Customer Reviews

viking: king's man

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

 

 

King's Man is the last series of the Viking trilogy, which told the story of Thorgils Leifsson. Viking series 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 second (previous) of the trilogy: Odinn's Child and Sworn Brother, respectively. For reviews of the other two novels, please find my separate reviews.

Thorgils Leifsson was now 35 years old (born in late 999 AD). He had landed a job in Constantinople. A reader might be intrigued, that there were actual many Vikings working for the Byzantine Empire, known as the imperial bodyguards: Varangians. Vikings actually found the city of Kiev and they were known as Rus in eastern Europe/central Asian region. Thus, the name Russians actually emerged from it. I was also confounded when Normandy in France was the other word for Norsemen Land. Well, if you are a well informed reader, William the Duke of Normandy during 1060s was actually the descendant of Norsemen (Vikings) too!

I think I have leaked out too much of Severin's plot of this last novel in the trilogy. For short, Thorgils did have a chance to return to the vast northern wasteland in between Norway and Sweden (or the netherland). Eventually, he went to France. And for the remaining of the story, I would highly recommend you reading this book.

It would be best if a reader can start reading in sequence:
1. Odinn's Child (999-1020s AD)
2. Sworn Brother (1020s-1035 AD)
3. King's Man (1035-1070s AD)

Though, if you prefer, you can read only this last book. But Thorgils character would seem shallow. For me, the best of the Viking series were actually the first and last (third) novels.

My final tally for King's Man and Viking trilogy in general:
Book 3: King's Man: 5-star read
Viking trilogy: 5-star overall

I really wanted to like this book. I have read the first two in the trilogy, and I am an avid reader of the old Norse and Icelandic Sagas. I am fascinated with this period in history, and with Norse culture in general. That being said, I had a really tough time getting into this book. There were two reasons for it.
First, the author expounds on history and the culture of the time to the detriment of the flow of the story. There are many times during the course of the book that a character will extemporize for several paragraphs instead of holding a normal conversation. While it is interesting from an academic perspective, it brings a complete stop to the narrative. While the author spends a great deal of time describing the life and politics of 11th century Europe, he spends next to no time describing his character's motives. To sum it up, by the end of the book I had a relatively thorough understanding of Norse life at the time, but no real idea as to why Thorgils did much of anything.
The second problem I had with this book is the author's clear disdain of Christianity. I'm not a Christian myself, but I had a hard time believing that every Christian character Thorgil's came into contact with was either bigoted, shallow, hypocritical, or overzealous. All pagans, of course, were portrayed as noble and openminded. At first it was interesting, as I myself lean more towards a nature-worshiping direction. But I've met plenty of nice Christians in my life, and plenty of pagan and atheist jerks. Christianity does not have a monopoly on boorishness.
These two points aside, the book (and series overall) is a fascinating, well-researched look at life at the turn of the first millenium in Northern Europe. Credit is due the author for not only showing how brutal and harsh life was back then, but also hwo fascinating and colorful it was. After reading this series, I am even more convinced that I was born too late. Oh, to be a Viking!

Reading the Viking series is a great way to get a 'behind the scenes' experience of historic events - in this instance the death of a Byzantine Emperor (by murder or natural causes?) the reconstruction of the church of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem, the Siege of Syracruse and the Norman invasion of England.

Thorgils is a Norseman who has trained as a monk, but longs for the return of the old Norse gods. His travels put him in the midst of some of the most significant events of the 11th Century.

The characters are boldly sketched, the action is well paced, the detail rings with authenticity, and the book is down-right fun to read!

This book is the sequel to Odinn's Child and brings to a conclusion the Viking adventure.

The date is 1035, the place the cosmopolitan city of Constantinople, the gateway to Asia and all its treasures and mysticism. Thorgils has become a member of the elite Varangian lifeguard, a post that allows him to witness first hand the glories of one of the greatest cities in the whole world. Unfortunately it also allows him first hand experience of the cruelty and murderous ways of the imperial family.

Under the leadership of Harald Sigurdsson, Thorgils is used as bait to trap Arab pirates who are attacking the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean.

When Harald becomes King of Norway, Thorgils life becomes ever more entwined with the King and his travel eventually take him on a journey to England and a desperate race to Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, to warm the Norwegian King that he has been duped by his supposed ally William of Normandy, but will Thorgils be in time or for that matter ever reach Stamford Bridge. . .

I loved loved loved the first two books in the Viking series and if the editing had been better they both would have received 5 stars. But this book I have to give a three star to. Reasons why in the cons section:

Pros:
- Once again I loved how author writes. His style really makes you feel like you're right there in the story.
- Paragraphs have finally gotten shorter!
-Editing was slightly better! (though I got frustrated when one of the characters you meet is Styrkar who is sometimes spelled as StRykar. His name changes every time you read it.

Cons:
- The book is PAINFULLY slow! The first two books saw Thorgils traveling and going on adventures and having suspense, but for over half this book he's in Constantinople doing, well, nothing excepting for dealing with very very boring politcs.
- The characterization in this book was very poor. In the previous two books when a character was introduced you REALLY got introduced to the character and started to feel like you knew them. In this one so many characters came and went without every really getting to know them, even Harald and Halldor two of the main characters felt very distant and shallow and you truly didn't character about them at all.
- Still enough editing problems that it began to get very irritating.
- The author did a very poor job of depicting time change. When we first meet Thorgils he's a mere baby, by the end he's in his mid sixties but we don't find out exactly how much time has passed until the very end of the book. That aspect made it hard to follow a lot of what went on in this book since he wasn't travelling like he was in the first two books.

All in all, the book wasn't bad, but compared to the first two books it just didn't hold up.

Its hard to review a single book in the trilogy without talking about the rest. I give the series 4-stars. From a historical point of view it is quite good. Many of the characters and story lines are based on the sagas, and for those without the will or determination to commit to undertaking a source study, and no one could fault you here, this is a very pleasant introduction into that world.

I thought the author did an excellent job of delivering a healthy dose of mythology. Wandering through Thorgils world leaves a similar impression to Frodo wandering through the ruins of Middle Earth. The old ways are dying and a new order is rising. There's a certain depressing quality that resonates in an oddly familiar way.

A lot of ground is covered from the British Isles to Iceland, Greenland, Vinland, there and back, Scandinavia, Russia, Jerusalem, Constantinople, etc. Midway through the first book I set it down and did not touch it for a month. There's a certain tedium akin to Moby Dick, with a lot of exhausting details and events dragging on in lieu of action. If you are looking for a series filled with battles, here they are far and few. If you want to transport back to the Viking age, this will offer a pretty fair glimpse into a wide cross section of the times.

While significantly more shallow and simple, I found The Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cromwell more fun to read.

The author takes you across much of euope during his journey and weaves an entertaining tale along the way. As the lead character travels as a follower of Oddin, he witnesses much history that climaxes with the downfall of complete Norse dominance and the begining of Norman rule, the last vestiges of paganism washed away. A worthy read.

Concept good but novels very boring. Disliked author's style of writing. Foolishly bought all three novels in the series.