Review - Odin's Game by Tim Hodkinson

 

Odin's Game

(The Whale Road Chronicles Book 1)

By Tim Hodkinson

 

Not everyone will survive, but who will conquer all in Odin's game?

AD 915.

In the Orkney Isles, a young woman flees her home to save the life of her unborn child. Eighteen years later, a witch foretells that evil from her past is reaching out again to threaten her son.

Outlawed from his home in Iceland, Einar Unnsson is thrown on the mercy of his Uncle, the infamous Jarl Thorfinn 'Skull Cleaver' of Orkney. He joins forces with a Norse-Irish princess and a company of wolfskin-clad warriors to become a player in a deadly game for control of the Irish sea, where warriors are the pawns of kings and Jarls and the powerful are themselves mere game pieces on the tafl board of the Gods.

Together they embark on a quest where Einar must fight unimaginable foes, forge new friendships, and discover what it truly means to be a warrior. As the clouds of war gather, betrayal follows betrayal and Einar realises the only person he can really trust is himself. 

Review:

The most important thing about historical fiction is authenticity, and this novel has it by the bucket loads. Not only is this book historical, I hate the word accurate, preferring believable, and that is exactly what the historical backdrop is, believable.

Odin’s Game has the essence of the old saga’s about it - the daring adventures and the scenery from the Orkney Isles, Ireland and Iceland, are wonderfully portrayed. It is very clear, for anyone who has any understanding of this era, that Hodkinson has really done his homework. I really certainly be looking out for the next book in what is promising to be an unputdownable series.