Frans G. Bengtsson (1894–1954)

Perhaps the most delicious aspect of this delightful novel about marauding Northmen is that the joy Bengsston had writing it radiates from every page. The story begins when youngest son, Orm, seventeen or so and already a strapping fellow, is held back from going on a plundering voyage with his father and brother by his mother. Well, wouldn't you know, raiders come along, led by Krok, and kidnap him. Among these men Orm soon proves himself a valiant and intelligent member of the crew. There show more are various adventures and misadventures, in Spain, in Ireland and England, in Denmark where King Harald holds court, and beyond, even down the Dneiper to find buried treasure. It is at the court of the King that Orm meets the lovely Ylva, daughter of Harald, but he can't have her until he proves himself worthy. But it isn't at all an "and then and then" sort of adventure novel. What makes it rise far above that is the dialogue, the spontaneous poetry, and Bengsston's slyly hilarious way of crafting a description or giving out information of the thought processes of these (mostly) men. At all times these Vikings find hilarious work-arounds to justify their greed and to balance it with their (often self-serving and malleable) concepts of honor. An example: Orm is huge, obviously, and insanely strong and healthy, and yet he is a bit of a hypochondriac. He worries about catching colds, is convinced at one point, when injured, that he is doomed since the lice have left his hair. It's never over-done, but such details make Orm fully human. I took my time reading it so as to savor every word. It is definitely a book I would love to listen to too. ***** show less

An absolute classic of adventure fiction, bounding along with energy and bravura and lashings of sly, ironic wit, following the exploits of Red Orm the Danish Viking who, despite his mother's best efforts to keep him at home, ends up haring off on a lengthy voyage against his will. Despite this apparently unpromising start, Orm fairs well at first and it looks as if all is going to go his way, but alas, luck, an all-important component of Viking life, goes astray and he ends up a galley show more slave for seven years BUT THAT'S JUST THE START. This tale has barely warmed up before they're sneaking across from Spain to Ireland with the biggest bell in Christendom. Modern readers, like myself, may occasionally find one's attention slipping as it struggles to find purchase on the largely plotless series of events that unfolds on the page, because this is a Life, and Lives tend to be plotless, though not sub-plotless. It's episodic, but those episodes are juicy and amazing and hair-raising.

There are any number of historical novels and series and fantasies epic and grimdark for which, if one was looking for influences beyond the obvious, this must surely be the motherlode. Judgment on the Viking's antics and atrocities are very much left to the reader, but there is no doubt in their own mind that they are fully in accordance with their own rules and standards of behaviour, and the propensity for violence, rape and pillage is belied by a way of living that works and allows for functioning society with a capacity for justice, redress, fairness and progress. The rise of Christianity features heavily on the story, and while the book doesn't suggest it's a civilising influence per se - though there are occasions when it mitigates against a more sensible ruthlessness - it definitely suggests a transition of sorts, a great sea-change of which the cast are blissfully ignorant.

Big, muscular, funny, fast, filled with speeches about theology, women, law, wisdom, gold, the joys of fighting and ale and all sorts of odd digressions with wandering Irish jesters and forlornly randy magisters, this is a gem of a book that completely immerses the reader in its world. show less

An excellent swashbuckling tale of adventurous derring-do in the Viking Age. It's written in the tone and style of a Nordic Saga, like what Scott did for England in Ivanhoe with his faux-Medieval-speak, but mercifully more readable. The plot is in four episodic parts, like a TV serial they form a whole. By the end you feel like you have lived a long and lucky life of a Viking. It is historically accurate in terms of events and places and famous people. I sometimes had a hard time reconciling show more the characters psychologically with what I know from history - could the King Harald in this book have been so in real life? They seem too simple and not entirely human. Whatever the case it is an entertaining story, which is all the author intended, and unique for its influential Romanticization of the Viking Age, according to library check-out statistics it's one of the most popular books for generations of young readers in Scandinavia, and beyond. show less

This wonderfully entertaining Viking epic is written in a very distinctive, dry style, with lots of action and dialogue and no analysis or moral, obviously in conscious imitation of the style of the Sagas, but also rather reminiscent of Sir Walter Scott at his best. We are encouraged to take the characters at face value, and enter into the surprisingly foreign moral world of the Norse warriors, where violence is always a more powerful argument than law or custom, property belongs to anyone show more strong enough to keep it, and human life is cheap. Bengtsson follows these ideas through to their logical conclusions and shows us how a society like that could - just about - function. Sometimes we have to admire the strength and determination of the warriors who manage to make their presence felt over most of the known world; sometimes it becomes so bizarre that we just have to laugh (rather like the opening of Asterix and the Vikings, where we are shown the practical problems that arise when no-one knows the meaning of fear - kids who won't eat their porridge, ships that keep colliding because no-one gives way, etc.). show less