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    The Long Ships
    The Long Ships
    The Long Ships
    Audiobook20 hours

    The Long Ships

    Written by Frans G. Bengtsson and Michael Chabon

    Narrated by Michael Page

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Bengtsson's hero, Red Orm-canny, courageous, and above all lucky-is only a boy when he is abducted from his Danish home by the Vikings and made to take his place at the oars of their dragon-prowed ships. Orm is then captured by the Moors in Spain, where he is initiated into the pleasures of the senses and fights for the Caliph of Cordova. Escaping from captivity, Orm washes up in Ireland, where he marvels at those epicene creatures, the Christian monks, and from which he then moves on to play an ever more important part in the intrigues of the various Scandinavian kings and clans and dependencies. Eventually, Orm contributes to the Viking defeat of the army of the king of England and returns home an off-the-cuff Christian and a very rich man, though back on his native turf new trials and tribulations will test his cunning and determination.

    Packed with pitched battles and blood feuds and told throughout with wit and high spirits, Bengtsson's book is a splendid adventure that features one of the most unexpectedly winning heroes in modern fiction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    TranslatorMichael Meyer
    Release dateDec 5, 2017
    ISBN9781681688961
    The Long Ships
    Author

    Frans G. Bengtsson

    Frans G. Bengtsson, Swedish essayist, novelist, poet, and biographer, was born in Tossjö, near Kristianstad, as the son of the manager of an estate in Skåne. Bengtsson was the first successful practitioner of the informal essay in Sweden, a genre that he virtually introduced to the literature of his own country. His best-known novel is Röde orm (1941-45, The Long Ships), a Viking saga written in an ornate and romantic style.

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    Reviews for The Long Ships

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    • 3/5
      Picaresque. The story is told as told stories. Could have been shorter. Has an Edgar Rice Burroughs quality, but some humor. From the NYRB out-of-print series.
    • 5/5
      51. The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtssontranslation: from Swedish Michael Leverson Meyerintroduction: Michael Chabonpublished: — 1941 - Röde Orm Sjöfarare i västerled ("Red Orm on the Western Way") — 1945 - Röde Orm : hemma och i österled ("Red Orm at Home and on the Eastern Way") — 1955 - translated and combined. — 2010 - (crappy) introductionformat: 509 page paperbackacquired: Octoberread: Nov 23 - Dec 3rating: 4½This is fun. A viking adventure story that explores the remarkable world of 1000 AD. It's never too serious, and yet always interesting in a kind of serious way. And it's told in a restrained and straight-faced humor, a type that is tamped down underneath the adventure, and mainly adds some charm to all this international violence and missionary games.I don't think I want to say much more about it. If you think you might like it, then I recommend it highly, and if you think you couldn't care less about Vikings and wanton pillaging, I think you still might like the tough little hero at the center this world, and the way he experiences it.Negative side note: I was really annoyed by the introduction by [[Michael Chabon]]. He had nothing intelligent to say, so he just spat out that kind of empty praise that can have the backhanded affect of making a book seem worse because it's inconsistent with what he implies it is. Positive side note: I had Club Read in mind when I chose this, and particularly rebeccanyc. Thanks to all who encouraged me (some a few times) to read it. I'm grateful.
    • 5/5
      Wow, what a gem to find! The narrator was phenomenal. Just dive into this one.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book, which relates the story Orm, as he goes "a-Viking" in a vividly recreated 10th Century. There is nothing boring about his adventures, and I think this would be an enjoyable book even for those with no interest in Vikings or the 10th Century. Orm is an irresistible character, despite his frequent violence, and a reader can almost understand his enthusiasm for plundering and killing. I have read that this book is based on extensive historical research and while Orm is fictional, actual historical events intersect with his life. More than that, the setting and the environment in which Orm lived are historically accurate, and one of the strengths of the book is that the voice of Orm is so authentic, with no intrusive hint of 20th century mores or prejudices. Even when touching on important themes (for example the conflicts between encroaching Christianity and the local Paganism), there is an underlying humor. For example, Orm muses, "We men of the north do not worship gods except in times of necessity, for we think it is foolish to weary them with babbling." And when he is being pressured to convert to Islam, he thinks, "Still, I dare say he is the best god in these parts, and he has already provided us with gold. If he can manage to provide a few women too, he will rise even higher in my estimation."
    • 5/5
      I adored this. It's the NYRB reissue of two books originally written in the 1940s: the tale of Red Orme, a Viking chieftain, and his 10th-century life of voyaging, plundering, fighting, and—yes—becoming a family man. Swashbuckling, action-packed, but also oddly sweet, with an undercurrent of dry-as-a-bone, deeply funny humor throughout. This was exactly what I needed to read, plus I learned a lot referencing maps and looking up names as I went. For instance, Harald Bluetooth, the great king of Norway and Denmark, gave his name to Bluetooth wireless—"based on an analogy that the technology would unite devices the way Harald Bluetooth united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom," according to Wikipedia. But mostly this was pure fun, intelligent escapism, and recommended for everyone.
    • 4/5
      This long novel, published in the 1940s in Swedish, has been regarded as one of the best historical novels ever. I wouldn't go that far myself, but I found it mostly an enjoyable and often amusing read, following the life and voyages of Orm Tostesson in the years around the end of the first millennium, told in a Norse saga style with voyages across Europe and the Balkans and Middle East, tales of battles, horrific massacres, treasure hunts and heroic rescues, weaved into real historical events and characters . Some of the sub-stories go on a bit and become a bit tiresome but there is mostly a good narrative drive and some great set pieces. I noticed a great example of a Viking curse: "may she toss perpetually in the whirlpool of Hell amongst sword-blades and serpents' fangs".
    • 4/5
      For a book full of war and murder this was a really fun read. It is a pure adventure novel, with Red Orm our viking hero travelling the the world fighting, killing, and loving. I’ll admit, it took a couple of chapters to get into before I really *got* the style of writing, but once I did it was so enjoyable.

