11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
exhilarating historical thriller, April 9, 2008
This review is from: Varanger (Hardcover)
Late in the tenth century, cousins Conn and Raef Corbansson know they are fortunate to be alive as their side lost the battle of Hjorunga Bay. They escape by a fur trading ship, but end up frozen in place in Novgorod. The city ruler Lord Dobryana aware of the Corbansson exploits offers the "free warriors" a chance to escape the icy winter by joining the crusade to raid the Byzantine Empire northern port city of Chersonese on the Greek Sea.
Getting there takes forever and arriving there proves difficult as Chersonese is not an easy city to take. Worse Conn and Raef soon realize their new comrades in arms are ruthless backstabbers who live for treachery.
The superb fourth Dark Ages Viking saga (see THE SERPENT DREAMER, THE SOUL THIEF and THE WITCHES' KITCHEN) is an exhilarating historical thriller that continues the adventures of the second generation. The locale, for the most part, is different than the three previous novels; as such it adds freshness with the Vikings raiding the Byzantine Empire. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of action, but it is the vivid window into the era that makes Varanger a fabulous insightful tale.
Harriet Klausner
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From a frozen winter in Russia, to the Black Sea shore of northern Byzantium., May 14, 2010
This review is from: Varanger (Hardcover)
A logical progression from her Viking novels
The Serpent Dreamer (Tom Doherty Associates Book),
The Soul Thief, and
The Witches' Kitchen, this novel follows the adventures of cousins Conn and Raef Corbansson from the ice and snow of winter in Novgorod, to the politics of Volodymyr (Vladimir the Great) in Kiev and down into the northern reaches of the Byzantine Empire. It is an important time in the development of Kievan Rus, the medieval state which existed from approximately 880 to the middle of the 13th century, the Mongol invasion of 1240.
Conn and Raef Corbansson have sailed to Novgorod on a fur trading expedition, where they over-winter and eventually join forces with the local leader Dobrynya on a journey south along the the Dnieper trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Stopping over in Kiev, and joining forces with Volodymyr (Vladimir the Great), and the raiding party continues south to the Byzantine city of Chersonese (Cherson) on the Black Sea. High adventure, intrigue and betrayal ensue and this fictionalized adventure does add much to think about in how Christianity first came to Kievan Rus, and thus to the Russian Empire.
Vivid, passionate, and brutal - this novel is told from multiple viewpoints, which is frequently annoying, but gives you the full flavor of all the characters involved. The adventure continues in
The High City, which is set in Constantinople and further examines the Byzantine Empire.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vikings Go East, February 13, 2011
Part of a series begun by Cecelia Holland a while back, this one takes the sons of her earlier hero Corban Loosestrife on a journey east to the country of rivers that would one day become Russia. Apparently working from the tales preserved in the Russian Primary Chronicle and some of the old Icelandic sagas (such as Olaf Tryggvesson's Saga), Ms. Holland provides a finely detailed and convincing picture of what the Rus' (progenitors of the Russians) were like. The record suggests they were an amalgam people, consisting of elements of various Slavic tribal groups onto which Scandinavian adventurers grafted themselves from fairly early times. The Russian Primary Chronicle records the arrival of an apparent viking prince (vikings are called Varangians in the Chronicle -- a term of uncertain derivation) who takes over the rule of a trading town in the north of today's Russia which the Varangians called Holmgard (Island Keep or Fortress) and which came to be known to the Rus' as Novgarod (new keep) although it's not clear which name predated.
