Rating: 
Summary: Ultimate Vikingsnovel - Historic Epos - Cult Book
Review: "1000 years will pass by, until men recall our old gods......
then the worship of Odin will become more powerfull than ever before!"
(Ragnar Ragnarson, nordic seer and priest, at the end of 10th. Century)The Norwegian king Hakon I. has been educated like a christian at the royal anglo-saxon court. In the year 950 AD, at the harvest celebrations at the City of Hlader, he doesn't only reject the participation in the victim smeal in the old god's honour, he even makes the sign of a cross towards the holy drink, that has been dedicted to Odin.... ....as reaction to this sacrilege against the gods of Asgard, Thorvald Asvaldson and many other noble an free men take an bloodoath, that they will never accept Christianity. The main theme of the novel is the foreseen victory of Christianity, that comes together with an etablishment of royal authority, that both have no tolerance of the religion of their ancestors. In distant Iceland, which is a place for refugees, emigrants and banished norsemen, without the ruling of a king, but with freedom of religion, the space for the worshipers of Odin, Thor, Njord and all the others becomes small and smaller... Beside raids, trading and discovery travels, which could frequently flowing into each other, and a hunter easily could become the hunted, the reader recieves extensive information about the religion and thejuridical system of the vikings. To that belongs the descriptions of victim rituals, the meaning of the Holy Runes an different kinds of divorcing in the old nordic styles. Especially the tasks of the powerfull "Allthing", with the mebership of all free men, executes beside legislation and jurisdiction, also the government of island. (It is really busy with "all things".) Beyond that, the novel shows family- and lovestories an offers also revenge, betrayal, greed, sadism and other depts of soul. Opportunists, that became Christians for utilitarian reasons and who are praying sometimes to the old gods are not missed in the plot, as the black humor, which is particular in these category of novels. Some anachronisms in direct speech of the actors ("assassinate", "pestillence", "tea", "vendetta") are small blemishes, but of no importance for the evaluation of the whole novel. "The Eye of Odin" is "the ultimate Vikingsnovel", but above also a terrific epos, with an action an historic substance of the years 922 - 986 AD, that turn classical novels like "The Long Ships" by Frans Gunner Bengtsson or "Die Männer vom Meer" by Konrad Hansen pale. The action neither looses it's excitement, as for example in "The Greenlanders" by Jane Smiley, nor it drifts into phantasy spheres like "Vinland Saga" by Josef Nyary, nor it becomes a parody à la "Speckseite's Ostseefahrt" by Knut H. Thomsen. The first novel by James Richard Larsen, who has fullfilled Ragnar's prophecy of Odin's return, as he himself is the new "Valfather's High Priest", has the potential to become a cult book and let the wait for it's continuation ("Wolfgar") with high excitement. Therefore is only the maximum valuation of 5 Amazonstars.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Vikingsnovel - Historic Epos - Cult Book
Review: "1000 years will pass by, until men recall our old gods......
then the worship of Odin will become more powerfull than ever before!"
