Product Description

Set in an ancient Viking world full of brooding Norse mythology and bloodthirsty battles, VIKING - Odinn's Child is the stunning first volume in an epic historical fiction trilogy. Our story begins in the year 1001 and the toddler, Thorgils Leiffson, son of Leif the Lucky and Thorgunna, arrives on the shores of Brattahlid in Greenland to be brought up in the fostercare of a young woman - Gudrid. Thorgils is a rootless character of quicksilver intelligence and adaptability. He has inherited his mother's ability of second sight and his destiny lies beyond the imagination of those around him. Virtually orphaned, he is raised by various mentors, who teach him the ancient ways and warn him of the invasion of the 'White Christ' into the land of the 'Old Gods'. Thorgils is guided by a restless quest for adventure and the wanderlust of his favoured god, Odinn. His fortunes take him into many dangerous situations as well as to the brink of death by execution, in battle, disease and shipwreck...Packed with wonderfully reimagined Viking sagas and adventures, and fascinating and unique characters, VIKING - Odinn's Child gives historical novel writing a new dimension.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3658 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Set in an ancient Viking world full of brooding Norse mythology and bloodthirsty battles, VIKING - Odinn's Child is the stunning first volume in an epic historical fiction trilogy. Our story begins in the year 1001 and the toddler, Thorgils Leiffson, son of Leif the Lucky and Thorgunna, arrives on the shores of Brattahlid in Greenland to be brought up in the fostercare of a young woman - Gudrid. Thorgils is a rootless character of quicksilver intelligence and adaptability. He has inherited his mother's ability of second sight and his destiny lies beyond the imagination of those around him. Virtually orphaned, he is raised by various mentors, who teach him the ancient ways and warn him of the invasion of the 'White Christ' into the land of the 'Old Gods'. Thorgils is guided by a restless quest for adventure and the wanderlust of his favoured god, Odinn. His fortunes take him into many dangerous situations as well as to the brink of death by execution, in battle, disease and shipwreck...Packed with wonderfully reimagined Viking sagas and adventures, and fascinating and unique characters, VIKING - Odinn's Child gives historical novel writing a new dimension.

About the Author
Tim Severin, explorer, traveller, author, film-maker and lecturer has made many expeditions, most recently in search of Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe, and has written books about all of them. Odinn's Child, volume one of the VIKING trilogy, is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Viking tales
I agree with the first review. It started very slowly and it seemed like one of those books that you could put down and easily forget about. But I didn't give up and after the first 8 or nine chapters the story got much better and the life of the mine charector began to unfold. Once past the slow start it gets much better and by the end of the final chapters you just have to order the next to books so that you get find out what happens.
All together it is quite a good read. And I would recomend it to anyone who likes a good historical novel.

Short on story, long on education.
I'm in total agreement with the other three star reviewers here. I'd write this book up as Fictional History rather than Historical Fiction! For example, Bernard Cornwell, with whom Severin bears comparison, creates and intriguing character and sets a great quest against a compelling historical narrative. Severin seems to do the opposite - the historical detail is marvellous (and it's obvious that Severin has a genuine knowledge of the Viking era), but the quest and the character just aren't there. Everything else is great - his writing is great, dialogue is good, settings are excellent, but the paucity of plot is very evident.

Case in point - what does Thorgils want? Err, dunno! He seems to just be a passive observer in the story. He gets shunted from one place to another, but what he wants and where he's going simply don't exist. Severin sems to have just dropped in a few scenarios to beef up the 'story' - a war scene, some supernatural goings-on, a shipwreck etc etc, but these seem to be there just because they can be and not for any real plot development. The meat of a plot is desire - what does the character want and how is he going to get it? Thorgils just seems to get blown by the wind, and as such, so is Severin's plot.

In short, for educational reading, this is outstanding. It's like a enjoyable historical textbook, but there is barely meat on the bones. I will read the other two in the trilogy, but that's only because I've already got them. However, if I hadn't, this first effort wouldn't have me rushing to Waterstones to get the next two. Difficult to choose stars here - 3 seems a bit harsh but 4 is flattering. Three and a half!

It's different
This book was an enjoyable read an i will be buying the next two books in the series. However i have recently been reading the Roman Legion series by Simon Scarrow, The Caesar series by Conn Iggulden and the Alexander series by Valerio Masssimo Manfredi and i much preferred these books to Severin's effort, and would recommend those books before reading this one. Maybe it's because the story is wrote in first person that causes a distraction. however, the stroy seems to be accurate and is very interesting to read about the vikings in a fiction story as there is not to many about at the moment and it does make a nice change to read about other stuff than romans. This first volume does not have much fighting action in compared to Igguldon or Scarrow, so that is going to be your choice whether that is good or bad, personally i found the story a bit dull at times and needed a couple more fights in, but thats just my opinion. The first main struggle with the book is the amount of names that are thrown at you in the first 100 pages or so which is extremely confusing, as many of the characters are not mentioned again throughout the rest of the first novel (i hav'nt read the others yet so the may show up in there).

I would recommend reading this book as it was an enjoyable read after the first 100 page struggle, however if you haven't tried reading Manfredi, Scarrow etc, i would try there first as their books are more enjoyable, but still give this book a chance.