Customer Reviews

10 reviews

• Babyowl

  
  A true Skald!
  
  John Ingham has woven a true 'Skald-spell' which carries the reader headlong into the visceral and brutal world of the Vikings from the very first lines. Written in alliterative verse, Ingham sustains a taut, pacy narrative across nearly 400 pages.
  
  Elements I particularly enjoyed were the bawdy humor, a compelling mix of supernatural occurrences and gritty reality in the narrative arc, and the sense that these lines were written by an expert deeply and passionately immersed in the language and lives of these extraordinary people.
  
  Striking also were lines of lyrical beauty and musicality which for me alluded to the spirituality and power of nature as a force in Viking times, for example: "to the boy each tree told its tale. / Each tree sang its life song" or "Paradise reaches beyond its own secret perfection.'
  
  Notable too is Ingham's writing about birds - earthy and precise and beautiful:
  'Knots of little waders twisted,
  Piping their calls over salt marshes
  While summer's swallows sped south.'
  
  Blood-Eagle saga is a tour-de-force and would make a smashing film. Dive in.. and enjoy.

• R Benwell

  Blood Eagle is a tremendous adventure.
  
  Its epic form and clever wordplay never once get in the way of the story, which is brutal and exciting, but human and humorous.
  
  I look forward to the sequel very much, so we can set sail with the Vikings once again.
  
  It'll be different from anything else you've read (for a century or two, probably), but pour a flagon of ale (or a healthy, modern alternative), light the hearth fire, and jump back in time for Snorri's story. You'll be glad you did.

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