THE LAST PRINCESS by Shelley Wilson @ShelleyWilson72 #TuesdayBookBlog

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book:  Disclaimer: I know the author and was excited about reading this book, but this has in no way affected the content of the review; if I had not liked it, I would not have reviewed.

In a Nutshell:  YA historical, Vikings and Saxons.

I'm mad for anything about Vikings and Saxon history, and some of this book is set in an area near where I live, so I was looking forward to it.  From the way Shelley Wilson talked about it on social media as she was researching and writing, I had a feeling it would be good, and it is.

First of all, I am aware that I am decades older than the target market; I would say it's quite young YA, as it would be the sort of book I'd have loved when I was 12 or 13, and if I had a young teenage daughter I would be happy for her to read it.  I tried at all times to read it with this in mind, though it's a cracking story whatever age you are, and I very much enjoyed it.  There is one scene that is a bit more sexually explicit than I expected, but no more so than some books available in children's libraries today.

(I mention reading it with its target market in mind, because some reviews on Goodreads appear to assess it as if it were an adults' book, which must be so frustrating for both author and publisher.)

The Last Princess is loosely based on the 9th century taking of the Northumbrian throne by Aelle, starting with the murder of King Osberht, his brother.  Whether or not Shelley Wilson's Edith, the daughter of Osberht, existed, I don't know; little is definite about that period.  This novel is about her life as a Northumbrian princess, the loss of her family, and the many adventures that took her from a slave ship to Viking battlefields.   It's got the lot: fear,brutality, love, hardship, betrayal, loss - I would actually like to read a longer version for AA (actual adults!), because I  enjoyed it so much.

Edith's growth and change throughout the story is believable, and my favourite character was Jarl Aaric, the Viking leader who becomes an important part of her life.  One aspect about it that I loved was how it didn't talk down to the reader, or try to push forward certain narratives, like so much in YA-orientated fiction (written word and TV) these days.  Ms Wilson has not shied away from the brutality of the time, or given her characters present-day attitudes.  In the 9th Century, people were far more close to death than we are now, and this is reflected.

Any negatives?  Only the occasional use of the word 'gifted' where 'given' or 'gave' would have done just fine; it's an Americanism that should have been pounced on by the editor.  However, apart from wincing each time I read this (and do bear in mind that it's a pet hate of mine - you may not mind it!), I wholeheartedly recommend this book - if you have a teenage daughter, buy it for her now - she will love Edith!

WHY ODIN DRINKS by Bjørn Larssen #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: A Norse God with Imposter Syndrome...

I read the first episode of Bjørn Larssen's (very) alternative Norse mythology, Creation, which is now incorporated into this book - this is good, because I was able to re-read it before embarking on the confused All-Father's further adventures.

I think I would need to know a lot more about Norse mythology than I do in order to fully appreciate this, though I did look up bits and bobs here and there, which helped.  The idea of portraying Odin as rather hesitant and not quite sure of his role as ultimate creator, is inspired.  Problem is that he and all the other gods (and versions of Odin in the past, present and future) know about everything that will be (which seems logical, what with them being deities), but are not always sure whether items or concepts actually exist yet.  Like Odin's wife Frigg not being sure what a miniskirt is, but knowing she wants one. 

'What sort of tea will you have?'

'They haven't discovered it yet,' said Urðr.  'He looks like the lapsang souchong type to me, though.'

One of my favourite aspects was the occasional presence of 'literature'.  She is an entity that whispers to Odin's mind a piece of information pertaining to something that has just been said, such as 'Loki is foreshadowing', but Odin cannot see her; he just hears the sound of her sneakers as she sprints away.  I love that.

In parts 2-4 we meet many more gods - Loki, Freya and Freyr, and Frigg.  Freya, goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, war and gold (pretty much all the most important things to a Norseman, one imagines) is portrayed as a sort of Paris Hilton type, which I thought was genius.

'As he travelled, Odin thoroughly investigated people of all shapes and sizes, casually letting it slip that he was the All-Father'.

Some of the time the references went over my head because of my lack of knowledge of the subject, though other times I felt the prose needed a bit of tightening up; it seemed to career away with itself now and again.  However, the good is very very good, and I also liked the pertinent observations about life and death, time and war, woven amongst the ridiculousness.  And the ending.  Clever.

A light-hearted romp through Norse mythology, and a fitting development for Bjørn Larssen's comedic talent!

I laugh every time I look at this - the grinning Odin doing a thumbs up!

CHILDREN by Bjørn Larssen @bjørnlarssen

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads and BookBub

 
How I discovered this book: I read the author's Storytellers and loved it, so looked forward to this.