      Orm starts out his viking life when he is kidnapped and forced to man the oars of a viking ship. He earns his place in the crew but before he can make his way home the ship is attacked and he is taken prisoner once more, a galley slave where he does nothing but row for years.

      Eventually he escapes this life and many, many more adventures are had.

      There is violence, a lot of fighting, and plenty of pillaging. War and gold, that’s what life is all about, isn’t it? But there is also religion and culture and births and all sorts of domestic life too. It is a really interesting book that is very wise to the lies people tell themselves about why they do certain things.

      And if that isn’t reason enough to read the book then maybe I should tell you that our hero is also a hypochondriac viking, bet you’ve never read about one of those before!
    • 3/5
      Even tho written relatively recently, this novel comes across as a Viking adventure saga with humor. A bit too long for the content, but fun. I can imagine this being a hit with young boys.
    • 4/5
      This wonderfully entertaining Viking epic is written in a very distinctive, dry style, with lots of action and dialogue and no analysis or moral, obviously in conscious imitation of the style of the Sagas, but also rather reminiscent of Sir Walter Scott at his best. We are encouraged to take the characters at face value, and enter into the surprisingly foreign moral world of the Norse warriors, where violence is always a more powerful argument than law or custom, property belongs to anyone strong enough to keep it, and human life is cheap. Bengtsson follows these ideas through to their logical conclusions and shows us how a society like that could - just about - function. Sometimes we have to admire the strength and determination of the warriors who manage to make their presence felt over most of the known world; sometimes it becomes so bizarre that we just have to laugh (rather like the opening of Asterix and the Vikings, where we are shown the practical problems that arise when no-one knows the meaning of fear - kids who won't eat their porridge, ships that keep colliding because no-one gives way, etc.).
    • 4/5
      The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson is a classic adventure story set in 900's in and around present day Scandinavia. The story follows the main protagonist Orm, or eventually Red Orm as his deeds are carried out. The story is written in a style similar to the original sagas using primarily verbs and nouns and matter of fact phrasing. Throughout the book is a very subtle sense of sarcasm and understatement which brings about a bit of dark humor. The author never really tells you what the characters are thinking. He is very light on exposition. The reader must discern that on their own, based on the words and actions of the characters. Also, the New York Review of Books edition has some excellent maps in the book which for me is always a plus. One of my many rules of thumb for picking a good book is, if it has a map, more than likely, its going to be entertaining. As for the story, needless to say, The Long Ships has much in the way of violence, sword fights, ship raids, galley slaves, loot and debauchery, duels of honor, and the wooing of maidens. The writing is reserved when it comes to sex, but its still there and its rather funny. The violence however is very descriptive, as in Bernard Cornwell descriptive, which is how I prefer it. There is also some very clever between-the-lines commentary on the Scandinavian religious transition from Odinistic heathenry to Christianity. Christian priests play a rather large part in the plot both for good and ill. Expectations and rules regarding the honor culture of the north also play an integral part in the story line. For me, the honor rules of hospitality and story telling were the most compelling aspects, for it was not over done, but it was not swept under the rug either. Bengtsson also throws in a bunch of historical Easter eggs too, which are fun to explore and dwell on. Overall a refreshing and engaging historical adventure which I highly recommend, especially if you enjoy learning about Vikings.
