbuckling time than either Eirik or his famous son Leif. The main character is a young man named Sigtrygg. If Sigtrygg's paternity is unquestioned (he's a grandson of Leif Eirikson) his uncertain maternal blood makes him a second class citizen in his Eiriksfjord clan. He strikes a deal with his snooty uncles that will give him Leif's holdings in the by then almost mythical land of Vinland, to the west across the great sea, if he will simply go away and renounce his Greenland inheritance.

The relationships and customs and ways of dealing with one-another of the Norse cultures provide a fascinating backdrop to the adventure, as does the dialogue.

This novel takes place in the now-accepted-as-historical pre-Columbian era of Norse exploration and settlement in North America. Seldom or never have I read a true-to-voice saga of this imaginative quality. Stuart Mirsky has a magic touch with the saga style, and the ability to create fiction that could be history. The most striking feature of the book is, oddly enough, character development. Normally in a saga, the characters tend to be icons almost. Mirsky makes them live and breathe and never once departs from the archaic style. And yet the heroism of deeds and adventures that characterizes this genre is there in spades. Don't miss this richly endowed story.

This is a marvellous book! Mirsky has captured not only the story-line, but the prose style of the Old Icelandic sagas, which I have read and translated into both English and German: the sentences which begin in indirect discourse and then shift into direct quotes, the dry, understated prose style, the frequent citing of proverbs. . .
It is almost as if the author has found an previously unknown saga squirreled away in a Minnesota attic and translated it into vivid modern English. If you have any doubts about the vitality of the narrative, read the account of the fight against the hostile Skraelings, pp. 339-378. It's hard to believe that this is not some real occurrence told by a skald who accompanied the Icelanders on their epic voyage.
Buy and read this book!

Let me say up front, no one sent me any email asking me to buy or review this book. I'm not related to the author. This is my honest opinion, given on my own. According to the back cover, The King of Vinland Saga, self-published and self-promoted, was written so the author could quit his political job. I mention this only because after reading the five-star reviews and plowing through the book, I wonder if I haven't been had. The great talent may lie more in its relentless promotion than in the writing. Some readers have found the prose convoluted and difficult, others defend it as being a perfect imitation of the Saga style. I agree the narration is somewhat goofy at times, and it can become tiresome. I've read most, maybe all, of the Sagas in translation, and chunks of some in Old Icelandic, and hope no one is kept from reading them by believing they're like this. The real Saga style is much tighter, the stories themselves better. The book is absolutely nothing like Dickens or Robert Louis Stevenson. It's not like Tolkien. It's an average, modern, formulaic adventure/historical yarn, no more "authentic" than any other, written in a contrived, odd pseudo-Saga style that sometimes gets in the way of the story. It's okay, but not in the same adventure-tale league as "The Viking" by Edison Marshall or half so real as "The Long Ships" by Frans G. Bengtsson.

I LOVED THIS BOOK - IT'S A MUST READ. My son recommended it to me. I didn't want to read it.because it's subject, the Vikings, is something I didn't think I'd be interested in at all. But I read it because he recommended it so highly, I figured I would give it a try. And am I glad I did.
This is a book written by a man, not exclusively for men but from a man's point of view. That is the only explanation that I can give to his detailed description of certain sections such as their tree cutting for weapons. But it also explains how you can get into our hero Sigtrygg's skin and truly feel all the emotions that run through his veins. This book has so much that it would please any reader - man or woman. How Mirsky captured the dialogue, I really cannot imagine. He makes you feel as if you are living then, listening to conversations that are really taking place.
This is a rugged adventure story, a story of discovery and survival and raw human emotions.
I loved how he drew and developed his characters and story line. It draws you in at the very beginning, not like some books that you have to read a while to get the feel. You feel as if you are there with them, feeling all their emotions. And there are plenty of emotions for our hero Sigtrygg to contend with. There is jealousy, greed, lust, desire, love, friendship, respect, loyalty, and fear. I could go on and on, but this book is a MUST.
It's basic story is well-known, the "disinherited knight" returns to claim his inheritance and must undertake an unexpected adventure of the to get his due. But he is blocked at every turn by hostile kinsmen. . In the process, our "knight" falls in love with two women and must make a choice between them that will determine what he wins and keeps and who he will finally be.
The characters come alive for us like real people, giving them a kind of freshness and immediacy. The medieval Norse backdrop and the North American experience of exploration that is recounted seem entirely authentic.
He combines it with tight and swiftly paced language, so that one is left with an experience of genuine adventure in far off times and places.
The plot seems a perfectly natural outgrowth of the characters and events that really led the Vikings to our American shores when others were still huddling in their huts and castles in old Europe.
Not only was I hardly able to put the book down I THINK IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE!

