I was especially delighted by the juxtaposition of English and Danish/Norse history and ...
932177
It seemed as though the spirit of the Icelandic sagas was channeled in these novels.  The only negative was the absence of a period-appropriate map that would have provided a more concrete sense of geographic space.  The scope of the novels over time expanded my perspective on Scandanavian history and culture.  I was especially delighted by the juxtaposition of English and Danish/Norse history and culture, sometimes in sequential novels and sometimes in the same story.
3076935
I was asked to review this book by the publishing company Hourly History LTD.  I was happy to do so as it is about an era of history that interests me greatly.  I was also intrigued by their concept of providing books that can be read in an hour yet be comprehensive utilizing succint, straightforward language.  I read the book in about 45 minutes and found it to be eminently readable and certainly straightforward in outlook.

The Introduction outlines who and what the Vikings were, promising a more balanced look as farmers, traders or even craftsmen as opposed to the bloodthirsty brute capped with a horned helmet and swinging an axe we think of when considering the Vikings.  They were some of the latter but not always so and this book explains that.

Chapter One defines the word viking and examines their home life in Scandinavia and the fact that geography led them to become ship builders.  Chapter Two talks about why the men suddenly burst forth and started seeking wealth and fame in hit and run raids on the English shores.  It outlines some of the more famous of these raids.  Chapter Three shows the Vikings as settling down and starting to build permanent settlements in Ireland and England.  Of interest is the fact that they used Dublin as a ship repair base and a trading center.  York becomes a major center with goods from as far as China passing through.  We also look at the Scandinavians settling in Iceland, Greenland and probably America which they called Vineland.  Settling more and more in Scotland, Ireland and England they came to terms with the inhabitants and continued their farming traditions there.

The book now turns to Europe and what it was in the way of political constructs as it prepares to discuss the expansion of the Vikings into France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and others.  The author summarizes the reasons for the Vikings successes in their movement from Scandinavia to most of Europe, Russia and even to Constantinople.  The book closes with outlines of some of the more famous Vikings and their exploits.

