Customer Reviews

The Saga of Beowulf

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I've never had an ear for poetry. I struggled with it in school, and still have no way of knowing good poetry from bad. Unfortunately, this failing has kept me from reading what, by all accounts, is one of the great heroic epics of all time - Beowulf. That's why I jumped at the chance to try out R. Scot Johns' novelization of Beowulf, appropriately titled The Saga of Beowulf.

Almost immediately into this hefty tome (nearly 600 pages of small text) I started to hear a wizened bard acting as my internal narrator, regaling me with tales of the (literally) larger than life warrior, his seemingly impossible quest, and the love he left behind. Soon enough I came to care about his companions as well, and the events that propelled and shaped them. Johns's storytelling is poetic in its own way, and his focus on the cares and motivations of kings and peasants alike brought to mind my all-time favorite heroic fantasy author, the late David Gemmell.

From Beowulf's initial quest against the demon Grendel and the Troll-Hag that sired him, to his battles against the Swedes, to the ill-fated raids in what would become France, to the battle that cost him his life, The Saga of Beowulf unfolds like an epic Hollywood movie. I could almost see these towering Norsemen battling for land and king amidst blood and flame.

Having never read the source material, I can't attest to how faithfully it was adapted, but given the scope of this work and the author's obvious love for the original, I suspect it will please fans of the Beowulf poem. I can however, recommend The Saga of Beowulf to anyone who enjoys heroic fantasy. It's one of the finest heroic fantasy tales I've ever read, and I hope it reaches the wide audience it certainly deserves.

As for me, I think I'm going to give the original Beowulf poem a shot. Hopefully it will be easier to handle now that I know the story and love the characters.

It would be hard to find anyone in the English speaking world who has never heard of Beowulf. Most could tell you he was the hero of "some old poem" who killed "that monster, Grendel." Some younger people might have seen the comic book-like movie flaunting its digitalized special effects, but most of the population will have had to have read parts of it in school, in translation.
Not many will remember why they had to read it in school, but there's a good reason: it's the first identifiable work of literature written in English. The problem is it must be read in translation (unless one is a graduate student in English, perhaps) because it was the language spoken when part of the Germanic languages split off and became modern English. We call that founding language Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Supposedly, the verses in which the Beowulf story is told constitute very powerful poetry, but very few are able to appreciate it today. It takes work to pick out a single understandable word in two or three lines of verse, and a semester or two of college-level study to get comfortable with.
The story itself, of the hero Beowulf saving a neighboring tribe of Danes from the horrible Grendel, and later from his equally horrible mother, ultimately becoming king of his own tribe, the Geats, and dying while saving them from a ferocious fire dragon, is a dramatic one. But in addition to the language problem, the tale is made even harder to appreciate by virtue of apparently being written down by two different people hundreds of years after Beowulf lived, by the fragments of the manuscript which have disappeared, and by its being compressed possibly for purposes of recitation.
All this is by way of saying that there is a terrific story here, but how to make it accessible to today's typical readers? Author R. Scot Johns has the answer: spend ten years researching the poem and the historical documents of the era, and weave it all into a novel, a novel of 630 pages. The result of this impressive scholarship is a labor of love: an astoundingly readable, satisfyingly meaty historical tale of fierce battles, of intricate clan ties and loyalty, of Norse folklore, and of characters who develop over time to stand as distinct personalities that were only dimly glimpsed in the ancient version.
As to how Mr. Johns managed all this, he has a website (fantasycastlebooks) with extensive and interesting author's notes laying out the documents and the manner of stitching them into one continuous narrative. The book itself has glossaries of names and places, and a map of ancient Scandanavia, but these are helpful only when needed and do not intrude on the continuity of the story. There are no footnotes, for example.
One might reasonably ask, "What possible prose style would suit ancient poetry rendered into a modern novel?" Mr. John's solution seems to be rather a hybrid: in places he uses what feels like Old Norse hyperbole, and in others a more sensitively observed, human-scaled style. Since the original story featured heroic deeds of strong, brave men with large swords, chain mail, and horns on their helmets fighting monsters with mythic abilities, exaggeration is only fitting, and faithful to the original. In other places, when warranted, the style eases into a more comfortable, conventional narrative, with few flights of bellicose elaboration. It retains the feel of an ancient story, yet can be enjoyed comfortably and without rescanning the lines.
As a reviewer of books, I'm inclined to want to march right through a text. At the same time, I found myself enjoying the story and wishing to slow down and immerse myself in it. Torn between these two desires, I noted that Grendel and his mother had been dealt with by the halfway point. What, I asked myself, could possibly fill the rest of the pages?
To my surprise, I found I enjoyed the second half even more than the first, with accounts of battles with normal humans (well, ancient Swedes, anyway), an ill-advised raid into Frankish territory, sea voyages, Frankish politics and military maneuvers, the puzzle of Roman ruins, struggles over kingly succession and tribal politics, courtship, and more small doses of mythology: stone-eating trolls, fearsome dwarfs, and, overseeing all, the three Fates of Norse mythology, spinning out the threads of lives, measuring and cutting them when the time comes. It's all cleanly written and edited, a few errant apostrophes notwithstanding.
Mr. Johns' version of Beowulf is a terrific bargain at its current selling price. It should appeal to, and delight, those who like the original poem, those who enjoy the sword and sorcerer/dungeons and dragons type of yarn, lovers of historical fiction, and the many readers who are tired of the same old formulas and wish for something completely different.
(Al Past is the author of the popular Distant Cousin series and writes reviews for PODBRAM.)

