yoda_bor's review against another edition
4.0
Parmi leurs différentes collections, MxM Bookmark en a lancé une à destination d’un public plus jeune, mettant en scène des personnages plutôt adolescents et en supprimant les passages les plus sexuels.
Terres nordiques est un des premiers titres sortis et il prend place, comme son nom l’indique, dans un univers peuplé de vikings, de drakkars et d’invasions barbares.
Au milieu de la violence et de ces terres difficiles, Kol grandit, entouré de sa famille et de ses voisins qu’il croise lors des grandes occasions. Mais son avenir est bouché par sa santé fragile jusqu’à ce qu’une sorcière le choisisse pour lui succéder et qu’il doive tout quitter, y compris la nouvelle famille qu’il s’est construit et notamment l’étrange relation qu’il a forgée avec Thorbrand, le fils du chef du clan.
Les mentalités changent en Islande et en Norvège, les sorciers ne sont plus les bienvenus et le voyage de Kol au milieu de cet univers est mouvementé et passionnant.
Ce personnage est très intéressant et vraiment attachant et c’est un plaisir de le suivre à travers différents pays en plein bouleversements grâce à de nombreuses descriptions.
Sans être révolutionnaire, c’est une jolie histoire qui ne met pas la romance au centre de son récit, puisque les personnages eux-mêmes sont très éloignés l’un de l’autre pendant une grande partie de l’histoire, mais parle plutôt d’évolution des mentalités et du passage du temps avec l’émergence d’une nouvelle religion qui vient peu à peu supplanter les traditions nordiques.
De quoi passer définitivement un très bon moment de lecture dépaysant en suivant le parcours initiatique d’un jeune homme qui grandit sous nos yeux.
Terres nordiques est un des premiers titres sortis et il prend place, comme son nom l’indique, dans un univers peuplé de vikings, de drakkars et d’invasions barbares.
Au milieu de la violence et de ces terres difficiles, Kol grandit, entouré de sa famille et de ses voisins qu’il croise lors des grandes occasions. Mais son avenir est bouché par sa santé fragile jusqu’à ce qu’une sorcière le choisisse pour lui succéder et qu’il doive tout quitter, y compris la nouvelle famille qu’il s’est construit et notamment l’étrange relation qu’il a forgée avec Thorbrand, le fils du chef du clan.
Les mentalités changent en Islande et en Norvège, les sorciers ne sont plus les bienvenus et le voyage de Kol au milieu de cet univers est mouvementé et passionnant.
Ce personnage est très intéressant et vraiment attachant et c’est un plaisir de le suivre à travers différents pays en plein bouleversements grâce à de nombreuses descriptions.
Sans être révolutionnaire, c’est une jolie histoire qui ne met pas la romance au centre de son récit, puisque les personnages eux-mêmes sont très éloignés l’un de l’autre pendant une grande partie de l’histoire, mais parle plutôt d’évolution des mentalités et du passage du temps avec l’émergence d’une nouvelle religion qui vient peu à peu supplanter les traditions nordiques.
De quoi passer définitivement un très bon moment de lecture dépaysant en suivant le parcours initiatique d’un jeune homme qui grandit sous nos yeux.
kaje_harper's review
4.0
One of the biggest strengths of this young-adult historical/paranormal story is the authenticity of the unusual setting - the life of a gay boy growing to manhood in Viking Iceland. Kol is gifted with magical abilities which lead to his apprenticeship to a local seið-woman — a sorceress. This gets him away from the rough life on his father's farm, and brings him into the household of a boy he is becoming attracted to, Thorbrand. However being gay is not accepted, especially for a boy like Thorbrand who will become a Chief. And times are changing, as the religion of the White Christ, with its hatred of sorcery, is moving into that part of the world. Becoming a sorcerer is no longer a safe path to an honored profession.
This book kept me intrigued and turning the pages. I was caught up in the life of Kol, his adventures in the community of sorcerers, and his hidden romance with a boy whose status was going to make it difficult to give them a happy ending. There is adventure here, and loss, and magic that is well-portrayed and integrated into the religion and setting. Occasionally, the wonderful details of place and time while creating atmosphere also slowed the story just a bit, and Kol's reserve made some of the gut-wrenching things he went through less emotional, but I enjoyed this. Overall, Seidman is well-written, unusual, and well worth the read.
This book kept me intrigued and turning the pages. I was caught up in the life of Kol, his adventures in the community of sorcerers, and his hidden romance with a boy whose status was going to make it difficult to give them a happy ending. There is adventure here, and loss, and magic that is well-portrayed and integrated into the religion and setting. Occasionally, the wonderful details of place and time while creating atmosphere also slowed the story just a bit, and Kol's reserve made some of the gut-wrenching things he went through less emotional, but I enjoyed this. Overall, Seidman is well-written, unusual, and well worth the read.
ravensandpages's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
cwrite's review
4.0
I had a few issues with this book, but at the same time I couldn't put it down. The writing style is very simple, and I felt the story was more plot driven vs character driven. Yet I eagerly devoured it, wanting to hear more about Kol and Thorbrand.