In A Nutshell: A re-telling of Norse myths

I'm not the ideal reader for this book, as all I know about Norse mythology is (very) basic information about Odin, Thor, Freya and Loki, what Valhalla and Ragnarok are, and that's about it.  Also, I am not a fan of fantasy, on the whole; magic and hallucinatory goings on - nah, you can keep it.  However, I was hugely impressed by Storytellers and had read some excerpts of this before it was published, which I liked a lot, so wanted to take a look at this.

The main characters, their stories told alternately and in the first person, are Magni, son of Thor, and sorceress Maya, who has had a somewhat difficult upbringing, not least of all under the watchful eye of the goddess Freya, one heck of a piece of work, to say the least.  I liked Maya; she was amusing and spunky.  I loved Magni; yes, even when he was taking part in raids on farms, and killing people.  

Children is atmospheric, clever, brutal, emotional, extremely well-written, intelligent, imaginative, and funny—and the dialogue is spectacularly good, some of the best I've read.  Now and again, the dialogue and Magni's inner thoughts made me laugh out loud, which rarely happens when I read.  The sexual activity in the book does not hold back, but get this: it didn't make me cringe.  And that comes from someone who almost always cringes at sex scenes.  Magni's feelings for Herjólf were so real, so well-portrayed; anyone who has ever been in love (or infatuated with) someone who remains elusive will feel Magni's pain throughout.

My favourite part was when Magni was first involved with the outlaws (I loved Ludo, too!), and I also liked Maya's encounter with Harbard, the idea of Idunn's fruit, Magni's conversations with his father, and the information about what each of the 'worlds' is all about, which interested me enough to look up more about Norse mythology.

Subject-wise, it wasn't absolutely my cup of tea, and I did get a bit confused with all the Norse names sometimes ('hang on, was that a person or a place?'), but it's definitely a novel of which Bjørn Larssen should be very proud indeed, and if the magical and mythological floats your boat, I would recommend that you buy it without delay.

 

 

THE HEART OF THE CONQUEROR by Gemma Lawrence @TudorTweep

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE 

How I discovered this book: I first got to know of Gemma Lawrence via Twitter, and have been reading her since she published on Wattpad only.  I've loved all her books, my favourite being La Petite Boulain, about the early life of Anne Boleyn.  You can see my reviews of her other books by clicking the 'Gemma Lawrence' tag at the end of this one.

This is something I love ~ historical fiction about a time with which I'm not that familiar, written in such a way that it teaches me about the period.  This is the story of the events that brought about the Norman Conquest of 1066, written from the point of view of Matilda, the wife of William, Duke of Normandy, aka The Conqueror.  Not only does it tell the story of the two of them, but also gives much background about the Vikings, Saxons and the rulers of northern Europe, who came before them; it made me want to read deeper into the history (preferably written by this author), and I was completely engrossed.

I investigated the story of Matilda and William while I was reading the book, so I'd know what came from fact and what is of Ms Lawrence's creation, and could see that she's stuck close to 'the script', but told their story in such a way that only she can.  Gemma Lawrence's Matilda is clever, vain, proud, ambitious to the point of egomania, narcissistic in the extreme, and so assured of her superiority over all beings apart from her husband that she thinks even her God speaks to her, and that she can buy his grace with gifts of money and her own daughter; in anyone's hands apart from this author's, I might not have wanted to read about her, but I loved this book.  Of course the church has long been corrupt, with those high up in it behaving far from the basic ethos of Christianity, but, reading this, it occurred to me that the early Christians did, in fact, treat their God as the pagans did theirs, by offering up material goods in exchange for imagined/expected favours; the insight into the spiritual beliefs of the time fascinated me.

There is much expression of the passion between Matilda and William in this novel, and I will admit to skip-reading some accounts of their frenzied coupling so I could get back to the actual story, but these passages were written so well, highlighted the fierce love between them, and were not in the least bit cringe-making.  Their love was illustrated so beautifully when they were fully clothed, too, in the way they worked as one to fulfil their mutual ambition ~ and there's a terrific section when William comes back from battle seriously ill, and Matilda and a monk work tirelessly to nurse him back to health.

The last 20% is taken up with the preparation for and the events of the Battle of Hastings.  As the book is written from the point of view of Matilda, I wondered how the novel would end without an anti-climax, as, of course, Matilda was not present, but no: the battle is described in all its horror and gory glory, and Ms Lawrence has found an artful way to make sure no detail was spared.

