Customer Reviews

The making of an active reader - By: R. Barlow, 25 Jun 2008
The problem with any Scandinavian saga for a modern (non-academic) reader is that the culture no longer existsin which it is both a duty & a source of honour to recognise & gloryin one's ancestors. Reading a saga becomes, therefore, either a study of medieval Icelandic culture or an engrossing tale of chivarly, blood-feuds & romance hiding beneath a thick layer of geneology.

This particular collection of Icelandic sagas deals enirely with mortal men, which may put off some of those looking primeraly for Odin & the like. What Eirik the Red provides is a detailed & insightful cross-section of Icelandic society after the invasion of the Norwegians fleeing their new-formed kingdom. Particularly interesting is the discovery of America by the Greenlanders, several centuries before Columbus. I would heartily recommend this collection for anyone with more than a passing interestin medieval Scandinavian culture, but would add that the plethora of names & places mentioned requires the reader to be fully awake!