Sword of the Horse Chieftain (Island of the Mighty Book 1)

And he dragged Gwenhwyfar from her royal chair, and then he struck a blow upon her; The second Unrestrained Ravaging when Arthur came to Medrawd's court. He left neither food nor drink in the court; And the third Unrestrained Ravaging when Aeddan the Wily came to the court of Rhydderch the Generous at Alclud [Dumbarton]; he left neither food nor drink nor beast alive. Three Quests that were obtained from Powys: The first of them is the fetching of Myngan from Meigen to Llansilin, by nine the next morning, to receive privileges from Cadwallawn the Blessed, after the slaying of Ieuaf and Griffri; The second is the fetching of Griffri to Bryn Griffri before the following morning, to attack Edwin; The third is the fetching of Hywel son of Ieuaf to Ceredigiawn from the Rock of Gwynedd to fight with on the side of?

Ieuaf and Iago in that battle. Three Great Queens of Arthur: Three Amazons of the Island of Britain: Three Noble Retinues of the Island of Britain: Three Great Enchantments of the Island of Britain: Three Chief Officers of the Island of Britain: Three Unfortunate Counsels of the Island of Britain: To give place for their horses' fore-feet on the land to Julius Caesar and the men of Rome, in requital for Meinlas; and the second: Three Diademed Men of the Island of Britain: Three Red Ravagers of the Island of Britain: But there was one who was a Red Ravager greater than all three: Arthur was his name.

For a year neither grass nor plants used to spring up where one of the three would walk; but where Arthur went, not for seven years. Three Seafarers of the Island of Britain: Three Chieftains of Arthur's Court: Three Bull-Chieftains of the Island of Britain: These Three performed the Three Fortunate Assassinations: Gall son of Dysgyfdawd who slew the Two Birds of Gwenddolau. And they had a yoke of gold on them. That Gwrgi used to make a corpse of one of the Cymry every day, and two on each Saturday so as not to slay on Sunday.

And he struck her with a woodhatchet on the head. And that was one of the Three Hatchet-Blows. The second was a woodcutter of Aberffraw who struck Golydan with a hatchet, on the head. And the third, one of his own men struck upon Iago, son of Beli, with a hatchet, on the head. Three Battle-Leaders of the Island of Britain: This is why they were called battle-leaders: Three Pillars of Battle of the Island of Britain: Three Generous men of the Island of Britain: Three Brave Men of the Island of Britain: Gruddnei, and Henben, and Edenawg.

They would not return from battle except on their biers. And those were three sons of Gleissiar of the North, by Haearnwedd the Wily their mother. Three Arrogant Men of the Isle of Britain: Three Prostrate Chieftains of the Island of Britain: And this is why those were called 'Prostrate Chieftains': Three Enemy-Subduers of the Island of Britain: Three Slaughter-Blocks of the Island of Britain: And three others on the side of Lloegr: Hawystyl the Arrogant, and Gwaetcym Herwuden, and Gwiner.

Three Golden Corpses of the Island of Britain: The War-Band of Cadwallawn, when they were fettered; and the War-Band of Gafran son of Aeddan, at the time of his complete disappearance; and the War-Band of Gwenddolau son of Ceidiaw at Ar f derydd, who continued the battle for a fortnight and a month after their lord was slain. The number of each one of the War-Bands was twenty-one hundred men. The War-Band of Goronwy the Radiant of Penllyn , who refused to receive the poisoned spear from Lleu Skilful-Hand on behalf of their lord, at the Stone of Goronwy at the head of the Cynfal; and the War-Band of Gwrgi and Peredur, who abandoned their lord at Caer Greu, when they had an appointment to fight the next day with Eda Great-Knee; and there they were both slain; And the War-Band of Alan Fyrgan, who turned away from him by night, and let him go with his servants to Camlan.

And there he was slain. Three Fettered Men of the Island of Britain: And this is why those men were called Fettered: Three Bull-Spectres of the Island of Britain: Three Wild Spectres of the Island of Britain: Llywarch the Old, and Llemenig, and Heledd. I'm not sure the places mentioned in Snorri's novel actually existed - I'm only guessing, but I don't recognise any of the locations by name. Essentially the first pages are really about setting the tone, for what I felt, was a fairly solid read. There isn't much going on, other than the author attempting to flesh out his characters of which there are MANY.

