Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.03.2006, Síða 12

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Viking: King’s Man
by Tim Severin
Macmillan, 320 pages, 2006
$24.95 CDN / $22.32 US
Reviewed by
Perry Grosshans
Tim Severin is loyal to the history of the harsh vi-king world, but not to his
main character while that world
slowly disappears.
King’s Man is the final
book in Severin’s “Viking” tril-
ogy, centering around Thorgils
Leifsson and his exploration
and exploits in the viking world
of the early 11th century.
The devout follower of
Odinn now lives in Constan-
tinople, part of an elite unit of
the Varangian, the Life Guard
of the Basileus, ruler of Byz-
antium. Thorgils meets Harald
Sigurdsson, a powerful Nor-
wegian warrior chief who has
come south with his men to
earn riches and fame under the
employment of the Basileus.
Over the next few years
Thorgils develops a loyalty to
this powerful man, and unwit-
tingly gives him information
and tools that eventually help
Harald achieve his life’s ambi-
tion: the throne of Norway.
When Thorgils does finally
leave Constantinople, he settles
down in Vaster Gotland and
spends many years working for
King Harald.
Keeping with the theme of
his other books, Severin bases
much of his story’s background
on the old sagas. This time he
draws upon the work of poet
and historian Snorri Sturluson
and his Heimskringla, a col-
lection of sagas written around
A.D. 1225. Specifically, Sev-
erin focuses on the events from
the Saga of Harald Hardrade. It
is unfortunate that Severin does
not mention his source in an au-
thor’s note (as he did in his last
two books) since it is interest-
ing for readers to explore and
compare Snorri’s sagas if they
have not already done so.
Like his other two books,
Severin’s eye for historical de-
tail is quite excellent, honest
and factual. It makes the work
stronger and very realistic, and
gives the reader just enough to
be informative and not a history
book.
Nevertheless, Severin
makes the same mistake he
made in his first book, Odinn’s
Child; his main character is
overshadowed by the events
around him and as a result it
stunts any character develop-
ment. It is hard for the reader
to connect with Thorgils Leifs-
son, when so much attention is
devoted to what is happening
around him. And unlike Sworn
Brother, in which it seemed that
Thorgils had much of a hand
in those events, this time he is
more a quiet observer who gets
carried around from one event
to the next.
In King’s Man, Severin
continues his excellent explora-
tion of the disappearance of the
old viking beliefs. In this book,
Thorgils experiences fewer vi-
sions and dreams, and near the
end of his life he believes that
it is a sign of Odinn’s power
coming to an end. Severin uses
Harald’s final battle at Stam-
ford Bridge in York as a sym-
bol of the ending of the old
ways, a true ragnarok. In these
ways, Severin gives a real rich-
ness and depth to his story that
touches true with the sagas.
As the final chapter in the
trilogy, Severin does a decent
job in closing the story of Thor-
gils and an excellent interpre-
tation about the end of the old
Norse beliefs.
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12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 10 March 2006
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Viking story brings ragnarok to life
TORONTO, ON — Sturla
Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and
Grendel, a feature-length retell-
ing of the Anglo-Saxon legend,
opens on March 10 in Toronto,
Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria,
Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg,
Ottawa and Halifax.
Filmed in Iceland, the
movie features Gerard But-
ler as Beowulf and Ingvar E.
Sigurðsson as Grendel. The
film was a co-production be-
tween Canada, Iceland, and the
United Kingdom.
For more information, visit
www.beowulfandgrendel.com.
PHOTO: WWW.BEOWULFANDGRENDEL.COM
Gerard Butler as Beowulf.
Beowulf in
wide release
Experimental
film festival
in Egilsstaðir
ICELAND — A new film
festival will present experimen-
tal film and video in Iceland
beginning April 1. The festival,
700IS Reindeerland, is the only
experimental film festival in
Iceland.
Films and videos will be
screened in different places in
east Iceland, but the main cen-
tre is Egilsstaðir. The project is
supported by the Culture Centre
of Fljótsdalshérað. For more in-
formation, visit www.700.is.
Peter Bjornson MLA for Gimli
representing Gimli,
Winnipeg Beach,
Dunnottar, St. Andrews
and West St. Paul
Constituency Office
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Gimli, MB R0C 1B1
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PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.700.IS