One of the main issues I had may not be all together fair. The problem with any M/M Historical Romance (though I'd be reluctant to classify this title so simply) is that history has not been overly kind to LGBT peoples. The promise of a happy ending isn't as likely as it would be within a different genre. Yet a large reason I was drawn to this book was because it was steeped in Icelandic myth/history. Even juggling political and cultural realities of the place and time, Erich does wrap up the story nicely, and gives us a satisfying and plausible of an ending as possible(truthfully, I was preparing myself for Kol and Thorbrand to both die and the book end "happily" in Fólkvangr, and I'm glad this wasn't the case).
I can't say I loved Kol as the main character. He's a bit in the self absorbed teen trope that can be tiring to read. And I don't know that I loved him being portrayed as more "beautiful" and "small" compared to most boys his age (the: 1 effeminate + 1 masculine M/M pairing pattern feels unauthentic to me). But, as I felt the novel was more plot based, I wasn't too bothered by these knit picky issues, and I did enjoy his overall journey/arch.
This sounds like I liked the book less than I actually did. It was really good. If more books got the things right that Erich does here, I would dabble in this genre more. The story was complex, the settings and events well researched, and the romance was more a love story and less a collection of graphic scenes. I truly enjoyed the novel and would recommend.
One of the main issues I had may not be all together fair. The problem with any M/M Historical Romance (though I'd be reluctant to classify this title so simply) is that history has not been overly kind to LGBT peoples. The promise of a happy ending isn't as likely as it would be within a different genre. Yet a large reason I was drawn to this book was because it was steeped in Icelandic myth/history. Even juggling political and cultural realities of the place and time, Erich does wrap up the story nicely, and gives us a satisfying and plausible of an ending as possible(truthfully, I was preparing myself for Kol and Thorbrand to both die and the book end "happily" in Fólkvangr, and I'm glad this wasn't the case).
I can't say I loved Kol as the main character. He's a bit in the self absorbed teen trope that can be tiring to read. And I don't know that I loved him being portrayed as more "beautiful" and "small" compared to most boys his age (the: 1 effeminate + 1 masculine M/M pairing pattern feels unauthentic to me). But, as I felt the novel was more plot based, I wasn't too bothered by these knit picky issues, and I did enjoy his overall journey/arch.
This sounds like I liked the book less than I actually did. It was really good. If more books got the things right that Erich does here, I would dabble in this genre more. The story was complex, the settings and events well researched, and the romance was more a love story and less a collection of graphic scenes. I truly enjoyed the novel and would recommend.
synth's review against another edition
2.0
This would be a low 2.5 for me.
I appreciated the believability of the historical details (I have not idea about the authenticity), and thought the characters were mostly well-developed (if they had sufficient screen time), and found the main relationship generally engaging.
However, I thought it could have been generally tighter; it had lots of repetitions and offered limited and/or superficial emotions, and read as written for a younger audience despite the explicit topics. Additionally, some aspects bothered me. For example, while there is minimal commentary on men raping men (yay realism) and the double standard of this being acceptable, contrary to two consenting men loving each other, this is followed by never-challenged implications that being penetrated makes one less of a man and that thus being someone's woman is disgusting and pitiful (implying women are inferiors and to be pitied). There was also no need to portray a "good man" as in love and sleeping with his slave who was painted as generally duplicitous and ultimately evil by betraying him for religious reasons (and paying the price for it), when this would have been, in my opinion, potentially the only coping mechanism afforded to her. The characters may not react to this as we would and I'm sure this or something similar did happen often enough, but was it necessary to add it in this story if there was to be no commentary on it.
I appreciated the believability of the historical details (I have not idea about the authenticity), and thought the characters were mostly well-developed (if they had sufficient screen time), and found the main relationship generally engaging.
However, I thought it could have been generally tighter; it had lots of repetitions and offered limited and/or superficial emotions, and read as written for a younger audience despite the explicit topics. Additionally, some aspects bothered me. For example, while there is minimal commentary on men raping men (yay realism) and the double standard of this being acceptable, contrary to two consenting men loving each other, this is followed by never-challenged implications that being penetrated makes one less of a man and that thus being someone's woman is disgusting and pitiful (implying women are inferiors and to be pitied). There was also no need to portray a "good man" as in love and sleeping with his slave who was painted as generally duplicitous and ultimately evil by betraying him for religious reasons (and paying the price for it), when this would have been, in my opinion, potentially the only coping mechanism afforded to her. The characters may not react to this as we would and I'm sure this or something similar did happen often enough, but was it necessary to add it in this story if there was to be no commentary on it.
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