(Ragnar Ragnarson, nordic seer and priest, at the end of 10th. Century) The Norwegian king Hakon I. has been educated like a christian at the royal anglo-saxon court. In the year 950 AD, at the harvest celebrations at the City of Hlader, he doesn't only reject the participation in the victim smeal in the old god's honour, he even makes the sign of a cross towards the holy drink, that has been dedicted to Odin.... ....as reaction to this sacrilege against the gods of Asgard, Thorvald Asvaldson and many other noble an free men take an bloodoath, that they will never accept Christianity. The main theme of the novel is the foreseen victory of Christianity, that comes together with an etablishment of royal authority, that both have no tolerance of the religion of their ancestors. In distant Iceland, which is a place for refugees, emigrants and banished norsemen, without the ruling of a king, but with freedom of religion, the space for the worshipers of Odin, Thor, Njord and all the others becomes small and smaller... Beside raids, trading and discovery travels, which could frequently flowing into each other, and a hunter easily could become the hunted, the reader recieves extensive information about the religion and thejuridical system of the vikings. To that belongs the descriptions of victim rituals, the meaning of the Holy Runes an different kinds of divorcing in the old nordic styles. Especially the tasks of the powerfull "Allthing", with the mebership of all free men, executes beside legislation and jurisdiction, also the government of island. (It is really busy with "all things".) Beyond that, the novel shows family- and lovestories an offers also revenge, betrayal, greed, sadism and other depts of soul. Opportunists, that became Christians for utilitarian reasons and who are praying sometimes to the old gods are not missed in the plot, as the black humor, which is particular in these category of novels. Some anachronisms in direct speech of the actors ("assassinate", "pestillence", "tea", "vendetta") are small blemishes, but of no importance for the evaluation of the whole novel. "The Eye of Odin" is "the ultimate Vikingsnovel", but above also a terrific epos, with an action an historic substance of the years 922 - 986 AD, that turn classical novels like "The Long Ships" by Frans Gunner Bengtsson or "Die M?nner vom Meer" by Konrad Hansen pale. The action neither looses it's excitement, as for example in "The Greenlanders" by Jane Smiley, nor it drifts into phantasy spheres like "Vinland Saga" by Josef Nyary, nor it becomes a parody ? la "Speckseite's Ostseefahrt" by Knut H. Thomsen. The first novel by James Richard Larsen, who has fullfilled Ragnar's prophecy of Odin's return, as he himself is the new "Valfather's High Priest", has the potential to become a cult book and let the wait for it's continuation ("Wolfgar") with high excitement. Therefore is only the maximum valuation of 5 Amazonstars.
Rating: 
Summary: The Eye of Odin - Review by Dirk Schmitt
Review: Author: James Richard Larson
Published: iUniverse 2003
ISBN: 0-595-28947-9
Pages: 480
Rating: 8 out of 10
Whether you are interested in the Viking Era, sea tales, or just a good read, then The Eye of Odin by Jim Larson is definitely for you. Set in the 10th Century against the backdrop of the coversion times when Christianity and the ancestral Troth were coming to loggerheads more and more, it is the tale of Thorvald Asvaldsson whom is father to the famous Erik the Red, father to the even more famous Leif Eriksson. The Christian King of Norway, determined to eliminate the Ancestral Troth from Norway, causes Thorvald, a 'Heathen' to be banished after a killing which is deemed to be a murder. With little choice but to leave Norway, Thorvald decides to travel to Iceland, still close enough to Norway to allow trade and contact with old friends, but far enough away to ensure safety. But as is always the way, such safety is never assured, with Thorvald's arrival in Iceland being the impetus for a greedy, murderous Christian ex-slave to take umbrage at the sale of land to Thorvald. The scene is set for conflict between Godars, and others, with love, hate, jealousy, murder, justice and the ever present escalation of conflict between Christianity and the Ancestral Troth proving for some truly great storytelling.
Anyone whom is familar with the Sagas will be very happy with the form and style of writing exhibited by Jim. Detailed enough to provide a clear picture in our minds, including explanations of ideas and terms where necessary for those whom mightn't be as familiar with the concepts in the work as those of use for whom the Northern Folkway is part of our lives. The writing is clear with emphasis on the relationships of the characters and the actions which they undertake, providing for a fast pace of movement in the narrative. This is a large book, at 480 pages, on par with many of the great writers such as Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler et al, and clearly will take some time to read, but it's well worth the effort. I personally found the brief pauses to explain things a bit distracting, but it must be understood that this is coming from someone whom is familar with the terms and concepts, and where-as it tended to break the flow of the story for me, for someone less familiar, I am sure that they would be appreciative of the extra information.
In all, a fine work and one which would sit well amongst any of the more well known adventure writers. And Jim is working on the sequel to this book which we hope to see soon.
