A review by amymprice
When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald

5.0

I picked this as my January BOTM, and in lieu of my 2020 goal to actually read the book the month I get it, I actually finished it in time (yay!). When We Were Vikings follows Zelda, a young adult with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, as she attempts to become a legend like her heroes, the Vikings. However, I think the book flap is very misleading about this being a light-hearted book; there is abuse, attempted rape, vivid deaths, and more. It is sometimes hard to remember this considering the entire book is told through Zelda's slightly childish voice. The #1 thing I enjoyed about this book is that the female characters were all incredibly strong, including Zelda, and oftentimes were the heroes of every scene - and that's the kind of literature I want in 2020.

Spoiler

(AK47 was easily the hero and best character of the book, and I really respected Pearl as a mother and woman.)

I think her relationships with everyone around her, spare her brother's "friends", are actually relatively realistic, and I loved to see the development of her character as the story went on. The only reason this book did not receive a full five stars for me is because I feel like there were some subplots that were not necessary to the book, and were just thrown in there to get an audible "wow" from the audience

Spoiler

(for example, the attempted rape was unnecessary, in my opinion, as well as the whole subplot involving the letters to Viking expert Dr. Keppel)

. Overall, it was an easy and enjoyable read, and one I would recommend to others.