Beowulf has the distinction of being one of the earliest pieces of fiction in the English language. Though Old English bears little resemblance to the English that is spoken today. The Saga of Beowulf by R. Scot Johns is a novelization of the saga. This book is a satisfying way to get into the story of Beowulf. Johns has taken the story and made it accessible for the average reader.

Beowulf is a hero in a time when clans and families of the north are constantly feuding, and even the gods are worn out. He is a Geat, but sails to Daneland to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the ogre Grendel. He is also sailing because he isn't welcome at home since he failed to protect his Queen, and the King's present wife is still in love with him.

In Daneland, Beowulf finds a land ravaged by Grendel for the last twelve years. There are few men left. In this hard time the weak don't last and the wolves are circling. Yet facing Grendel is only the beginning of Beowulf's saga. There is bravery and cowardice, honesty and treachery, all of it described with richness and power.

Johns has captured the feel of the saga in his work. The story is populated by characters who are complex and tormented by their fate. There is some of the fatalism of the Norse tradition, but the heroes at their best struggle against it to shine brightly, if briefly, against the dark. This book is worth a read because it is one of the defining works of our language and culture, and because it is a terrific story told with great skill.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

I have now had this book FOREVER! And finally made it through all 600+ pages. Did it take me this long because it was slow or boring? Not at all! It took me that long because it was simply too big to fit in my purse.

Beowulf has long been one of my favorite stories of all time. In eighth grade we had to read the original poem in old English. Even though the language made me want to cry, I still loved the story. I have read and re-read various translations, and stylizations of the tale over the years. There is nothing more thrilling to me then following Beowulf and his men as they face the beast Grendel, then have to do battle with the Sea Witch and finally at the end of his life, to do battle with the Dragon. But in this book there is so much more to the story, so many little gaps filled in, more back story and so much more life to it.

This book, though huge and daunting to look at - is FANTASTIC. If you have ever wanted to read Beowulf, but hated the idea of ancient English verse - THIS is the book you need to read. Honest to the source material, and simple to read and comprehend without a translation key. Even if you love the tale in verse, you should still pick up a copy of this book and re-read it, the story and the character are given a whole new life. Beowulf becomes what we imagined he was between the lines of the old poem.

I have one complaint - and it should give you an idea of how much I love this book - The cover does not do it justice. This book should at least have a faux-leather cover, an epic tale like this deserves better then the 1980's Dungeons and Dragons looking cover it currently has. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

I have now had this book FOREVER! And finally made it through all 600+ pages. Did it take me this long because it was slow or boring? Not at all! It took me that long because it was simply too big to fit in my purse.