I think that this book is an excellent read, it certainly allows one to read it in an hour or less and, more importantly, it discusses important and salient points about the Vikings: who, what, where, when, and why.
724048
I am a sucker for historical fiction surrounding the right of Henry VIII. This book not only met, but surpassed my expectations. It was compulsively readable. I was entranced by the characters and the intrigue, never before reading about the I'll fated Catherine Howard. I highly recommend for anyone who is as intranced by the hopeless romanticism of Henry VIII.
4807874
If I had the self-discipline and motivation to work through this textbook, I'm sure that I could learn Danish!  As it is, I'll have to say just that it looks well-organized and thorough, from my perspective as one who speaks English, French, and German, and has studied Latin, Hebrew and Swedish out of textbooks without attaining fluency.  Bredsdorff's voice as an author is entertaining and genial, which is appealing besides.
1089034
I am absolutely delighted with this novel.  Rarely do I come across a novel that fully engages me on so many levels. Even more rare that such a novel would be set in 1200 France, as my tolerance for historical fiction in general is pretty low. Yet this novel captivated me. From the first paragraph I was hooked and wanted to know more. In the midst of a very busy work and life schedule, I found myself stealing time to read a page here, a chapter there.  Excited about getting to the end but not wanting to really finish the book.  "The Treasure of Montsegur" is written in the tradition of a tragic love story, yet its historical relevance is not diminished.  The author provides a well-researched background on the Catholic Crusades in France that tortured and killed thousands of people during the 1200s.  The novel is framed in the axiom that history repeats itself and is richly layered with historical, religious, spiritual, and tragic elements of the period.
Burnham tells the story in voices as layered as the storyline. The novel centers on the life of a woman named Jeanne.  Found in a field by Cathers after the Crusaders raid her village. Jeanne is raised in the Cather faith and eventually becomes a revolutionary in the struggle to maintain the faith despite the Catholic Inquisitions.  Jeanne is a fully realized character who loves, sins, betrays, falls, rises, heals. Using both narrative and first person (Jeanne), the author educates the reader on the horrors of the Cather annihilation while at the same time inviting the reader on a spiritual journey of love.
Burnham's writing is absolutely superb.  The rhythm of the language and choice of words creates a reading space that provides immediate access to the period and the conditions under which people lived and tried to navigate their way through religious domination and spiritual fulfillment.  On many occasions I had to research words and go beyond the first definition to find an archaic definition that would provide greater meaning to the sentence.  At times, the reading experience was very much like piecing together a puzzle.  The satisfaction of completing a puzzle comparable to the delight experienced each time I found a definition that fit.  The story further motivated me to research the actual massacre at Montsegur, leaving me much better informed on the subject than I was prior to reading the novel.
I certainly hope that this novel finds its way into the classroom.  What a wonderful way to initiate discussion on the Catholic Inquisitions.  After having found an advanced reader's copy of the novel at a thrift shop, I consider this to be one of my greatest reading treasures.  Highly recommended!
2673576
I was quite impressed with this book.  The pace, the story rendering and the capturing of Chaucer's humour
in modern language was enlightening.  I had read Chaucer, in middle english and in various editions, but
all readings were literary and thus distorted by the sainthood bestowed upon Chaucer.  Going back after
enjoying Akyroyd's rendering illuminated both the Original in Middle English and fine tuned the rosonances
therein.  Highly recommended, especially for anyone making a first foray into the tales.
986534
I kind of picked this book as a fluke - wanting something new of history to read, of which I knew little about. The naval war between Hapsburg Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean Sea during the 16th century certainly fit that bill for me. Boy, was I pleased with my selection. This book was outstanding! I've heard many interesting tales of these times - of Barbarossa, the Sieges of Rhodes, Malta and Cyprus, and the Battle of Lepanto - but the details of these conflicts contained in this book were fantastic. I knew little about this topic, but now feel enlightened. Crowley's writing style is easy to read and energetic. The Siege of Malta is the most shining portion of the book, making up nearly half the read. Crowley goes a long way toward explaining why Europe took a Christian, versus and Islamic, course of history during the 16th century. At the beginning of the century, that course was not at all guaranteed. The Ottoman's completely dominated the Med. Through the unlikely joining of forces between Spain, Venice and the Vatican, the Islamic tide retreated from the Central Mediterranean back to the east. I cannot adequately describe how much fun this book was to read - just read it!
1140132
I highly enjoyed this book. It is the first good history of this certain time and origins of the the English Isles that was not boring and one that i could not put down and could hardly wait to pick up again and continue reading. A true masterpiece in my own humble mind.
I like the way Mr. Ackroyd took the time and was thoughtful to add (in between main events, dates & transitions of kingships) the ways of the lives of the people of all social status especially, the common
folks. One example: It was particularly interesting how life, commerce, entertainment, well just plain normalcy
continued during the cousin's wars or war of the roses,- how he expressed that the general population were just curious outsiders looking in at this somewhat insignificant 'soap opera like' event befalling these two feuding families. By all means, this is just one of many interesting examples of Mr. Ackroyd's style of writing that kept me focused and enjoying his work. Well done!
644623
I enjoyed the writing and storyline of this book better than the superficially comparable "Da Vinci Code".  The author gives a real sense of place in his descriptions of the rural Icelandic community.  The English translation was stunning, especially since the main plot centers on a word puzzle, which somehow, magically mapped properly to English.
2692130
This book is ostensibly about Earl Uhtred of Northumbria, son in law of King Ethelred II and "most important man in the north of England", but like Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror", it is really a history of a place and period made more accessible (more "reader-friendly") by focusing like a biography on one key figure. That key figure, Earl Uhtred, was treacherously murdered in 1016, setting in train a bloodfeud that spanned the closing years of Anglo-Saxon England and the early years of Norman rule.

The first chapter explains exactly what a bloodfeud was and was not, setting it in context as something familiar and normal and "right" in an age when "justice" was hard to come by. This is followed by the best brief history of Anglo-Saxon England I have ever read, taking us from the original settlements to Alfred and Wessex and the Danes, the emergence of the Wessex dynasty as Kings of all England, and so to the great King Edgar (excellently depicted, by the way, in Anya Seton's "Avalon").

The focus then switches to the north and the history of Northumbria and the northern context before returning to the south and Edgar's son Ethelred the Ill-advised (more often known as the Unready, but Ill-advised is a better translation) and Athelstan and Edmund Ironside, and how a situation came about in which Canute was able to demand the attendance, unarmed, of such a man as Uhtred.

It is not just a story of a bloodfeud, it is a whole history of the period up to the Conquest by one who, again like Barbara Tuchman, is an entertaining and fluent writer and also an historian with an intimate knowledge both of his chosen period and of the man and the sequence of events that in his view best represent and embody that period.

Highly recommended both to those already hooked on the Anglo-Saxons and to newcomers.
4297652
The thing I'm saddest about with this book is that I can't send it back in time to my younger self because I would've gone <I>nuts</I> for this when I was plowing through every single fantasy book I could find - almost none of which were about girls having adventures.