The Norse sagas have long been sadly neglected as a source of inspiration for modern authors. Fortunately, Stuart Mirsky has taken up the challenge, and he succeeds admirably. In "The King Of Vinland's Saga", he has created a book which is a triumph of style, displays solid historical knowledge, and - most importantly - works as a story.

Mirsky's lean and spare prose nicely evokes the style of the Sagas. The language has a distinct rythym, as definite and compelling as the oarstrokes which propel his heroes across uncharted waters to the land they seek. Mirsky's prose has the feel of poetry, without ever a hint of slipping towards the purple. Reading, one can easily imagine this tale being told over long winter nights around a smoky fire.

In this story - as in the Norse world itself - actions speak far louder than words. Mirsky spends very little time exploring the thoughts of his characters. Instead, the reader is left to deduce their motives by reading how they speak and act. This is again true to the style of the sagas, which were declarations of deeds, and for the most part the choice serves the story well. My only complaint is that it also serves to make the characters somewhat unapproachable. I consequently often found it difficult to identify with Mirsky's heroes or to develop sympathy with them, despite their travails and adventures. That quibble aside, the story is thrilling one, full of suspense, courage, betrayal, harrowing battles, and great deeds. As in all epics, large consequences have small beginnings, and the choices made early will ultimately sweep the reader along to a conclusion both surprising and inevitable.

The story has a wonderful sense of time and place, and every aspect of Norse life described feels authentic. Of particular interest to me were the seemingly endless wranglings within the legal system, where law and justice are so intertwined with influence, social standing and personal honor as to be inextricable. Pay special attention to the concept of compensation, which (in theory) extends even to crimes such as murder, and yet exists alongside the settling of disputes through armed combat. Other aspects of historical detail ring equally true, from the practicalities of navigation and ship-building to the Norsemen's widely varied dealings with the native Skraelings (which range from war to marriage). Though the charcters often speak in the elevated language of the sagas, the reader never forgets that these are earthy, practical men, determined to survive and prosper.

(And, on a personal note, an extra tip of the cap to the author for the distinction - subtle, but always there - that the terms "Norseman" and "Viking" are *not* synonymous!)

Mirsky deserves all praise for creating such a distinctive story, doubly when one considers that this is his very first book. These heroes are hard men in a hard world, where strength equals justice and honor is valued above gold. Hopefully, with with the recent resurgence of interest in Norse history and culture, people will seek out and read this fascinating novel, because it deserves to be read. I can't remember reading any other book which is quite like it.

Mr. Mirsky read my reviews of several other historical books and emailed me to see if I would read his book. I was honored by his request and happy to do so for I really like historical fiction.

This book is written with total integrity of tone and style of communication. It is stark and very straight forward which I appreciated for the author did not spoil the saga with modern styles of speech or cant. Neither does he get trite or phony as he describes events of that time and place for which he deserves many accolades in my opinion.