Beowulf has long been one of my favorite stories of all time. In eighth grade we had to read the original poem in old English. Even though the language made me want to cry, I still loved the story. I have read and re-read various translations, and stylizations of the tale over the years. There is nothing more thrilling to me then following Beowulf and his men as they face the beast Grendel, then have to do battle with the Sea Witch and finally at the end of his life, to do battle with the Dragon. But in this book there is so much more to the story, so many little gaps filled in, more back story and so much more life to it.

This book, though huge and daunting to look at - is FANTASTIC. If you have ever wanted to read Beowulf, but hated the idea of ancient English verse - THIS is the book you need to read. Honest to the source material, and simple to read and comprehend without a translation key. Even if you love the tale in verse, you should still pick up a copy of this book and re-read it, the story and the character are given a whole new life. Beowulf becomes what we imagined he was between the lines of the old poem.

I have one complaint - and it should give you an idea of how much I love this book - The cover does not do it justice. This book should at least have a faux-leather cover, an epic tale like this deserves better then the 1980's Dungeons and Dragons looking cover it currently has. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

K.D. Payne for Odyssey Reviews

I first became acquainted with Beowulf when I was a freshman in high school. There was an all-school assembly where a theatre group from the city came and performed a "play" based upon BEOWULF. It was more like a dance recital with some percussion and a little bit of acting. Though excited to not be in class, most students were bored by the performance, including the seniors who were studying the poem in their English classes. Even though I felt the show was a bit unusual, I was transfixed by the experience and it wasn't because of the performers. I was interested because I found the story that was told (experimental and rudimentary as it was) fascinating. Thus began a lifelong love for first piece of literature ever written in English, BEOWULF. I read the poem when I was a senior in high school, re-read it and translated a small portion from the original Old English for a medieval English class in college, and re-read it again when Seamus Heaney's now-famous translation was first released. My fascination with the tale has led me to read and watch other works about Beowulf. There are a variety of them out there, from comic books to novels to movies (the most recent being the 2007 CGI film version from Robert Zemeckis and Neil Gaiman). The tale of Beowulf is extraordinary and inspiring and though most of these works have had sparks of originality and creativity, none has been outstanding. That is until now.

R. Scot John's THE SAGA OF BEOWULF is a novelized re-telling of the story of Beowulf. The novel follows the main plotline of the original poem. During the Dark Ages, a legendary Geatish hero named Beowulf travels across the sea with some fellow warriors to the land of the Danes. Daneland has been ravished for twelve years by an ogre named Grendel. Many men have tried to kill the creature, but have ended up only as another meal or sacrifice. Beowulf arrives upon the shores of the Danes and promises to kill the creature. He does, but the joy of having the monster slain is short lived because Grendel has a mother who is more cunning than her son. She threatens to continue the siege that Grendel began twelve years before. She must be dealt with. So, Beowulf travels to Grendel's mother's den and with the help of a magical giant sword, kills her, too. He returns home and eventually becomes the king of his own clan and after many other adventures meets the end of his life after fighting a ferocious dragon. He succeeds in killing the dragon, but the wounds from the encounter are mortal and he dies. This is the basic plot of the original story and they are all included in THE SAGA OF BEOWULF. However, the novel encompasses much, much more.

The basic elements are expanded and other plotlines, some based upon other historical events and situations, have been woven into the story. Characters are given rich backstories that make them seem like real and compelling people, especially Beowulf. In many of the adaptations of the original poem, Beowulf's character has been altered in a significant way to make him seem more human and less a Hero. Take for instance the Zemeckis movie version. There is no doubt that Beowulf is stronger than any man alive and can do heroic deeds. However, in that version of the tale, Beowulf's character is compromised and he is shown not just to be proud, but pompous with a moral and ethical code no different than the rest of the savages he encounters. In THE SAGA OF BEOWULF, neither his humanity nor his almost superhuman abilities are skirted and Beowulf is shown to be the real Hero he is in the poem.

