Hrolf Kraki's Saga

Hrolf Kraki, Heir of Darkness. His father had been slain in a heinous ambush: his grandfather in an act of brotherly murder. His blood was of the Skjoldungs, and even the most unremarkable seers knew his life would be as sweeping as it was savage. From the rolling midnight years before his birth, to the unshakeable love and twisted fates that brought him to the throne of his ravaged Icelandic kingdom. Hrolf Kraki's magnificent saga is the story of an age of runes and ravishments, of blades and omens, and of a man who ruled and was ruled by an inescapable destiny.

I find Poul Anderson pretty uneven. I tend to either really like his books, or be left cold by them. I also tend to enjoy his fantasy much more than his science fiction (for which he is probably better known). This book is obviously in the former camp. For my money it's probably his best book (even better than _The Broken Sword_ or _Three Hearts & Three Lions_ which mine a similar vein). In essence this is a novelisation of the fragmentary saga tales of the Danish King Hrolf Kraki. Pulling together elements from various sources, Anderson creates a unified tale of a Nordic King Arthur...actually going back a generation in order to set the stage for this tragic tale.

I think that Anderson's greatest achievement here is his ability to show more convincingly portray the world of the mythic North. He gives us vivid details that truly bring it to life and the harsh grandeur of Midgard is effectively protrayed as equal parts the land of men and playground of the gods. It's a work that, for me at least, really captures that "Northern thing" that so enamoured Tolkien and Lewis and satisfies me when I'm hungering for such a thing myself.

The characters are sufficiently mythic, yet still flawed and human enough to hold the reader's interest and the encroachment of the supernatural into the human world is never overdone, displaying the characteristic wildness and unpredictability of the sagas from which they come. show less

Another from the Gateway sale, the paperback has long been in my library. This is Anderson’s take on the varied sources for the story. Similar to many other sagas (I saw similarities to Njal’s Saga at the end), this is a story about the fortunes and misfortunes of the Danish Scylding dynasty. Well-written, but it’s more of a novel than a saga so it might not be to everyone’s taste.

Recommended.

Doomed heroes, fair queens, eldritch creatures, viking battles, cameo appearances by Beowulf & Odin, magic swords, tragic incest, the bonds of brotherhood, Saxons, Danes, evil sorcerers, berserkers, fragments of the old Germanic "Bear's Son" folktales, fjords, viking ships, earthquakes, broken shields, the holmgang, rich chieftains handing out arm rings......this book has about every viking trope there is.

wyrd bið ful aræd writ large. such great fun, if you're into such things.

A great retelling of the myth of the tragic Viking King. Dark, sad and beautiful. Desperate battles, bitter feuds, doomed love and the end of everything.

Poul Anderson set out to reconstruct the story of Hrolf Kraki, Denmark's legendary king. I think this is an interesting result and very readable.
I read it twice.

Very nice and not-too-loose retelling of a prose saga from Old Norse!