The main character here is Ulfir, a 'nobel' Swede, sent with his cousin Gerri by the King of the Swedes to familiarize himself with the Viking-way. During his time, Ulfir gets bogged down in a lustful romance and politicking within the town of Stenvik. While Ulfir is having his fun, religion is changing, there is the White Christ as well as the old ways Thor, Freya, Odin, Valhalla, etc battling for provenance over Norway.

King Olav is attempting to bring the North of the country under his banner and belief of Christianity. While in the South, the old ways hold sway. So there is disagreement amongst the populace, surprise! I'm rather telling a 'story' here, but to cut out the guff, the town of Sternik finds itself besieged by true Vikings. With Ulfir locked in, along with the Chieftain Sven, Harold, a rather brutish chap and pig-farmers to boot, things get interesting - to a extent.

The real problem with the novel is that for pages, it really gets bogged down with too much talking and not enough doing! I'm interested to see, from the authors point of view, how a town during this time would interact with each other, but not for pages. There's no action, there's no broads, there's no booze! This is a book about Vikings right?

There is more, I've just grown tired of listing them. It's was a real chore for me, to cut through the characters - at times I felt the narrative wasn't descriptive at all. Just literally putting a name down on the page doesn't work, you need to really flesh out a persona for the reader to 'imagine' - well in my opinion anyway.

I moaned to someone that the characters seemed 'dead' and there was no real likeable one - well other than Audun towards the end, but I won't spoil that. The authors prose style is solid, no flares of brilliance sadly. For example, when the first attack on Stenvik takes place.

• Swords of Good Men.
• Just Being There: Based on a True Story.
• Welsh Triads/Red Book of Hergest?
• Sword of Neamha by Stephen England.
• Right Food for Children.
• Saint Vincent de Paul - Serviteur des pauvres (Belles histoires, belles vies) (French Edition).
• Thayer's Notes:.

Sven's rousing speech is rather amusing, it's meant to inspire seasoned warriors: The protaganist in this novel isn't a anti-hero, he is meant to be a likeable rogue not the opposite. So why say something that doesn't fit the persona you are trying to build. For me it just didn't ring true. There were other lines that didn't sit right with me also.

I should go back through the book and highlight them, but I just don't have the time, sorry about that. She can command men by touch and sense alone, no not jumping in bed for a bit of rumpy-pumpy what even is that? I really felt this element to the book didn't need to be there. I feel fairly strongly that the story itself would have held up better without this. It kind of rubbished, for me, all those mighty warriors at her command. Mind you, they say Agamemnon had the mightiest host of warriors ever, and it didn't work out to well for him.

Given that, he didn't have some harpy with magical powers! If I was sitting with the author right now, I'd say cut out the mystical element and come out with something more befitting the theme and tone of the era. Make sure your characteristics of your main character fits with the personality. I admire anyone who can piece together a novel, but for me, this was a fairly bad read and haphazard at best. View all 17 comments.

Dec 11, Daniel Ionson rated it liked it Shelves: I enjoyed and found the writing style of this book to be novel pun intended , but I do sense that many readers would be turned off by it. Kristjansson adopts a blistering pace with his style. He jumps between settings and scenes more quickly-- FAR more quickly -- than any other writer I have read, often spending only paragraphs on one scene before jumping to another.

He also has a plethora of characters, so many that my attachment to the [intended? But I can see I enjoyed and found the writing style of this book to be novel pun intended , but I do sense that many readers would be turned off by it. But I can see what the author was going for here, and I respect it.

I can simply guess that most readers will not enjoy it as much as I did. There are many elements to love in this book: The mixture of historical fiction and Dark Age Fantasy, the brutality of the fights, the blurred lines between men's imaginations and the activity of the gods. If Kristjansson's experimental style intrigues rather than repulses you, then give this a try. Until somewhere around the middle of it I was thinking of giving it 3 stars - I was having a bit of a hard time in understanding the story and connecting all of the characters.

Also, the fantasy elements were almost absent from the story until this point. But the writing was pretty good and I still had interest in continuing reading the story. I'm glad I did, because the book turned out to be really good - I was finally able to put all the characters into place and follow the plot, the fantasy elements started to appear more and in a very interesting and misterious way, and I found myself really intrigued about what was going to happen next, and I wasn't really anticipating that ending.