Beowulf isn't the only character to be so fully and richly developed. Most of the other characters are, too. Many times background stories and exposition is for many readers often boring and the least interesting part of the stories they read, but in THE SAGA OF BEOWULF this is not so. Much of the exposition is dealt in flashbacks that not only provide crucial character history, but are just as exciting and interesting as the main action of the tale. And this is an action-packed story. A giant sea serpent, rock trolls, dwarves, fierce battles against sworn enemies, assassinations, sea journeys, a raid for fame and fortune into Frankish territory, and a battle in a ancient Roman arena against gladiators are all a part of the story. Besides the action and fighting sequences there's some real-life history and political maneuverings as well as a dose of romance for good measure.

The novel is written in a style that modern readers should have no trouble following, yet is full of narrative poetry that does justice to the original epic. As a former high school English teacher there were times that I became very excited by some of the language in the story (Look, it's a kenning!). A casual reader who has never read the original poem will probably enjoy the book as much as I did and not notice these poetic tributes, but they are a nice touch and are especially appreciated by those who are familiar with the original poem.

Purists might be offended by how the author has condensed events to fit a relative short time span. For instance, in the original poem, it is a span of nearly fifty years that Beowulf is king but in THE SAGA OF BEOWULF he is only king for a few brief months. The author explains in detail on his website (http://www.fantasycastlebooks.com/) why he made the decisions he made. Even though I felt it would have been nice to have seen some of the events of the novel spread out over a longer time frame, I understand why the timeline was shortened and felt that it took nothing away from the story or the character of Beowulf. In fact, other than a rather slow beginning and a few typographical errors, there is no criticism that I can say about THE SAGA OF BEOWULF.

In order to help readers more fully understand the text, the book includes a glossary of names, a glossary of places, as well as a fairly detailed map of the Scandinavia of the story. I found the glossaries particularly useful, especially during the first third of the novel when there were so many names and places, some of which even I wasn't familiar.

In short, I found THE SAGA OF BEOWULF to be an exciting piece of historical fiction. Those who are familiar with the original poem will probably enjoy the novel as well as anyone who enjoys reading quality historical and fantasy fiction.