    • 4/5
      Entertaining Young Adult book about pirates. Middle Ages without the nastiness.
    • 4/5
      I've read this excellent historical fiction long time ago as YA but I bet I would enjoy it even today. Maybe I'll try.
    • 4/5
      As anyone who follows me on GoodReads already knows, I spent the first few chapters of The Long Ships pretty much just giggling at the character names. I kept imagining Danish King Harald Bluetooth* wandering around the tenth century equivalent of a supermarket looking like he was talking about himself, for instance. Toke, well, that's pretty self-explanatory. And then there's Brother Willibald, the Christian monk who comes home with Orm from his adventures in Ethelred the Undready's England. Heh. Willibald. And there's another man named Ugge the Inarticulate. I mean, come on.

      But then there's our hero, Orm. My reaction to this name only makes sense to fans of Walter Moers' Zamonia books, in which "Orm" is the name of the universal source of creative power, especially in literary terms. Here, of course, it merely means "serpent", and is usually accompanied by the epithet "red" because of his hair.

      So, the cover and the era in which this book is set and the ethnicity of its characters should give away that this is, in fact, a Viking novel, but what they won't necessarily tell you is that it is regarded as a veddy veddy literary work, bearing the aegis of no less an entity than the New York Review of Books, who published it as one of its NYRB Classics series,** which is how I came across it. And there is good reason for it to get this stamp, for it's an ambitious and interesting work; more than just an adventure tale (though it's a very good adventure tale), it's also the story, really, of how Scandinavia went from the rough, violent, pagan land as depicted in the sagas to the more settled, orderly, responsible and overwhelmingly Christian one of, say, Sigrid Undset's work.

      But don't let the high culture imprimatur deter you from the great fun to be had here, for The Long Ships has enough fun and fighting, and very funny imagery (like a huge stolen bell from a church in Asturia being hit, gong-style, at regular intervals, to help a bunch of untrained galley slaves row from Spain to Ireland) to satisfy even the guy who only wants to read Terry Brooks and David Eddings and Robert Jordan over and over again until the end of time (and yes, those guys really do exist; there's one on my old bar trivia team).

      For me, well, Orm reminds me a little bit of Jack/Bobby Shaftoe, Neal Stephenson's hilariously hapless bad ass adventurer from the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. He shares the Shaftoes' bumbling heroism, right from the start with how he comes to go a-Viking: he is knocked on the head while defending the family farm from the followers of Krok (Worst Viking Chieftain EVER, is Krok), who are on a provisioning raid. They bear away the sheep and the young man, whose mommy had kept him home for one more season because he was her favorite and was too young and delicate yet.

      But, he acquitted himself well before getting knocked out, even killed some of the raiding party, so he is allowed to join Krok, Toke and the gang on their rather slapstick voyage. As I said, Krok is the WVCE. But that's just the first bit of the book, which is basically told as Orm's life story, and once he's free of Krok (but he takes vengeance, oh yes he does, because he is a Danish Raider a-Viking) he starts gallavanting all about the known world, Moorish Spain, Ireland, Aenglaland... and, we learn later, his big brother spent quite a lot of time in Byzantium, which news drives most of the plot of the last quarter of the book.