(Review may be found at the AET website - www.aetaustralia.org)
Rating:
Summary: An epic tale of adventure, plunder, murder and revenge!
Review: It's been a long time since I've let myself be swept into another time and place by an historical saga. And this novel, set in the tenth century in the time of the Vikings, is what I call a "delicious" read. Once I got into the book and the Norwegian names were no longer a challenge, the story moved fast, sweeping me up in this epic tale of adventure, plunder, murder and revenge. The characters were fully developed, the time and place authentic, and I learned a lot about the politics and history of the time.
The story begins in conflict as the Christian King of Norway is pitted against the old time religion of the people, who worship Odin and come together in an annual festival where they pray to Odin and ritually sacrifice animals. There is a murder which results in a prestigious family being banned from the land. Erik the Red is their teenage son and the reader watches him and his two good friends, go to sea, marry and develop trade. They also "go a Viking" which means they travel to various European countries, loot the valuables and takes slaves. Reading this is an interesting experience because by this time in the book I identified with them and liked them. Though their eyes, however, the plunder was just part of their culture and even though I personally was appalled at what a Viking raid really was, I couldn't help but understand where they were coming from.
There are also several other villains who plot our hero's demise. They are sketched so well that I could almost find myself "booing" them every time they came on the scene. This is not a book of subtleties. It's big and bold and every character is larger than life. There are good guys and bad guys and even the good guys are cruel sometimes. However, the author makes sure to let the reader know that the good guys' cruelty is justified.
The book moved quickly and swept me along in the adventure. If there was any weakness it was that I needed a little time to get the characters' names straight and, the author's use of words like "okay" made me wonder at first if the dialogue was going to be too modern. I needn't have worried though, because by the time I had finished the first fifty pages, I was so swept up in the story that I no longer noticed little details like that. By then, the characters had sprung to life and I felt I was right inside their heads, living their lives with them.
I loved this book. It was a perfect companion on a cold winter's night when I could hear the wind whistling outside my window and let myself be transported back a thousand years. When I finished all 481 pages, I wanted more. I understand the author is working on a sequel. I can't wait to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 stars, actually
Review: Larson's novelization of the Viking Age is both compelling and informative. His primary focus is on the life of Erik the Red and his family, intersperced with detailed overviews of the political and religious climate of Norway and Iceland in the tenth Century. The reader is treated to detailed accounts of exciting ocean battles between longships, bloody raids, the evil exploits of the psychotic Bagnold, and the political intrigues that raged in the court of Christian King Hakon and his Pagan subjects.
In many ways, Larson's narrative is reminiscent of James Michener's sweeping sagas. A chapter will focus on a character's personal journey, and then telescope out to look at how the entire region at the time was being influenced by foreign trade and forced migration (in the form of Thorvald's banishment and Erik's voyaging).
Larson does not waste time with sympathetic hand wringing over such topics as war and slavery. It was a brutal age, and the author does his best to portray it accurately, while attempting to make the characters accessible to modern readers.
This is a first novel, and it does contain some faults. For example, Chapter One would have made an ideal Prologue, since it sets up the time and environment nicely; but does not introduce the protagonists very well. While Larson is good at "telling" the reader what is happening, there is a noticeable lack of "showing" what is going on. The characters could have spent more time actually doing the things Larson is describing (i.e. Erik doing Winter activities would have fleshed out his persona and made him more interesting).
Another point in Larson's favor is his attempt to recreate the spirituality of the time in the person of Ragnar, priest of Odin and friend of Thorvald and Erik. Researching the Sagas and studying the works of scholars like Edred Thorsson, Larson has done a good job of trying to recapture what it must have been like to worship the Gods of the North and follow their teachings.
With the promise of another novel, WOLFGAR, in the offing, Larson has set himself a mighty challenge as a new voice for Viking Age and Nordic focused novels.
Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: rousing Viking saga
Review: Set in the year 922, this tale opens with the emissary from King Athelstan of England visiting the Norwegian King Harald. The later presents Athelstan with a beautiful gold and silver sword worthy of a king. But as Harald accepts the sword, Athelstan proclaims "...you show all men to witness that you are his subject." Naturally, at this slight of hand Harald is less than pleased. Instead of rebuffing the claim without delay, Harald permits Athelstan to depart and return to England. Months later, King Athelstan is holding a festival in London when a messenger arrives from King Athelstan, accompanied by thirty of Harald's men and a small boy. When Athelstan demands to know the meaning of this, the messenger replies that the child is Harald's son by a serving wench and Harald bids him to foster the child. However, Athelstan bides his time and Harald's men were permitted to depart to Norway. Instead of detesting the boy, Hakon, he was raised as a king's son, but in the Christian faith. The ultimate revenge.
Little did Harald foresee that simple case of "ranking" between royals would set forth forces to change the history of Norway. Because Hakon was raised as a Christian, when he returns to a pagan homeland he is determined to stamp out the Old Gods. This results in the banishment of a powerful Viking chieftain condemned for a killing. Thorvald Asvaldsson, and his son Erik set forth on a perilous journey, accompanied by the seer Ragnar. Erik goes on to be known in history as Erik the Red.
Larson, obviously a fan of the Mitchner type saga, gives the reader history, ugliness and all. It's not a "politically corrected" version, but portrays murder, sackings, rape, slavery, beatings...well, history as it was, not how we would like it to be. It shows how Christianity conquered the world by going after the nobles, knowing if they converted them they would make their subjects follow suit.
The style is very strong, with a natural prose that pulls the reader along with the epic tale. Some telling the reader of the story, instead of the action speaking for itself might bother some, but frankly, that was how most historical fiction has been written. Jakes and Mitchner included.
If you're a Viking fan, then you cannot help but envoy a true saga in the old style, making this reader look forward to the sequel in the works, Wulfgar.
Rating:
Summary: rousing Viking saga
Review: Set in the year 922, this tale opens with the emissary from King Athelstan of England visiting the Norwegian King Harald. The later presents Athelstan with a beautiful gold and silver sword worthy of a king. But as Harald accepts the sword, Athelstan proclaims "...you show all men to witness that you are his subject." Naturally, at this slight of hand Harald is less than pleased. Instead of rebuffing the claim without delay, Harald permits Athelstan to depart and return to England. Months later, King Athelstan is holding a festival in London when a messenger arrives from King Athelstan, accompanied by thirty of Harald's men and a small boy. When Athelstan demands to know the meaning of this, the messenger replies that the child is Harald's son by a serving wench and Harald bids him to foster the child. However, Athelstan bides his time and Harald's men were permitted to depart to Norway. Instead of detesting the boy, Hakon, he was raised as a king's son, but in the Christian faith. The ultimate revenge. Little did Harald foresee that simple case of "ranking" between royals would set forth forces to change the history of Norway. Because Hakon was raised as a Christian, when he returns to a pagan homeland he is determined to stamp out the Old Gods. This results in the banishment of a powerful Viking chieftain condemned for a killing. Thorvald Asvaldsson, and his son Erik set forth on a perilous journey, accompanied by the seer Ragnar. Erik goes on to be known in history as Erik the Red. Larson, obviously a fan of the Mitchner type saga, gives the reader history, ugliness and all. It's not a "politically corrected" version, but portrays murder, sackings, rape, slavery, beatings...well, history as it was, not how we would like it to be. It shows how Christianity conquered the world by going after the nobles, knowing if they converted them they would make their subjects follow suit. The style is very strong, with a natural prose that pulls the reader along with the epic tale. Some telling the reader of the story, instead of the action speaking for itself might bother some, but frankly, that was how most historical fiction has been written. Jakes and Mitchner included. If you're a Viking fan, then you cannot help but envoy a true saga in the old style, making this reader look forward to the sequel in the works, Wulfgar.
