Robert Ferguson (1) (1948–)

Wow…that was a slog. I wanted to love this book, as I’m way into Viking culture right now, but man, I couldn’t. Unfortunately it was more about who was king, when, and where they ruled and who they tried to attack. I was hoping it would delve more into the mythology and daily life stuff, but that never really happened. I also found fault in the chronology, it was all over the place jumping between years. It felt like it started to try to take it on a linear path, but that was soon dissolved. I know writing this book must have been an undertaking as there was so much lost to history, but a when a book tells you that something might have happened one way, but it could have happened a completely different way, and we will never really know, it is hard to think it credible. The other issue I had was the similarity of names, Olaf and Olav, and Hakon and Hakon and Hakon. They all had surnames, or defining characteristics, if the names are that close, stick with Hakon the Good every time you mention that Hakon. If he is just called Hakon, the reader has a hard time divining if the Hakon referred to there is Hakon the Good, Hakon the Bad, or even Hakon the Ugly…sorry bad joke there…

Again, I understand so much has been lost to history and most of it will we never know, and that makes writing a book about it so difficult. But it didn’t also need to be so difficult to read…… (altro)