It would be hard to find anyone in the English speaking world who has never heard of Beowulf. Most could tell you he was the hero of "some old poem" who killed "that monster, Grendel." Some younger people might have seen the comic book-like movie flaunting its digitalized special effects, but most of the population will have had to have read parts of it in school, in translation.
Not many will remember why they had to read it in school, but there's a good reason: it's the first identifiable work of literature written in English. The problem is it must be read in translation (unless one is a graduate student in English, perhaps) because it was the language spoken when part of the Germanic languages split off and became modern English. We call that founding language Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Supposedly, the verses in which the Beowulf story is told constitute very powerful poetry, but very few are able to appreciate it today. It takes work to pick out a single understandable word in two or three lines of verse, and a semester or two of college-level study to get comfortable with.
The story itself, of the hero Beowulf saving a neighboring tribe of Danes from the horrible Grendel, and later from his equally horrible mother, ultimately becoming king of his own tribe, the Geats, and dying while saving them from a ferocious fire dragon, is a dramatic one. But in addition to the language problem, the tale is made even harder to appreciate by virtue of apparently being written down by two different people hundreds of years after Beowulf lived, by the fragments of the manuscript which have disappeared, and by its being compressed possibly for purposes of recitation.
All this is by way of saying that there is a terrific story here, but how to make it accessible to today's typical readers? Author R. Scot Johns has the answer: spend ten years researching the poem and the historical documents of the era, and weave it all into a novel, a novel of 630 pages. The result of this impressive scholarship is a labor of love: an astoundingly readable, satisfyingly meaty historical tale of fierce battles, of intricate clan ties and loyalty, of Norse folklore, and of characters who develop over time to stand as distinct personalities that were only dimly glimpsed in the ancient version.
As to how Mr. Johns managed all this, he has a website (fantasycastlebooks.com) with extensive and interesting author's notes laying out the documents and the manner of stitching them into one continuous narrative. The book itself has glossaries of names and places, and a map of ancient Scandanavia, but these are helpful only when needed and do not intrude on the continuity of the story. There are no footnotes, for example.
One might reasonably ask, "What possible prose style would suit ancient poetry rendered into a modern novel?" Mr. John's solution seems to be rather a hybrid: in places he uses what feels like Old Norse hyperbole, and in others a more sensitively observed, human-scaled style. Since the original story featured heroic deeds of strong, brave men with large swords, chain mail, and horns on their helmets fighting monsters with mythic abilities, exaggeration is only fitting, and faithful to the original. In other places, when warranted, the style eases into a more comfortable, conventional narrative, with few flights of bellicose elaboration. It retains the feel of an ancient story, yet can be enjoyed comfortably and without rescanning the lines.
As a reviewer of books, I'm inclined to want to march right through a text. At the same time, I found myself enjoying the story and wishing to slow down and immerse myself in it. Torn between these two desires, I noted that Grendel and his mother had been dealt with by the halfway point. What, I asked myself, could possibly fill the rest of the pages?
To my surprise, I found I enjoyed the second half even more than the first, with accounts of battles with normal humans (well, ancient Swedes, anyway), an ill-advised raid into Frankish territory, sea voyages, Frankish politics and military maneuvers, the puzzle of Roman ruins, struggles over kingly succession and tribal politics, courtship, and more small doses of mythology: stone-eating trolls, fearsome dwarfs, and, overseeing all, the three Fates of Norse mythology, spinning out the threads of lives, measuring and cutting them when the time comes. It's all cleanly written and edited, a few errant apostrophes notwithstanding.
Mr. Johns' version of Beowulf is a terrific bargain at its current selling price. It should appeal to, and delight, those who like the original poem, those who enjoy the sword and sorcerer/dungeons and dragons type of yarn, lovers of historical fiction, and the many readers who are tired of the same old formulas and wish for something completely different.
Al Past is the author of the popular Distant Cousin series, and writes reviews for PODBRAM.

Most of us remember reading the Beowulf poem in school, and if you were like me it didn't really do anything for you - yeah it was the earliest piece of fiction written, but what kid cares about that?! Well, this is your chance to re-visit Beowulf and read about the legend in the ideal way - as a superb epic fantasy novel! R. Scot Johns has done a remarkable job and The Saga of Beowulf is a novel I really enjoyed reading!

Beowulf is filled with extraordinary characters, yet at the same time, are human with real faults and feelings that you as the reader can relate to. The book is rather large at over 600 pages - slow parts creep in there every now and then, but there is enough action to keep you interested and turning the pages! Beowulf has all the essentials that one shgould have in a good novel; love, battles, betrayal, fighting, honor and dragons, I mean a book is not a book without dragons! Thank goodness he includes a Glossery of Proper Names to help you out with the character names...geesh, I though Welsh names were hard! But it was pretty fun to try and pronounce them first - kinda became a game in my head!

It is obvious that R. Scot Johns researched the heck out of this book and the passion of his writing shows throughout the novel. I'm intrigued as to what he will write next.

Bottom line: I was a little nervous about this one, but only because I read mostly historical fiction and this is more historical fantasy. However, I am very glad to have read it and found myself liking it better than I thought I would. I recommend this to any history or fantasy lover!

The oldest fantasy action hero is now presented in a modernized novel format. "The Saga of Beowulf" is a novelization of the epic old English poem and its most celebrated and possibly oldest example of literature with Beowulf. The very thing most fantasy and adventure novels are founded on, it is a entertaining work, that educates readers where the roots of the genre found its niche in society. "The Saga of Beowulf" is a classic, full of guaranteed enjoyment.

I love a good story, and this is a very good one. It's written in Bardic prose (poetic cadence)and once you get the rhythm, it rolls right along. The characters are excellent, and the descriptions are brilliant. This is almost like reading a movie. I very much enjoyed this book.