Rating:
Summary: Weaves a memorably written and ultimately satisfying tale
Review: The Eye Of Odin by James Richard Larson is an impressively powerful story based upon historical events and figures drawn from the age of Viking exploration and expansion into Europe. In this saga we follow the journey of a Viking chieftain, his family and associates, and of their perilous journey that will ultimately change the world. Unsympathetically portraying the brutality of Viking raids, but also looking toward still greater evils still that menace humanity as a whole (and the few who dared to challenge them), The Eye Of Odin weaves a memorably written and ultimately satisfying tale laced with conflict, a struggle for survival, and the violence which flared between the Pagan and the Christian. Highly recommended reading and the first of a projected three volume series, The Eye Of Odin is also available in a soft-cover format.
Rating:
Summary: highly entertaining
Review: The Eye of Odin is a highly gripping and entertaining retelling/prequal to the Vinland Saga. First it starts out with Eric the Red's father Thorvald getting outlawed from Norway after murdering a fellow countryman that made some dishonorable comments about his wife. He makes a trip to Iceland and the story unfolds into a drama filled with adultury, murder, rape, and a host of other evils....as well as more positive things such as honor, brotherhood, loyalty, and duty to ones gods. There is alot of friction between the Heathen and Christian people....and alot of blood was spilled and lives ruined over this struggle. One of the most notible characters (as the bad guys always are) is Bagnold, a man with a spirit of a "Jotun" ( the term "thurs" or "wyrm" would have been better since not all Jotuns in Norse Mythology were evil) who is a notoriously greedy and violent man who takes pleasure in beating, raping, killing and counting his silver. He seems to have alot in common with the mythical dragon (ON:orm) Fafnir of the Volsung Saga.
There is also Ragnar, the "seer" (I think the old norse word "vitki" or the anglisized "wizard" would have been more appropiate) who possesses great powers of divination using his Runes ( I do however think that his role would have been even more interesting if the operative aspects of rune magic were done...or even made use of some of the spells from the Icelandic galdroboks)....he was perhaps my favorite character in the whole story. And then there are the jovial Rolf and Snaebjorn....two roguish Vikings that go out and plunder ships and churches. The story was beautifully written and it really captures your attention and keeps you in suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Retelling of the Vinland Sagas
Review: The Eye of Odin, writen in the straighfoward style of the Sagas of the Icelanders, is an excellent re-telling of the events leading to the discovery by Lief Erikson of Vinland, or the North American Continent. Spanning three generations, starting with events leading to the exile of Erik's father from Norway, James Larson fills in the tale with information about the culture, government, and technology of the Norse people without bogging the reader down with too much information which can lead to sounding like a textbook. I've read some of the Sagas of the Icelanders previous to this and feel this book did very well in filling in a lot of information that modern readers need, such as lifestlye, culture, and such that were taken for granted when the stories were first written down two hundred years after these events happened. The charachters are well portraied, and the struggle of Christian and Heathen forces before the official conversion of Iceland well done, showing people who were both true believers in the new religion, and those who simply used the new religion to gain power and wealth, as well as the thoughts of those who refused to abandon the ways of thier forefathers for a new way. Events culminate with the discovery of Greenland and migration to the new land by Eric the Red and his people following his outlawry from Iceland, during which time disaster strikes and many are lost, but some survive and are marooned on yet another strange, new land. The only cavet I have about the book is that I feel the many other deities worshiped and honored by the Heathen Icelanders could have been more fully explored or explained for readers who may be non-heathens. As it is, Odin is given much attention, but only a few other gods are mentioned, and even then not explained very far. However, the main point of the story are the events, trials, and triumphs of Eric the Red and his family and friends, so this isn't too bad an oversight. There is a coming sequal to this book covering the travels and experiences in the new world of Wolfgar, friend and advisor to Leif, and one who is blessed by Odin and reads the runes and recives visions and dreams from Odin. I am greatly looking foward to reading that as soon as it is released.
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