The Varangian leader, called Rurik in the Chronicle (and sometimes associated with a Danish Viking of the period, Hroerekr) stayed for only a brief time, though long enough to establish the beginnings of a dynasty and make the first tentative efforts to control all the river towns then growing up along the trade route to Constantinople. Holland's tale takes her two heroes, Raef Corbansson and Conn Corbansson (actually cousins rather than brothers) into the swampy country of Novgarod for a firsthand look at what a Varangian trader's life must have been like. Raef, the one with a touch of magic about him, and his heroically blunt and forceful cousin Conn get stuck in the trading town after washing up on its shores in the crew of a trader who plans to winter there. With no way out the two cousins hunker down to winter there, too. But they soon make enemies of another Varangian and his crew while impressing the local ruler, the historical Dobrynya who was uncle to Vladimir the First of Kiev in the south. Vladimir, the fourth generation of Rurik's kin and the fifth kniaz or prince of Kiev in the Rurikid line, has only recently grabbed the high seat from his predecessor and brother Yaropolk and Uncle Dobrynya is keen on recruiting Varangians to aid the new Kievan ruler to establish himself.
So Raef and Conn sign up (there really's no other way out for them as they've lost all in the west in the previous book) and head upriver through treacherous terrain in some questionable company. After a bit of portage to move their clumsy river boats from one river to another, they head down the Dneiper to Kiev and Vladimir. The first part of the book seems a bit aimless but that is probably true to the kind of time they would have had to put in over a fierce northern Russian winter at Novgarod and Holland does this remarkably well, slowly building up the characterizations and back story sufficiently to carry the rest of the book while painting the frozen swamp and river country around Novgarod in brilliant colors.
Once in Kiev the story picks up its pace because Vladimir (who will one day be hailed in Russian history as Vladimir the Saint) is beset by treachery and the arrival of the small company of "Varangers" led by Conn and Raef povides the still young prince the chance to lock in his control of Kiev and, by dint of that, all of Rus' as far as Novgarod in the north. But Conn and Raef are, typically for vikings, not especially deepminded and are just looking for a chance to win some gold by force of arms. Vladimir, at Dobrynya's urging, has conceived a plan to extort a political alliance from the Greeks in Constantinople if he can get their attention -- which is where Raef and Conn come in. Complications ensue when Conn finds himself enthralled by a Khazar princess in Vladimir's harem (for the record, Holland calls him Volodymir and who is to say her spelling isn't the right one?) and Raef finds himself keeping house with a Hunnish woman he has rescued from Conn's clumsy efforts at rape. The Rus' around Volodymir are a mixed group (second and third generation Varangians, mixed bloods and Slavic tribesmen -- just as the historic records suggest) and they don't all take to the small gang of northerners following the two cousins.
Making use of Volodymir's father's abandoned dragon ships, the northerners lead Volodymir, Uncle Dobrynya and their henchman, the Slavic captain, Pavo, on an expedition against the Greek trading outpost town of Chersonese on the northern coast of the Black Sea. With only four dragon ships they seem rather woefully undermanned for taking even this outpost town, given Holland's description, but they pull it off convincingly, leading to Volodymir's historic conversion to Christianity in exchange for recognition and alliance with the Greeks. The outcome, however, doesn't sit well with our heroes who have to decide how to deal with the kniaz' machinations, leading to the tale's denouement.
On balance, though slowgoing at first, the book rewards with its vivid picture of Varangian times in the east and the fast paced battle for Chersonese. On the negative side, I frequently found myself confused by the cousins as Raef and Conn tended to meld in the mind. Though endowed with distinctly different personalities (Raef's the sensitive, thinking one while Conn's the guy with the chip on his shoulder, albeit not a bad sort when you get to know him), and though they are different in appearance (Raef is thin and light haired while Conn is more muscular and dark), it's hard to tell them apart in the midst of the action. And if the fight for the Greek city was nicely done, the size and scope of the Rus' force just seemed too insignificant to pull it off. And, alas, the ending seemed rushed with too much forced into it. While Holland admirably allows some of her most interesting characters to bite the dust (as in real life), the final resolution of the story disappoints, perhaps because of that choice.
After reading the first in the series I had decided not to read anymore but was drawn to Varanger because it promised to deliver a tale touching on the eastern vikings who reached their zenith in the time of Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev. On that score Holland delivers a solid tale, effectively researched. But in terms of characters and plotline, I was left a little cold. My favorite Holland viking tale is still
Two Ravens which has been out of print, apparently, for some years now.
Stuart W. Mirsky
Author of
The King of Vinland's Saga
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