Nuanced, professionally researched, and exciting. The Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg is a rare triple threat to your free time.
Norse mythic novels were all the rage about fifteen years ago. These ranged in quality, so when I was approached with this title, I was at first a bit skeptical. Until I did some laymen (google) research:
“Åsa Haraldsdottir of Agder was a legendary Norwegian Viking Age queen regnant of the petty kingdom of Agder. According to sagas referencing the clan Yngling…”
Yes, the character in question existed, and after reading just a few chapters in, I was astounded at the quality. We follow Asa, the future and titular Norse Queen, in a coming-of-age adventure to recover her birthright and avenge the events that lead her to be the last remaining member of her family. Drama ensues, and we are treated to a winding mystical, sometimes even fantastical, story.
Wittenberg has navigated a difficult road in this retelling, spinning compelling drama while keeping true to the larger details. This is a historical drama. This is at times, a fantasy piece. This is a love story with plenty of action and enough rituals and historical references to make a history nerd not troll it into oblivion. Beyond this I found the author’s writing style fantastic. Touching upon my original fears, I was worried this book would end up being a bit oversimple; if I were to do a cliche faux pas and judge it by the cover. That is not the case. The descriptions are wonderful, and really help ground the plot. In addition, the characters are all well-written. Even the main antagonist is sympathetic – full of the moral grey that an unforgiving world requires.
Ahh, but nothing is ever perfect. Insanabile cacoethes scribendi. Latin, an incurable vice of writing, but it applies here (taken literally). Norse Queen follows a rhythm like most others, the old symphonic structure. The middle by this is usually the place that is softer, sweeter; it drags. This book is no exception. Also, I was not entirely convinced that two characters (the romantic aspect aforementioned) would form a believable pair. Still, given the conclusion, this is not enough to really knock the book.
The Norse Queen is a well-written and exciting tale. Wittenberg’s writing is nuanced, descriptive, and vivid. Her plotting, and storytelling is also superb. I was happy to have been given the opportunity to read this wonderful tale, and I fully believe this book has all the key ingredients of any good historical fiction and will delight fans for years to come.
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