Eirik The Red and Other Icelandic Sagas
by Gwyn Jones (Translator)
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Selected by Gwyn Jones--the eminent Celtic scholar--for their excellence and variety, these nine Icelandic sagas include "Hen-Thorir," "The Vapnfjord Men," "Thorstein Staff-Struck," "Hrafnkel the Priest of Frey," "Thidrandi whom the Goddesses Slew," "Authun and the Bear," "Gunnlaug Wormtongue," "King Hrolf and his Champions," and the title piece.Tags
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Some of the sagas in this collection really wouldn't have been out of place in Tolkein's [b:Unfinished Tales|797114|Unfinished Tales|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1207407366s/797114.jpg|2961645]. They read very much like rough early drafts of tales from Middle Earth.
The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.
Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good show more read.
The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall. show less
The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.
Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good show more read.
The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall. show less
Some of the sagas in this collection really wouldn't have been out of place in Tolkein's [b:Unfinished Tales|797114|Unfinished Tales|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1207407366s/797114.jpg|2961645]. They read very much like rough early drafts of tales from Middle Earth.
The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.
Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good show more read.
The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall. show less
The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.
Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good show more read.
The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall. show less
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- Canonical title
- Eirik The Red and Other Icelandic Sagas
- Original publication date
- 1961
- People/Characters
- Eirik the Red; Hrolf Kraki; Thorir; Thorstein Staff-struck; Hrafnkel Hallfredsson; Thidrandi (show all 8); Authun; Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
- Important places
- Iceland
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Statistics
- Members
- 407
- Popularity
- 75,983
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 6
