Review - God of Vengeance (The Rise of Sigurd 1) by Giles Kristian

 

God of Vengeance

(The Rise of Sigurd 1)

By Giles Kristian 

 

IT BEGAN WITH THE BETRAYAL OF A LORD BY A KING...

Norway 785 AD. When King Gorm puts Jarl Harald's family to the sword, he makes one fatal mistake - he fails to kill Harald's youngest son, Sigurd.

His kin slain, his village seized, his taken as slaves, Sigurd wonders if the gods have forsaken him. Hunted by powerful men, he is unsure who to trust and yet he has a small band of loyal followers at his side. With them - and with the help of the All-Father, Odin - he determines to make a king pay for his treachery.

Using cunning and war-craft, Sigurd gathers together a fellowship of warriors - including his father's right-hand man Olaf, Bram (who men call Bear), Black Floki who wields death with a blade, and the shield maiden Valgerd, who fears no man - and convinces them to follow him.

For, whether Ódin is with him or not, Sigurd WILL have vengeance. And neither men nor gods had best stand in his way . . .

 

Review

 

I love to read a well throughout and scripted battle scene; I think it takes a lot of skill to portray the horrors of battle in words, and to make it as realistic as possible. This novel is battle scene heavy, it is literally one fight to the next with hardly a rest in between. To be honest, I thought there was a little too much warfare in this novel and some of it came across as really unrealistic. 

 

Saying that however, the story, if you skip all the battle scenes, is really fast-paced. I did enjoy this novel, but I thought if there had been more story, and less fighting, it would have appealed to me a little more than it did.