War of the gods - Poul Anderson
War of the Gods appears on the list of The 45 Best Historical Novels Set in the Viking Age.
In War of the Gods Poul Anderson skillfully reshapes one of the tales that survived the muddle of early Scandinavian history in the form of Heroic-Age Saga. The genre typically pits a powerful human figure against adversaries that include mythic beasts and supernatural beings. This story, taken from the Danish history of Saxo Grammaticus, begins with an unusually elaborate retelling of some foundations of Norse mythology before moving on to the tale of a prince called Hadding who grows up as a foster child in a household of giants and must one day leave his strange home to reclaim a lost kingdom. This sequence means the tale moves steadily away from the supernatural and toward a mostly human struggle of warring realms and personalities. It provides a well-shaped vision of what the warriors of the Viking Age would have believed about their predecessors in the centuries before they began to sail out from their northern homes to ravage much of Europe.
Hadding is a sympathetic hero, whose battles do not always go as planned, and whose loves do not always end idyllically. If he seems a bit more credulous than most readers will be about the uncanny one-eyed man who from time to time appears to guide his fate, his imperfect awareness is no authorial oversight, but instead part of a deep-laid concept that emerges only at the very end, when we understand at last the reason for the novel's title. The reader's sympathy is drawn to include more than just the humans caught in destiny's web, extending to well-meaning but imperfect gods, likeable giants, and even a strange sea creature. War of the Gods offers a well-imagined version of the mythic underpinnings of Nordic culture and is a useful introduction to the mental world of the Viking Age.
Why did I choose this text?
I choose this text because I wanted something short but also interesting. A lot of novels were about the Gods or didn't sound appealing to me. I ended up with this text because even though it is fiction, it does not rule away that far from reality... at least that's what I thought before reading it. I did not do my research on the book since I wanted to come in fresh. Poul Anderson tells the story of Hadding, who is a foster child and lives with Giants. I found out later that Hadding was actually a prince and this whole story was based on a Myth. Throughout the book, we follow Hadding on his journey to proclaim his homelands or Kingdom.
The story overall is quite interesting, it has a lot of interesting situations and adventure is just right the corner, but I was normally wondering myself "how did Hadding get into this, this time?" and lose track of what was the main reason that he had to be there. There were too many things that Anderson wanted to tell that in the end, he was confusing me.
The main character begins very plain and typical, but with every page, he starts to become more wise and reasonable with his actions. Including Magic as a weapon in the story was a nice addition.
After doing some research on the book, I found out that indeed the story was derived from the Norse Mythology and Hadding wasn't just a name the writer randomly came up with.
How did I come up with this text?
I already explained a bit in the previous question. When choosing a Novel, I wanted to read something that was interesting to me. I have read a lot of Norse Gods or the Viking wars itself so I was troubled to find something appealing. When I found this book, it sounded interesting because, and I don't recall where I read that, it would be fictional but close to the truth. I was interested to see how the writer tackled that and what would occur with the Main Character.
In the end, I was a little confused but later found out that the story was based on a Myth instead of, what I initially thought, the daily life of a Viking Warrior.
How does the text link to the Theme or any other Theme discussed?
The book links into several themes; We have Hadding, seeking vengeance for murdering his father and reclaiming his lands which fits the family and friends theme. On the way to reclaiming his kingdom, Hadding is met with odds and foes who he fights in order to bring peace back to his lands and this connects to the War theme. It certainly connects to the Viking theme since this is an adaptation to the Norse Mythology and is set on an age where gods were walking among men.