I enjoyed learning about the little known geography of Greenland and its inhabitants and their greedy territorality which is a powerful force in this saga. Sigtrygg, the "hero" is a descendant of Leif Eiriksson. He has to endure one impossible task after another to win his true inheritance which was stolen from his father, Thorgils, and himself by other Leifssons in Greenland. Sigtrygg faces rejection by his kinsmen because he is the illegitimate son of an illegitimate son of Leif Eiriksson from a summer encounter with a woman from the Hebrides. Thorgils finds himself unable to live the life of a farmer in Greenland, and instead spends his life roaming the ice and hunting for his livelihood as well as fathering a son with a native woman. Sigtrygg, is both sympathetic, mule headed, heroic and definitely a leader of men. Poor guy, if only he could overcome his appalling bad luck.

This fascinating story centers around Sigtrygg's conquest of a far distant island called Vinland originally discovered by Leif Eirickson. He trades Thorgil's farm with his greedy kinsmen for Vinland which is held in little value by the other Leifssons. Upon arrival Sigtrygg finds that he and his companions must engage the support of one group of natives in order to live there compatibly. However, during the course of his effort he is forced to battle with the native king of Vinland who is a vicious warrior and slaver. When he returns to Leif Eiricksson's houses on the coast of Vinland he discovers that he has been invaded by the arrival of his "kin" bent on retribution for alleged grievances over his departure from Greenland who are there to settle accounts according to their wishes and to take away his ship and to harvest riches from the land, as well as to claim his property and homes there for themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I found the old viking Vragi to be one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters of the story. The author has a fine way of making one care about his characters which is a real treat for the reader.

This is a historical novel about Norse exploration of North America in approximately 900 A. D. It is a subject I had not previously seen fictionalized and found it to be quite interesting.

It is the story of Sigtrygg, the bastard grandson of Leif Eiriksson, who we first encounter living in Greenland. His uncles, Leif's legitimate sons, attempt to cheat him out of his Greenland inheritance by offering him a ship and the rights to Leif's "Vinland" discovery (Newfoundland, though not mentioned), in exchange. Sigtrygg agrees, only to be swindled again when the uncles realize that the value of Vinland may be higher than they realized. Sigtrygg, however, secretly boards the ship and slips away from them, and after a short sea battle is able to begin his journey to and adventures in North America.

There they encounter the natives, or Skraelings, and after a little diplomacy and a lot of heavy fighting, Sigtrygg is made their king. He takes a wife. But before things get too domestic another boatload of Vikings show up--to reclaim Vinland--and once again, Sigtrygg has his hands full.

If this sounds like a pretty exciting plot, you are right. It is handled well: the narrative flows smoothly and the dramatic tension is skillfully sustained; the characters are well-drawn and believable; and I also very much appreciated the style, which is somehow evocative of Norse language. My criticism of the novel, though, is that it is not terribly rich in historical detail. For example, early in the novel, Sigtrygg sails to a different fjord to recruit a crew for his ship. He comes upon a farm, and notices that it is in need of a lot of work. I was immediately intrigued by this. Hmm, a farm, in 10th century Greenland. What must that have been like? But we never really find out, despite the fact that he ends up spending the winter there. This farm intrigue deepens when we find out later in the chapter that ale is a highly prized import, as "grain" cannot be grown in that part of Greenland.

Late in the novel the second group of Vikings is set to depart from Vinland on their ship, now laden with goods. But what goods? Yes, timber is mentioned early, but we never see this group chopping trees. Early North America, of course, was noted for its riches in fur and fish as well, but these Vikings didn't trade with anybody and we never see them fish either, so it is frustratingly unclear what they are taking out with them.

The most serious omission is the author's failure to account often enough for the food and water necessary to the survival of these explorers. Remember, they fled Greenland without having had a chance to provision the ship. He does make mention of them coming to an island and slaughtering seals there, and then he mentions coming to another island which was teeming with game. But that's about all we hear of it before they get to Vinland, and it's not like a restaurant was waiting for them there, either. This needs a lot more attention. In every account I have ever read of exploration in the American wilderness--or exploration anywhere, for that matter--food and water were always the number-one, chief, overwhelming concern.

