"... we're too like to leave our bones to English crows ..."
At nearly 700 pages, The Last Viking trilogy by Poul Anderson may be a little long for one reading for some - in this I would suggest taking on each volume individually. Broken down, the trilogy consists of: The Golden Horn (c. 1028 - c.1040), The Road of the Sea Horse (c.1046 - c.1060), and The Sign of the Raven (c.1060 - c.1066).
This is one of those times when fact far outstrips fiction - the larger than life Harald Hardrada looms front and centre - and its not hard to see why. This man lived a life that was both harsh, bloodthirsty, yet fantastical. His adventures are the stuff of legends ... and yet, he is, or was, real; his adventures did take place.
What Poul Anderson has done is encapsulated the essence of Harald and make him more accessible. Anderson's trilogy is set out very similar to the Norse sagas, and each chapter begins with a preposition... "of", "when" and "how". The chapters are short with not clear timeline (again, very similar to the Sagas), yet the story is easy to read. A little knowledge or interest is sufficient as the foreward of each book provides enough historical information, that each of the following books could be read as stoned-alone.
As I mentioned, Harald is the hero and a worthy one - his larger than life adventures need no embellishment. Anderson's story builds up the the climax of the final battle, before giving a nice historical wrap up of events as they occurred afterwards.
Further reading:
Excerpt of The Last Viking Trilogy
King Harald's Saga: Harald Hardradi of Norway from Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla
Read Online:
No comments:
Post a Comment