      Really, the only thing I don't like about The Long Ships is the way the narrative is framed, though it's a common enough device. Throughout the story we are treated to authorial/narrative intrusions indicating what Orm said about a given situation as an old man. It's usually something wise and often something witty, but never enough of either to justify the constant intrusion and the robbing of scenes of any sense of jeopardy. See also Doctor Who.

      Maybe it's just George R.R. Martin's fault that this bothers me now? That makes me expect primary characters' danger to be real? At any rate, knowing ahead of time that the hero is going to make old bones often robs his story of some, or a lot of, its joy for me these days. I'd probably bitch about Conan the Cimmerian, too, nowadays, though maybe not because Conan!!!

      At any rate, Orm's Viking picaresque is still plenty enjoyable. And as an added bonus, depicting as it does a society in which "any man who could not understand poetry would be regarded as a poor specimen of a warrior", there is more than a little bit of what amount to tenth century poetry slams, in which burly, drunken, beardy men strive to outdo each other in witty and lyrical depictions of their adventures and, sometimes, pratfalls. I'm not sure how well their efforts survive this translation into English, but the flavor of them is still there in trace amounts, as is the overall dry wit of the narrative tone; Halldor Laxness did not invent this tone, he just won a Nobel with it. As have so many of his regional fellows over the years.

      The Long Ships is not necessarily Nobel material, but it's high quality entertainment -- rendered even more so by my contemporaneous choice to start playing Skyrim at long last. Skyrim is The Long Ships with dragons and lizard men, you guys. Well, sort of. At least it looks and sounds that way. But I haven't even found High Hrothgar yet, so, you know...

      *Who is not himself much of a character per se, but the events take place during his reign.