It's a small sadness, because my very much adult self was delighted by the whole story - though particularly the latter half, in which our young hero does a lot of growing up and her perspective shifts in really rewarding ways.

I was also delighted by the surprise of additional vignettes after the story drew to a close. These added fascinating (and deeply poignant) layers to everything that had come before, and I'm really glad that they were included in the volume I bought.
1615192
I both admired and enjoyed Mistress Bradstreet. I hadn't read Anne Bradsteet's poems since my American lit class as an undergraduate. Now I am inspired to go back and read her again. But even more important, I feel like I finally have a rich historical and personal context for her writings. I have great confidence in the book because the depth and breadth of research is so evident. (Unlike College Professor, I am willing to accept the small "fictions" of situation that breathe life into otherwise well-documented facts.) At the same time, the book is so engagingly written -- a truly delightful read. And I have to say that's even more of a compliment because I have never been drawn to that period of history on either side of the Atlantic, except for despising Oliver Cromwell for stabling his horses in Winchester Cathedral! Now I certainly have a much better understanding of our American heritage and a rekindled interest in learning more. My compliments and thanks to Charlotte Gordon.
3868110
I haven't read a lot into Mythology and never was really interested in the topic, but I was wandering through a bookstore and came across this collection and decided to splurge.  I figured I could read a Saga here and there and just gradually work through this rather large collection, but of course what ended up happening was I couldn't put the book down.  Other reading, work everything took a back seat for a couple of weeks until I plowed my way through these amazing stories.

My knowledge of Iceland and of this region is cursory at best, but now I am completely enthralled.  That was one of the things I really liked about this work; you don't need to know a lot about the history or the culture to really be entertained and enlightened.  I think anyone can pick up this book and get a lot of enjoyment out of these tales.  You don't need to be a scholar or a Mythology enthusiast to get a lot out of this work.  The stories are just very good.

James924 spoke about the problems with the intros spoiling the stories and I agree with his assessment.  What I found was best is to read the story first and then go back to read the intros to enhance your understanding, but if you wanted to you could even skip the intros and just read the stories themselves.

This book was just a chance purchase on my part, and it was one that I originally thought might end up being a waste of my money, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, and I feel that I learned a lot about the history of an area I was previously unfamiliar with.  This is a book that I highly recommend to anyone.
1199147
This is a historical fiction set in the times when the Danes were settling in the British territories of the Anglo-Saxons.  The story takes place in the reign of King Alfred of Wessex.

This is actually the third in a series, but it reads well as an independent story.  I had not seen the series and just came across this volume in a bookstore while living in Edenvale, South Africa in 2007.  I was not familiar with Bernard Cornwell, and was pleased with the authentic flavour and style of his writing and character development.

He comments in the story on the differences in the Germanic dialects of the Danish Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons.  The author reflects extensive historical research and projects a realism in the use of word-forms and names of places and people of that era.

The historical note at the end of the book provides some background to the characters and situation the story portrays.  The story illustrates out the reality of the complex relationships between the different Viking and related Anglo-Saxon tribes and their rivalry over the centuries of settlement of the British Isles.
3372419
I bought this book because I've recently visited Sweden again and, for the first time, went to Stockholm. I went to Skansen - an open air museum - where I saw how my Swedish ancestors lived before my g-g-grandfather emigrated to Australia. I wanted to know more and so my Swedish 3rd cousin suggested I read this book.

Well, she wasn't wrong! Not only is it a great read but, through anecdotes about people in the village of the main characters, I learned a huge amount about how they lived, what they thought, how they laboured and - more importantly - why they emigrated. I was only going to read the first book, as these characters travel to America and not Australia, but now I'm hooked and want to see how they adjust to their new life in America which they were totally naive about. I'm off to buy the other three books before I die of curiousity!
248767
I am a fan of all things to do with Orkney and Shetland.  The viking history fascinates me.  The complex Norwegian/Scottish history of Orkney is extremely interesting.  I would recommend this book to people interested in Vikings, western European history and on the distinct culture of Orkney,U.K.
4582056
First let me admit that I enjoy history and learning about how people lived in different cultures and times.  So I tend to purchase books that promise that.
This book was one of the best at not only giving me a glimpse into what life was like in the middle ages in Europe, but in making me feel like I actually knew the characters as real people.  People often forget when talking about knights and serfs, kings and dukes, etc, that these were all real people, with personalities and attributes, hopes, dreams, and fears, just like people now.
This is the third book I have read by this author, and I have enjoyed them all.  I look forward to reading more from him.