It fully deserves 4 stars. Looking forward to read the rest of the series! Jul 28, Cindy rated it really liked it. I had an inkling I would really like this book, but with new themes you never know. The last or so pages of the book are filled with blood, swords, axes, entrails flying around and skulls being smashed. All I can say about this is: The vast cast of characters are the cherry on top of this blood red cake. Although there are many, the author does a great job to give them all their own distinct personality and their own roles to play in the story.

Sword of Neamha

Some are evil, some are too good and some leave you wondering where they fit in in the whole. Snorri Kristjansson is definitely a powerful new voice in the Fantasy scene, with a strong debut that will please fans of Vikings, mythology, strategy and action. You can read this review and others on my blog: Once the action starts, it doesn't relent until the last page. I'll offer more thorough comments when my review for the Historical Novel Review goes live. Until then, I recommend this to all Viking fiction fans, if you don't mind fantasy being thrown in.

But I found the fantasy added to the authenticity, made it more true to the Viking mindset.

Get A Copy

I'll definitely be watching for book two. View all 5 comments. Jul 10, Patremagne rated it liked it Shelves: Jo Fletcher is a fairly new imprint for Quercus specializing in most of the speculative fiction genre. They also have a slew of authors who have debuted within the last few years with success, like Aidan Harte, Mazarkis Williams, Tom Pollock, and David Hair. This year includes promising debut Snorri Kristjansson with Swords o http: He tells the story how it is, without flattery and overbearing detail.

Taking place in Norway, Swords of Good Men is much more historical fiction than it is fantasy, with the aspect of magic not appearing until the very end for the most part and in a supernatural way. Swords begins with Ulfar Thormodsson and his cousin Geiri on their way to Stenvik, the last stop on a journey throughout the world before they can return home. It feels real, down to the longhouse with barrel-chested men drinking mead and singing. The young King Olav Tryggvason, a Norse leader turned Christian, is moving west with his growing army in an attempt to bring the White Christ to the populace of Scandinavia.

Skargrim has gathered a huge force of raiders and are advancing on Stenvik from the north with some kind of witch at the helm, and outlaws come out of the woodwork to harass the town as well. Therein lies the biggest flaw of Swords of Good Men. Too many forces seem to be converging on this one small town.

The book is split into many points of view, possibly too many, in order to help us keep track of all of these forces. If two of the main characters are in the same place, occasionally one paragraph would be spoken from one of them and the following one from the other, which made the story somewhat hard to follow.

Another problem with Swords was its length. It seems like a fairly standard story length for a debut at pages, and it went smoothly until the last quarter. Shit hit the fan and had me turning page after page, the book glued to my hands. I buzzed through the last few pages and found the next page to be blank. The book was over. Too much had happened in the last 5 pages for me to wrap my head around immediately, and I think that the book, with the multiple point of view writing style, would have benefited from an extra 50 or so pages to smooth things out. Despite what it may seem like by reading this review, I actually did enjoy Swords of Good Men because it had some very real characters and great action, though there were some flaws and those should be expected from a debut author.

View all 3 comments. Aug 30, Joel rated it liked it Shelves: This is a really hard book to review - not because it wasn't a good book, but it was a bit schizophrenic as far as tone and consistency went. I'll start by saying that I've spoken with Snorri on reddit and other formats, and he's a super cool fellow, very smart, very personable. I liked my dealings with him a lot, and marked this book as a "to buy" from the start, and have no problem with my purchase.

Swords follows a number of Norse viking folks, all on the cusp of a large oncoming battle. The m This is a really hard book to review - not because it wasn't a good book, but it was a bit schizophrenic as far as tone and consistency went. The main characters are a group of Norsemen in the city of Stenvik, as well as an invading force lead by Skargrim sp?

Don't have book in front of me! The story also follows King Olav, who has converted to Christianity and is leading a crusade of sorts. All of these viewpoints and storylines end up intertwining very well for the most part, though some just kind of fizzle out pointlessly. More on that later. The book feels very, very much like a viking version of Legend. Obvious main characters, a big long leadup to an epic battle and siege. Lots of death on both sides, shenanigans, excellent battle planning and writing. However, there's so much leadup to the battle that a lot of the other lines are lost in the fray.

