Title: The Norse Queen
Author: Johanna Wittenberg
Publisher: Shellback Studio
Published Date: 7th March 2020
Page Count: 322
ISBN: 978-1734566406
Price: $13.99
Reviewer: Gwendoline SK Terry (3rd April 2024)
Blurb
Ninth century Norway, the dawn of the Viking era, — a land shattered into thirty warring kingdoms. A woman could seize power, if she was bold enough. Daughter of a Norse king, fifteen-year-old Åsa dreams of becoming a shieldmaiden. When she spurns a powerful warlord, he rains hellfire on her family, slaughtering her father and brother and taking her captive. To protect her people, Åsa must wed her father’s killer. To take vengeance, she must become his queen.
Review
Fantastic, well-researched, and richly detailed story. Intense! I’m pretty sure I held my breath from the death of Åsa’s brother and father all the way to her being dragged back to Borre by Olaf after her failed attempt to flee. The Norse Queen was as educational as it was entertaining, and I appreciated the index at the end of the novel.
I couldn’t make my mind up on Olaf and Heid. Although Heid ended up helping Åsa, I didn’t like her that much, though Heid’s motives for hating Åsa’s dad were justified by the end. Olaf was a realistic portrayal of a young man desperate for his father’s approval, and I absolutely loved reading about his life with the merchants and trading with the Finns, but I was relieved that Åsa didn’t marry him.
The völva’s chants, rituals and seiðr magic were fascinating, but I didn’t like the outright magic near the end of the book, it ruined the realism of the story. The magic was entirely too convenient and abrupt – eighty per cent of the novel was realistic, then suddenly Åsa is flapping about as a falcon to spy on the enemy. All other suggestions of something mystical throughout the book were explainable based on the beliefs of the time or realistic reactions to hallucinogenic plants, but the falcon scenes were too much. The corpse rising in the grave mound with Ulf was a bit far, but that could be reasoned away as a panic attack and lack of oxygen from being buried alive, his mind playing tricks on him. Åsa’s battle scene with the magic from Heid’s followers made me roll my eyes so hard that I thought they’d pop out of my head.
gwensalir 