      **I had better just get this out right here: I am a big fan of NYRB Classics, and regard them as sort of my highbrow Angry Robot Books (which I doubt they'd appreciate) in that they are a go-to house for quality reading material when I want literary rather than genre fiction. They, like AR, have not yet let me down, at least inasmuch as what I've chosen from their offerings I have always, always liked. And lookie, they've sort of, kind of, taken a page from AR's playbook in that they now have a subscription program! Alas, it is dead tree only, and until my elbow/arm problems are sorted I'm ebook-only. I tweeted them about considering offering an ebook subscription but so far have gone ignored. Tristesse.
    • 4/5
      This book started out very well. I really liked the author's tongue-in-cheek depiction of the characters' very human foibles, especially with respect to the conversion of the Norsemen to Islam and Christianity. Then the plot began to drag, and the ending was entirely too neat. Still, worth a read to give one an insight into life as a Viking in the 10th century.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't quite as enthralled with The Long Ships as other LT readers have been, but it was good summer, swashbuckling, Swedish reading. (2011)
    • 4/5
      The Long Ships is an epic tale of the life of a viking with extraordinary luck, cunning and ambition. Orm is the hero and travels to far off places in search of viking plunder: treasure and women. It's great to live on a long ship to experience so much talk of luck and strategy. It seemed as if the voyage discussion was nearly an open forum to the man with the most well-spoken idea. They will kill a man if it means better luck or spare him if the group believes otherwise. All in all this book is a nice historical fiction that to me has a lot of the same characteristics and feel as Shogun by James Clavelle. Orm is a boy at the beginning and is kidnapped from his home to begin a voyage with a well known Chieftain. As that journey goes awry Orm is captured by Moors along with five other vikings. As they are enslaved as rowers on a Moorish boat for years, Orm is the only one of them who is able to pick up their captures' tongue. He earns great respect from the other vikings and, upon being set free from the boat, becomes the leader of this group of great warriors.The group is freed from the boat to join the service of "My Lord, Almorzar" a Moorish King. They win great regard working as his closest warriors. However, they soon have an opportunity to return home and they sail back to a very honorable welcome in King Harold's court. This is where Orm meets Ilva, Harold's daughter. They become separated and Orm yearns for this woman. This is when the spirit of the book changes slightly and focuses a bit on the love these vikings have for their women. In his pursuit of plunder in Ireland, Orm goes with the priest, who has promised treasure and safe passage and Ilva, from the King in London. Orm finds Ilva and the two of them return back to Norway. They bring the priest who has converted them both and has found great companionship with Ilva.Upon returning with their spoils, Orm earns chieftain status and sets up a great home far away from the royalty of Norway and with very few Christians. The priest gets to work trying to convert the barbarians without much success. Soon, Orm's brother, previously believed dead, tells Orm about a treasure. The adventure for this treasure is the final journey in which Orm and his sons set out for and bring home.
    • 4/5
      I find "Red Orm" and his family a good bunch to hang out with. He's certainly a person one could invite to dinner, and proof that a "Barbarian" is not a savage. This book argues against the glorification of violence, and the idea that plundering was all that those people were about. Meyer's translation certainly was fun to read. It was read from cover to cover three times.
    • 5/5
      Grand tales of high adventure as northmen go a-viking in pursuit of silver and gold across a tumultuous Europe of the Tenth Century A.D. are spun by Frans G. Bengtsson in “The Long Ships”. He brings alive this time when the continent trembled at the approach of the men in the dragon ships and people changed their religion at the whim of their Kings from the old pagan gods, to Christianity or to Islam. He depicts battles large and small, but also great feasts with ale and mead as well as contests where poets sling praise or insults in equal measure. These marvelous stories follow the engaging and very human hero Red Orm, he is a bit of a hypochondriac and frequently plagued by doubts as to the status of his ‘luck’. Orm’s adventures begin when he is a strapping young lad kidnapped by Krok’s raiding party in the first tale called “The Long Voyage”. Orm becomes a valued member of the crew and his facility with language puts him in a leadership position when he and his men enter the service of the Muslim Lord Almansur of the Moorish caliphate in Spain. The second story “In King Ethelred’s Kingdom” finds Red Orm at the center of an invasion of England where a propitious conversion to Christianity advances his romance of a Princess. The third story “In the Border Country”, finds Orm setting up his new home and meeting his less than welcoming neighbors. The fourth story is another voyage of adventure across the Russian steppes in search of “The Bulgar Gold”. Bengtsson was considered a major writer in advancing the art of the essay in Swedish, but he brings a warmth and humor to the telling of these tales and the reader shares his great sense of fun as each one unfolds. Written by Frans G. Bengtsson in Swedish during World War II the stories were translated by Michael Meyer and originally published in English in 1954. This 2010 edition has been published by the New York Review of Books with an enthusiastic introduction by author Michael Chabon.
    • 4/5
