Customer Reviews

Viking (Viking 1) (No. 1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are many novels portraying the Norse seafarers. They make fascinating characters, leading the adventurous lives we dreamt of in childhood. A glance at any history of Medieval Europe shows the extent of their conquests - down the major rivers of Russia to link with their cousins in the Mediterranean. Their impact on history has been muted or misinterpreted often, usually due to their attacks on Christian establishments and their vacillating attachment to "The Faith". Their seafaring and conquering talents have not faded, however. They are the stuff of legend, even when the forays failed.

In this first volume of a Norse trilogy, Severin tries to cover some of the "millennium" events the Norse undertook. Greenland, an exile's enclave is one of many homes of Thorgils, [...] son of Leif Ericsson. It hasn't been settled long, and opportunities abound for the adventurous. His mother, a powerful woman of Irish descent, leaves her son some inexplicable powers. The mix of Celt and Norse was too tempting for Severin to skip, and it provides his character with a multitude of story events to encounter. It also prompts Thorgils to extensive travels. One of those jaunts takes him where few Norse-inspired novelists dare to venture - Canada's Atlantic Provinces. "Vinland", long a place of mystery to European chroniclers, has been revealed as truly a Norse settlement site. Severin takes advantage of this with a fighting tour of the region. Thorgils witnesses these events up close, but not as closely as will later clashes.

After some interludes, Thorgils embarks on his own quest - find his roots. He wants to learn of his mother and his other family. In Medieval Ireland, that's not only difficult, it may prove sadly unrewarding. Thorgils endures the usual vicissitudes of a young man without a protector in those turbulent times. Warfare, wanderings, captures and escapes. He falls in adolescent love [he reaches nineteen years in this volume - which is why there'll have to be two more], but life is full of various disappointments. Love must wait at least until volume two. There are mysteries to encounter and resolve, enigmatic people to deal with and a great question that must someday be confronted. What to do about the Christians?

While Thorgils must confront or deal with many people in his young life, the background antagonist to the young Norseman is the White Christ. In the first millennium year, the dominance of Norse society by Christianity was far from a given. Odinn had set an example for young men such as Thorgils. Odinn, crucified on a tree, suffered unendurable agonies for the reward of wisdom. Wisdom, as any fantasy reader will assure you, is far more desirable than material or martial power. Thorgils begins to understand this as he moves between events. Power is transitory, but wisdom persists. And the wisdom of the Old Ways retains great appeal to certain members of Norse society. Will Thorgils join that company?

Severin's offering to this rising genre regrettably doesn't add much that's novel. His characters are already drawn from formula. Since the tale is told from Thorgils' viewpoint, we don't learn why a people who had been surrounded by powerful deities should have turned to one so alien to their traditions - although this is central to the plot. It's clear that one powerful chieftain, converted to the White Christ, could force dependents along the same path. Blind adherence to authority wasn't a Norse trait. There were rebellions that Severin, at least in this volume, coolly overlooks. He grants Thorgils a human identity, perhaps even a valid Norse one. So many events in this book, however, are so glaringly predictable, it becomes a page-turner just to get past them unscorched. A readable book of promising adventure, but not something leaving me panting in anticipation for the next volume. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This is the second book in the thrilling Viking trilogy and although I enjoyed the first book very much, the author seems to have really got his teeth into the adventure now and I found that I read the book in no time at all.

The year is 1020 AD the place, London. It is a few weeks since Thorgils has escaped the clutches of the Irish Church, but he now finds himself driven even further into the mire when he find himself at the centre of a love affair with none other than Aelfgifu, wife of Knut the Great, not only ruler of England but one of the most powerful and feared men in the Viking empire. As the passionate relationship unfolds it augurs nothing but trouble for Thorgils.

With Thorgils finally on the run again he meets up with an outlaw, Grettir. The pair become traveling companions and sworn brothers which binds them together not only through life, but death also. At the gates of Byzantium Thorgils' loyalty is put to the ultimate test . . .

This book is very well written; I couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed the style of writing.

If you are interested in Norse Mythology at all you will like this one. It's not a huge part of the story but it is there.

I am really looking forward to reading the 2nd book.

This is an interesting tale set in intriguing 11th century England. Thorgils love affair with Aelfgifu was written with subtlety and deftness, and all of the characters really came alive. Wish the author had given King Knut more dialogue, since his presence loomed throughout the novel, but it was a good read anyway!