The question of violence towards women arises in this book, as Matilda's first encounter with William was a brutal one, and Ms Lawrence discusses this at some length in the Author's Note at the end of the book, but even as I was reading it I thought this: we can't judge the people of hundreds of years ago on the standards by which we live now, because attitudes were vastly different, and we do not walk in their shoes.  I add this into the review only to make you aware that there is an occurrence of violence towards a woman at the hand of a man, near the beginning. 

This is a long book; sometimes there is repetition, with the same factual detail provided more than once.  On the odd occasion it felt a little research-heavy, and I felt one or two observations might have worked better written in the present tense, but none of these doubts mattered a jot overall; Gemma Lawrence writes with such intelligence, emotion and innate understanding of her characters and period, and I am so looking forward to reading the next part.  Amazon tells us that the highest star ranking should mean 'I loved it', and I did, I loved this book, so I'm happy to award it all five of those potential stars.


In 2015, Gemma Lawrence appeared on my series about writers and their star signs, The Zodiac Files.  You can see her piece HERE

 

THE LAST KINGDOM (Book 1) by Bernard Cornwell

5 GOLD Stars

Saxon/Viking adventure

On Amazon UK HERE

  

Okay, I'll admit it, I only started reading this after seeing the TV series recently.  I haven't read any Bernard Cornwell before, just watched the Sharpe series because it starred Sean Bean... and what a treat I have in store for me!  I love discovering a new writer, especially when they've written a stack of books.

(If you haven't seen the TV series, it's about the Danes' invasion of England in the 9th century.  The main character is a young ealdorman (earl) of Northumbria who is kidnapped by the Danes, and struggles with his identity as he lives amongst both peoples.)

If you're as unfamiliar with the author's work as I am, you'll want to know if it's as good as the TV, right?  YES, yes, it is, it's even better.  I love the way Cornwell writes; it's so 'easy-readable', and flows along ~~~~ :)  I adore Uhtred already, and reading this made me long to live in the Dark Ages even more than I always have done (I feel it is one of my spiritual homes).  Most of all, of course, it made me want to be a fearsome warrior.  Not a warring West Saxon (although I did like Leofric), but a brave man of the shield wall, of Ragnar's tribe!

The Last Kingdom is educational about the times, with some processes described in intricate detail.  If the book was written by an unknown author and the 'rules of writing' crew got their hands on it, they'd say these were 'information dumps', or something, or that the writer was being self-indulgent and eager to stick all his research into the book rather than weaving it into the story unobtrusively, but who cares; it was fascinating, because if you're a truly talented writer you can pull anything off, and anyone who wants to know more about life in these times could learn as much from this as any history book about the people of the Dark Ages.

If you've seen the TV series recently you'll remember the bit near the end when the Danish ships are burnt; in the book it's riveting, I read it about three times.  I've just downloaded the second book and think I may just have to have a little look now...

NORTHMAN by JD Hughes

5 out of 5 stars

Horror, Supernatural Thriller, Time Travel, Vikings

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 16 January 2013

GOSH! I hope Mr Hughes is proud of this, because he should be!

I've never read a horror/supernatural/thriller book before, at least, not for years and years - it's not a genre that interests me at all, but I am hugely interested in all things Viking, and I thought the title and cover were terrific! Also, I had already read a short story by Hughes, so I knew he could write.

The beginning of the book is excellent, but it was the last 30% that I liked the best, and the ending is stunning, something I hadn't predicted at all - isn't it great when that happens? A weak ending can, for me, take a book down from 4/5 stars to 3/4, but this ending took it up a notch! I loved the Dark Ages historical element to the whole of the last section.

Other things I really liked - the sudden introduction of minor characters, giving cameo appearances in order to illustrate something. That's a literary device I use myself as I find it very effective, and I certainly did here. Also: the descriptions of the sociological state of England, the sometimes very funny dialogue ("Strange chap. Should have been a philosopher, you know. Or a serial killer"). My favourite part of all was a long scene with archaelogical assistant Martin, and pilot Peterson, at about 70%, but I can't say what it is here, because it would spoil the plot. Can I just say that I adore anything to do with time travel? Brilliantly done, I read it several times.

I imagine other reviews have or will say that this should be made into a film. I don't think it should be made into a film so much as a BBC serial - about 10 episodes, I think!

I can't say anything too much about how the story ends, because it would give away the whole point of it, but I'll say that if you love the idea of going back to change the past, little realising the impact this will have on the future, then Northman is for you!

It's not an 'easy read', but it's worth it. And I'll say it again - what on earth is JD going to write after this? I wait in wonder!