      Epic story about the life of a Dane at the turn of the first millenium. Orm was a Dane who was abducted by Vikings and made to row as they pillaged villages accessible from the sea. He spent time with the Islamic people who populated Spain and traveled to Ireland before returning home as a captain of his own ship. His last adventure took him up river and overland to the location of a hidden cache of gold and silver in present day Russia.Along the way the reader is regaled with stories of expeditions around Europe and encounters with the different cultures inhabiting the areas. There is much drinking, killing, story telling, bonding, reunions, christening, and adventure which are the way of life at the time. This book was a great tour of Europe.
    • 2/5
      I LOVED the first section of the book, but when we got into proselytizing and converting everyone to Christianity whether they want to or not, well, to hell with them all.
    • 5/5
      The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson is set during the 10th century AD and tells the life story of Orm Tostesson, known as Red Orm. This is a lusty Viking tale of adventure with much roaming, many battles, blood-feuds and a treasure hunt. Orm undertakes three major voyages during his life, two of which comprise the first half of the book, and the third which closes out the story. There is also a period between the first two voyages and the third when Orm builds his home in the wilderness, marries and raises a family.This saga of Red Orm is told in great detail and we learn of the various power struggles that were ongoing at the time, On one of his voyages he goes a Viking to England and brings home some very rich plunder. He also plays a part in some of the intrigues of various Scandinavian kings, and comes into contact with the might of the Christian church. Eventually he and his family become Christians and strive to help the church convert more people away from the old gods even though there was a great reluctance by the people to do so. At the best, Orm would be what I would call a pragmatic Christian.Although this story is told in a frank and straight forward manner, the author often uses humor to advance the plot. Orm is far from a saint, but even though he robs, plunders, takes slaves and murders, he does so in the spirit of the times. Overall, I found [The Long Ships] a fun, well written novel that tells a great yarn of lusty men and their strong willed women.
    • 5/5
      Holy wild, rollicking adventure story! I’ve wanted to set sail with Orm Tostesom and his crew ever since I picked up the NYRB reissue of the book that was originally published in 1944, a few years ago. It finally rose to the top of my book pile and I couldn’t be happier with the result. The fact that it was Frans Bengtsson’s only work of fiction drips with irony. Here you have a yarn spinner extraordinaire and he produces one work of fiction? Where’s the fairness in that?Bengtsson tells the story of Red Orm’s life from the time, as a boy, when he was abducted by the Vikings and forced to row from the north of Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. We continue to follow him on a total of three voyages during the course of many years around the year 1000 A.D. Along the way Orm ends up with his own crew and captains his own ship, takes on King Ethelred of England, and the Moors, learns the history of the Jews from one called Solomon, makes the acquaintance of Harald Bluetooth, King of Sweden, and falls in love with his daughter, accumulates a large fortune, becomes a Christian and a family man and goes on a treasure hunt. Whew! Non-stop action on every page, pitched battles, bloody skirmishes and high adventure, Bengtsson has filled his book with humor and utterly complicated characters and locales and a wonderful hero who will remain in my mind for a long time. Most importantly there was wild, wild fun on every page.The book’s opening paragraph will give you an idea of the flavor of the narrative, which I found totally engaging:”Along the coast the people lived together in villages, partly to be sure of food, that they might not depend entirely on the luck of their own catch, and partly for greater security; for ships rounding the Skanian peninsula often sent marauding parties ashore, both in the spring, to replenish cheaply their stock of fresh meat for the westward voyage, and in the winter, if they were returning empty-handed from unsuccessful wars. Horns would be blown during the night when raiders were thought to have landed, so that the neighbors might come to the assistance of those attacked; and the stay-at-homes of a good village would occasionally even capture a ship or two for themselves, from strangers who had not been sufficiently prudent, and so have fine prizes to show the wanderers of the village when the long ships came home for their winter rest.”So if you’re looking for a book you can sink into and be completely immersed in and an exciting narrative that takes you on long voyages and allows you to get to know the Vikings of old, this book is just the ticket. Remember to put your seatbelt on because you are in for quite a ride.
    • 5/5
      Here there be vikings!This is (relatively) recently back in print in English, and the new edition has a forward by Michael Chabon, in which he goes on about it like a maniac. One of the things I like about Michael Chabon is that you can always count on him for some solid hyperbole, so I wasn't taking it that seriously.By about the third page, I was convinced it was the best book I'd ever read, and by the tenth page, was wondering why anyone ever bothered writing a book after 1945. After the world has an epic novel about Red Orm, the hypochondriac viking, what more does it need? It is a novel where 99% of it is plot, Orm and company go gallivanting around the map of Europe c. 1000 AD, and periodically return home to participate in the ever-changing alliances and animosities of viking life in Scandinavia. The other 1% is really sly humor, and it's entertaining without undermining the core of sincerity of the story.I suppose one would have to be at least moderately interested in historical fiction, but that aspect isn't dry at all and although it references lots of actual battles and monarchs and events, it doesn't dwell on any of them in a tiresome way.I am giving everyone due notice that I am going to start using "viking" as a verb. I also might run away from home and join a viking crew, I haven't decided yet.
