A Viking story, very similar to Treece's Viking's Dawn. Beorn, an orphaned Icelander, is 'adopted' by Vikings and grows up sharing the hardships of the Viking way of life. It's all about being a man and fighting bravely and ensuring that you face death with a smile. Little thought is given to the lives of those who suffer these predatory sea-borne brigands. It is written in the style of the sagas and includes incidents from them and genuine period poetry.
But there are moments when Treece encapsulates profundities in just a few words. For that, he must be reckoned a great writer.
Selected quotes:
- "Greek ... was like trying to read the thorns in a bush." (Ch 4)
- "But it is against the will of the gods to let a man's days run too smoothly with laughter. It is the sort of pattern they will not weave, even though warp and weft seem set to pass the cloth out clean from the loom." (Ch 11)
- "Though he was older now, he had known more mealtimes than meals in the time since he had left Iceland." (Ch 13)
- "Five times he was closer to death than the shod foot is to earth." (Ch 13)
- "If this place is too quiet for you, then you must do what many young hounds do, and go sniffing the hedgerows for yourself." (Ch 13)
A very boyish boys' own adventure. August 2021; 122 pages
- The Viking trilogy: Viking's Dawn , The Road to Miklagard, and Viking's Sunset
- Legions of the Eagle: Romano-British adventure
- The Golden Strangers: A story from prehistory
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