Raven of the Waves

Rating:
Summary: "historical"???
Review: This book is a very interesting tale about the vikinggs and definetly a good read. the editorial review says "historical" reffering to the book as educational about history and thetime of the vikings. It is not at all historical but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: This book is a very interesting tale about the vikinggs and definetly a good read. the editorial review says "historical" reffering to the book as educational about history and thetime of the vikings. It is not at all historical but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: "historical"???
Review: This book is a very interesting tale about the vikinggs and definetly a good read. the editorial review says "historical" reffering to the book as educational about history and thetime of the vikings. It is not at all historical but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Historically inacurate, innapropriate for young readers
Review: This book purports to be an accurate description of viking raiders in, attempting to show their thoughts and feelings, and give us insight into their culture. Unfortunately the author has not done his research. He merely reinforced old stereotypes and borrowed heavily from common misconceptions of vikings in order to write a book that misrepresents the norse tradition. For example, he graphically describes the making of a "bloody eagle", a horrible mutilation of a man. Todays scholars have now proved "bloody eagles" to be a complete fiction invented by a couple of Christian writers (who must have had sick sadistic imaginations).
Rape is also a common topic of the book, and this too is an old innacurate stereotype. What viking has time to rape a woman when hes fighting for his life? In addition, vikings abucted people to hold them ransom, so is it likely he would rape a ransom victim, thereby making his prisoner worthless to her family? No. Furthermore, when the vikings kept prisoners as slaves, they did not see them as expendable, and did not rape them with impunity as many believe. Viking tels even tell of Free men, Norsemen, wooing and courting slave women in their villages.
Women even went on raids with the men, were sometimes leaders in the raids, and participated in the all aspects of Norse life.
So near as we can tell, the fortunate Norse simply were allowed by their culture to live such uninhibited lives that they didn't need to be sadistic, and did not tie together sex and violence. The men did not hate and fear women, and so had no need to either rape them, or keep them in weaponless subjection.
Despite his historically innacuracy, the book simply is not appropriate for young readers, boys or girls. It is given from the perspective of the men in the story, and makes no distinction between what is approriate behavior and what is not. It speaks of young boys getting drunk on a regular basis, as just a part of life. It makes mention of sex and young men "mounting" girls, women, etc., and raping other villagewomen. It is violent and perverse, and gives no context for the not yet discerning young reader to be able to sort through the behaviors of these people, and make a distinction between what is right and wrong.
In short, THIS BOOK [STINKS]!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: What a great read for anyone of any age! Author Cadnum works magic with his words in this realistic coming of age story. Brought together by a Norse raid on England in 794 AD, two sympathetic boys learn grim adult truths about "heroic" warriors. This impressive novel offers accurate historical detail, sensitive pyschological insight and compassionate consideration of good people trapped by traditional expectations. Cadnum enriches our perceptions of both the Viking and the Anglo-Saxon worlds by his range of characters. We learn with 17 year old Lidsmod via the voices of his fellow sailors -- sensible leader Gunnar, veteran steersman Njord, comic Opir the Boaster and saga-singer Eirik. Even extremely violent men like Gorm or the Berserker Torsten are shown acting from different motives. Similarly, the author balances the impressions of the 13 year old English captive Wiglaf with the mature views of Christian abbot Aethelwulf and the local political lord Redwald. This work is a delightful combination of echoes of ancient myths and foreshadowing of cultural change for both the Norse and the English.