    • 5/5
      A good story and a better movie, whch I recall seeing in the Saturday NIght Spectacular Series at Yale many years ago.
    • 5/5
      The epic Saga of Red Orm's adventures and his progression from sickly boy to a mighty Viking chieftain, a saga complete with the form's standard deadpan humor and the alliterated verse stanzas. The first part deals with Orm's youth and his first tour with the Vikings, his subsequent capture by and slavery under the Andalusian king, which eventually leads to his success as a warrior and placement at the court as the head of the king's life-guard. The second part is about Orm's conversion to Christianity and the inherent troubles of that as well as a treasure-hunt which proves both lethal and lucrative. And, of course, every turn of the way includes an enormous amount of battle-axing and sword-fighting. This is as proper a story of Vikings as you can find outside of the Icelandic Sagas and it is just as exciting and funny as they are. I have no idea why I haven't gotten through this one before; it's a great story of late 10th century Sweden and its people and a hilarious yarn to boot. Although the language (intentionally dated even at their publication in the 1940s) takes a few pages to get used to, it is such a great story and I couldn't possibly recommend it more.
    • 5/5
      Awesome! I loved this book about the adventures of Red Orm, a Viking from the mid 900s. This book has everything. Kidnapping, enslavement, fighting, humor, love, and adventure. Along the way I learned a lot about the evolving religions of the time. The Norse gods, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all explored in a surprisingly evenhanded way. Also, I learned so much about daily life and family relationships at the time.The book is in 4 parts. Part 1, The Long Voyage, sucks you right in as you go on a sea-faring adventure with Red Orm. This is the part where he goes from adolescence to manhood and becomes a man worthy of being a Chieftan. He's a smart, fair, and brave man. This part was an interesting discussion of the religions of the time. Part 2 takes place in England with more battles and Orm's conversion to Christianity. Part 3 explores home life and marriage as Orm gives up his adventures to farm, raise a family, and build a church. Part 4 is another adventure to recover a treasure.Through all of this you meet interesting characters who show up again at unexpected moments. You see how communities interact with each other and how disputes are resolved. I also learned that Viking can be a verb - as in "to go a-viking". Awesome! The writing is fantastic - humorous, exciting, and intelligent. I highly recommend this book. It was great fun!
    • 4/5
      More fun than a historical novel should be allowed to provide! And the language, even in translation, is very elegant.
    • 5/5
      Swiftly moving, endlessly entertaining, and brimming with historically accurate 10th-century flavor, this recounts in Norse saga fashion the adventures of Orm Tostesson (aka "Red Orm"), beginning with his capture as a young lad by Vikings, where, initially taken as a slave, he quickly proves his mettle and is initiated into the group as one of their own, and is eventually elected chieftain. The book follows Orm as he travels far and wide, makes lifelong friendships (and a few enemies), fights battles on land and at sea, accumulates wealth, finds love, and eventually makes his way back home and settles down to a quiet family life...or so he thinks, because his adventures aren't over.Enormously popular in Sweden since its publication during the Second World War, it deserves to be more widely known in the States because so many people would love it if they read it. I only just heard of it recently, myself, and I'm sure glad I did, because since I read it I'll always fondly recall Red Orm and his friends Toke and Father Willibald. If you read it you'll feel as if they're your friends as well.***UPDATE 6/11/2011***Just finished reading it a second time, and I enjoyed it at least as much as the first time. I guess I have to move on to something else now. Sigh. I have no doubt I'll return to it in the future, though.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic read! Action graps you from the first page and doesn't let go for 503 pages. The story of tenth century Viking Red Orm from his childhood to old age. Read and enjoy.
    • 5/5
      An excellent swashbuckling tale of adventurous derring-do in the Viking Age. It's written in the tone and style of a Nordic Saga, like what Scott did for England in Ivanhoe with his faux-Medieval-speak, but mercifully more readable. The plot is in four episodic parts, like a TV serial they form a whole. By the end you feel like you have lived a long and lucky life of a Viking. It is historically accurate in terms of events and places and famous people. I sometimes had a hard time reconciling these characters psychologically with what I know from history - could the King Harald in this book have been so in real life? It's possible that in a world where simple brute force ruled doesn't require complicated people or situations, luckily for the author of adventure novels! Whatever the case it is an entertaining story, and unique for its Romanticization of the Viking Age, it has shaped a sense of heritage for generations of young readers in Scandinavia, and beyond.