This failure is most egregious when he recounts a battle between three Vikings, led by Sigtrygg, and practically an entire Skraeling town. The Greenlanders hack and slash their way to the wall, hack and slash a breach in the wall, hack and slash their way out of the breach, then run for miles while being chased. They sleep on the cold ground that night, are chased again the following day, then have another brutal fight when they are finally cornered. That they could accomplish this feat--with their steel and their size and their strength--is believable. What is not believable is that they could do so without water or food over this extended period of physical exertion.

Having said that, though, I must stress that this is nevertheless a very enjoyable adventure tale and a good, well-written novel. However, for it to be considered a great novel, or even a very good novel, much more attention needs to be paid to detail.

Norse sagas have enthralled many generations. The image of Vikings in their longships sailing along the shores of North America 500 years before Columbus has always been a romantic one. Names from history class like Bjarni Herjolfsson, Eric the Red, and Leif the Lucky often stuck long after more relevant ones had been forgotten. But while there is archeological evidence to support the claims of these old sagas, it has always been something of a mystery as to why these fierce Norsemen, who terrorized western Europe for generations, were never able to establish themselves in North America.

In the King of Vinland's Saga, Stuart Mirsky provides a very plausible explanation wrapped up in a thundering adventure story. The King of Vinland's Saga is a modern novel told in the style of the Norse sagas. Mirsky cleverly relates the action without injecting a lot of character analysis into the novel. However, we get to understand the characters through their speech and actions. In order to achieve depth in his characters, Mirsky requires a book that is over 600 pages in length. At first, I thought the novel would prove too long for the action in it. However, as the novel progresses, the reader begins to get a full understanding of the depth of the characters and their relationships to each other, so the length was not as much of a problem as I'd initially expected. The novel is constructed like a concerto: in three movements, each with its own themes. Yet there is a thread which binds all three together. Each movement builds to its own climax and the intensity of each movement is greater than the one preceding it. Perhaps the intensity is greater because the reader cares more about the characters at page 600 than at page 150.Whatever the cause, Mirsky has successfully constructed the novel to build to what is its inevitable conclusion.

While The King of Vinland's Saga is clearly a Norse epic, it has, within it, the very Greek idea of hubris. Its characters all have fatal flaws that draw them into conflicts, most of which, to modern eyes, would seem unnecessary and avoidable. Yet, though the characters are flawed, the values and the society in which they live are flawed more seriously. Their code of life and the fateful decisions they make based on the values implied in this code lead them inexorably towards tragic confrontations. Perhaps Mirsky was influenced as much by Thomas Hardy as the Ring of the Niebelungs. On a larger scale, we get to understand why the Norsemen did not dominate Europe and establish lasting colonies in North America. There are probably a number of reasons for their decline: their Greenland colonies were lost when the weather got colder, Christianity was incompatible with a life of conquest and bloodshed, and their victims got better at resisting (Alfred the Great). However, the inadequacy of their justice system really stands out in The King of Vinland's Saga. Violations of the law even killing, required compensation in property. Ultimately, this was unsatisfying to victims. Putting a market value on human lives strikes modern readers, if not torte lawyers, as immoral. It is also easy to see how an unsatisfied victim would want revenge and how one killing could lead to a series of revenge killings, perhaps on an increasing scale. The Norsemen could not work together for an extended period of time without a better system of justice.

Mirsky does explore several aspects of life in Greenland and North America as it might have been 1000 years ago and does it convincingly. For the most part he does not use "Dances with Wolves" political correctness in dealing with the Skraelings. Some aspects of the Skraeling culture are better than the Norse culture but it's not universal. I did have a few small bones to pick with him, however. I have known several descendants of the Skraelings and they are quite a bit bigger than Mirsky's Skraelings. Also, his description of Vinland leads me to believe that it's further south than archeological evidence suggests. And I didn't get a real sense of where the Norse colonies in Greenland were located geographically until after the end of the first section. However, these are minor quibbles in view of Mirsky's ambitious efforts. I hope this novel is successful but that it doesn't encourage a raft of successors. In one novel, Mirsky has said all that needs saying.