Awsome! As I read book one and then book three (Sworn Brother has been deleted in the UK) it was was a joy to read the entire series - yes I re-read Odins' Child. Can I be a Viking please?

This is the 2nd book of the Viking Trilogy and it was as fascinating as the first book. I would suggest that you read them in order. I am now ordering the 3rd book, The King's Man. Many of the words used to describe things are authentic and make you feel you are in that time and place. I highly recommend this if you are a history buff.

This is the second series of the Viking trilogy, which told the story of Thorgils Leifsson. Viking was Mr. Severin's first foray into the fiction realm. He used to write exclusively non-fiction history books, which I learned from the list of books he had written (not less than ten books, excluding this novel). The first and third (last) of the trilogy: Odinn's Child and King's Man, respectively. For reviews of the other two novels, please find my separate reviews.

Sworn Brother continued the story of Thorgils Leifsson adventures and life story from his stay in England somewhere near the year 1020 AD to 1035 AD. Where Odinn's Child, the first novel told his life adventures till his early twenties, here in this second novel, Sworn Brother, he met even more people and amazing events. Eventually, he met Grettir the Strong again, and the outlaw became his sworn brother. Thorgils also met the Ski People up north, where he learned that these people live very close in touch with the nature. The Ski People experience was one of the best part of the plot, whereas Grettir part was too long and tedious. His English court life was also a bit too lengthy. It is the reason I will not give a five-star read for this book.

In order not to spoil Tim Severin's plot further, a reader must judge the book by reading it him/herself for details. If you enjoy reading history/historical fictions, Vikings cultures (including their famous sagas and runes), and not surprisingly, some British histories, and also geography/traveling; I bet you will be thrilled reading it. For me, reading this particular novel and all the remaining two novels in the trilogy is like going the History classes in college, while not having to take the test and the best of all, not realizing at all that we are being "history knowledge inseminated" into us by Mr. Severin.

Tim Severin has succeeded in distributing his very well-researched knowledge into the public domain, while making them fun by creating a non-fiction novel, as opposed to sometimes tedious, non-fiction historical books. However, there were a few of minor mistypes on names and comas in latter books. Besides that, after finishing the whole trilogy, I found that Viking could have been written into a single book, instead of now three novels. Of course, there are some psychological and financial reasons for dividing them into three parts, which I did not found very much different if it had been packaged into a single section. Some readers might be intimidated, since the total paperback trilogy that I read was about 1000 pages total. Being one of Edward Rutherfurd's fan, it was "normal" for me to read 1,000 pages one time, though most people will find it almost impossible.

Comparing to Rutherfurd's novels, I found Tim Severin's were researched in a broader scale, where typical Edward Rutherfurd's novels were more acute in terms of depth. Where Sevrin's Thorgils character was the main and sole protagonist, in Rutherfurd's there were many major characters.

Since Sworn Brother was not as good as the other two novels in this series, my final tally for Sworn Brother and Viking trilogy in general:
Book 2: Sworn Brother: 4-star read
Viking trilogy: 5-star overall

Although interesting, I did not think this was as good as Odinn's Child. I would have rated this 3.5 stars if possible; I still plan to read the third book in this series.

I loved the first book and couldn't wait to start the second and was very pleased with the second offering of the Viking series! Again, instead of a long winded review I'll liste some pros and cons to the book.

Pros:
- A lot of the character introductions were made in the first book which made room for the book to really move into the adventures of Thorgils.
- There was a lot of action in this book and it was written very well!
- As in the first book the characterization was excelent
- A lot of the book is firmly rooted in well researched history! A plus seeing as how a lot of "historical fiction" tends to really stray for actual history
- This book takes it on an even larger scale as it takes Thorgils on many more adventures in much further off and elaborate lands!

Cons:
- Again, very very very long paragraphs that really slow down the flow of the book at times
- VERY poor editing. There are typos all over the place! It's not the authors fault, it's the publishers. One of the huscarls you meet in England spells his name with an "N" sometimes and "M" others. It's little things like that but they are quite numerous

And really, that's the only cons I can think of in this book.

Well, I've just finished this book and I found myself wanting to buy the 2nd in the trilogy just because not much happened in this one. The multiple characters are sometimes hard to follow and the story is a more like a journal as stated in the prologue. I'll know more when I finish the 2nd.