A review by angrywombat
The Whale Road by Robert Low
4.0
Wow. This was an unexpected find :)
This is the tale of Orm (the bear-slayer) who is dragged into the world of the Oathsword - a band of viking raiders who have sailed and raided all around ancient europe, and now they are on a quest to find a hidden mythical treasure right out of the Sagas...
This is a debut novel - so I expected it to be a little more rough around the edges, but it led me straight into the mindset of a teenage farm-boy from scandinavia (I think somewhere in modern day sweden), whose famous father returns to collect him after a terrible event involving a "pet" bear gone rogue. This felt very grounded, with the various characters worried about boots, food, a warm fire etc. But mixed into this are snipped of real "myth" - the spear of longinus, the swords of Attila, the warring of the old gods vs the new.
Its a real page turner! I had to know what was going to happen next - and the conniving characters had believable motivations, and it was always crystal clear what they all wanted, and I needed to know how they would make their attempts.
Well done, and cant wait to get around to the next in the series!
This is the tale of Orm (the bear-slayer) who is dragged into the world of the Oathsword - a band of viking raiders who have sailed and raided all around ancient europe, and now they are on a quest to find a hidden mythical treasure right out of the Sagas...
This is a debut novel - so I expected it to be a little more rough around the edges, but it led me straight into the mindset of a teenage farm-boy from scandinavia (I think somewhere in modern day sweden), whose famous father returns to collect him after a terrible event involving a "pet" bear gone rogue. This felt very grounded, with the various characters worried about boots, food, a warm fire etc. But mixed into this are snipped of real "myth" - the spear of longinus, the swords of Attila, the warring of the old gods vs the new.
Its a real page turner! I had to know what was going to happen next - and the conniving characters had believable motivations, and it was always crystal clear what they all wanted, and I needed to know how they would make their attempts.
Well done, and cant wait to get around to the next in the series!