Product Description

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: #18560 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

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

Awakes a world long disappeared
A dear friend who shares the same taste in of books gave me this thrilling Viking trilogy with the words "The beginning is slow and a bit off putting, but get through the first 100 pages and then you will enjoy every coming page." And she was absolutely right.

Roughly the first 100 pages I found difficult to read as it constantly introduces new characters and places and the author seems to be all over the place, with no focus and any real plot developing. So it was a bit of a drag, but suddenly everything seems to merge, seems to make sense and felt into its place.

The story begins in the year 1001 and the main character is Thorgils Leiffson, the natural son of a Norse Chief. He tells the story of his life.

The reader will encounter a world which is so utterly different from ours. Christianity and pagan religion co-exist and fight for supremacy. Life was hard, cruel and full of fights. I have never been really fascinated by Viking history and know hardly anything about it. I did never really like this time as I found it dark. However, Tim Severin masters the art of getting the reader to understand this world. One learns about the world long dead and forgotten. Forgotten? Well, you will be surprised how much of this world still lives on but we are not aware of the origins of our deep rooted habits. So this book and the two other volumes of the trilogy are more than just another action packed novel. One is wandering through this world and starts to discover it.

Tim Severin is described as an explorer and traveler and living in Ireland. Well, the reader will have no problems of seeing that he made very good use of his talents in this book or better in the trilogy. It is easy reading, but it is not simple.

After having finished I stared straight away No. 2 of the trilogy and the same happened with book No. 3. I believe other readers will feel the same, but bear in mind: do not give up during the first 100 pages!

Good read, slow to start.
This is eventually a good read, very slow to start and filled with a huge amount of detail on people and places which can be quite hard to follow in Icelandic/Norse/Greenalnd names!. The first half of the book is filled with childhood experiences which to be honest I was getting a little bored of, but for me it hugely improves in the second half with a little more action. In terms of fiction/history it is very good, bringing a lot of detail to 1000AD Viking and Norse lives.

Well worth a read
This historical fiction much in the Bernard Cornwell vein. The vikings make an excellent choice of subject matter and Tim Severin does very well in conjuring up images of life in the far northern margins of the inhabited world. Spreading the geographical sweep as far as Vinland (which I think refers to Canada or North America) was a nice touch too. It perhaps does'nt have quite have the degree of suspense you get with a Bernard Cornwell book but it's certainly well worth a read and I recommend it. The next book in the serious is eqally good too.