For example, a TON of time is spent early on in King Olav's war camp, in his preaching of Christ, in his taming of his followers. Much ado is made about him coming to Stenvik, about him trying to take over, or him fighting Skargrim's army in aid of Stenvik. Then the battle arrives, and his entire storyline is almost forgotten. He isn't written about for chapters, no advancement other than "ermagerd he's coming!!!!

• Peaceful Moments to Begin Your Day.
• Colour Atlas of Wounds and Wounding!
• Navigation menu.
• Welsh Triads/Red Book of Hergest - Wikisource, the free online library.
• Brân the Blessed;
• Ristorante Nostalgia (Italian Edition)!

It felt very hollow and unfulfilled. There was a lot I liked about Swords - the writing was pretty good, the dialogue was fun, free flowing and not awkward at all. A bit stiff at times, but very believable most of the time, and with some witty banter now and then that was very natural. The settings were interesting, a lot left to the imagination, and Snorri did a pretty good job of giving a viking "feel" without going overboard with horns and furs and such, which would have made it a bit cheesy.

Polybius • Histories — Book 2

Many of the characters were unique, identifiable, relatable and enjoyable. However, the up and down nature of the story, the abrupt resolution, and the fizzling of some of the storylines lead to a bit of disappointment towards the end. I would certainly recommend the book to people who like this sort of thing, and will continue to follow Snorri and his writings in the future, as he has a ton of potential.

However, Swords didn't quite hit on all cylinders for me. Good read, this novel, but first: The action scenes were well-written and the characters well-developed. Swords, axes, spears, Vikings, and mead: Quite a bit of the story was left "to be continued," but the book was strong and I will be reading the rest of the trilogy. I wonder what was lost in the editing process. Overall, a good book for readers who like Viking- or medieval-themed battle fiction. Swords of Good Men is a solid historical fantasy. Up until the last quarter of the books I was figuring on giving it 3 stars but the ending ramped things up.

I plan to read the next book soon. Jul 20, Paul rated it really liked it. It follows the journeys of a Viking and explores the stark, often brutal, time which he lived. Swords of Good Men, the latest publication from Jo Fletcher Books, covers similar thematic territory but goes that little bit further. Imagine a novel that offers insight into the nature of a proud warrior culture and how tribes managed on a day-to-day basis. The strong prosper and the weak suffer the consequences.

Beset on all sides by forces that want to take control, the village chieftain also has to contend with internal power struggles. As events swiftly begin to spiral out of control, conflict is inevitable. The writing on display has an evocative air. Be warned though, things get pretty damn graphic as the plot moves forward. There is a wonderfully savage chaos in the action scenes. Unsurprisingly, when violence does erupt, it is often swift and brutal. I know that war is a terrible thing, but I think the writing tapped directly into that primal bloodlust that resides somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain.

There was part of me cheering when the Viking berserkers, The Twenty, arrived. When it comes to the battles, there is something wonderfully uncomplicated about it all. There is no thought required only action, the rules are staggeringly simple: As an effective counterpoint to all the mayhem of the battlefield, it was a nice surprise to discover that the novel also contains a plethora of more introspective moments. When characters are not engaged in trying to chop bits off of one another they ponder their existence.

How do they fit into the grand scheme of things? What is it that makes someone good or bad? Audun Arngrimsson, the blacksmith, is a good example of this duality. He is a hard-working, practical man. Initially, he appears content just to mind his own business, keep to himself and avoid any undue attention. When pushed to extremes however, the other side of his nature is revealed. The internal conflict that exists within Audun perfectly illustrates the internal conflict that exists within all warriors, longing for peace but relishing the unrestrained madness that comes only during war.

The other character I really enjoyed was the Viking captain, Eigill Jotunn. Anyone who knows a little Norse mythology will not be shocked to discover he is described as a huge, mountain of a man. The vicious meeting between Audun and Egill was the chaotic highlight of the novel for me. The arrival of the White Christ, and Christianity, also plays an important part in the narrative. Many generations of tradition and the Old Gods have suddenly been set aside for a new religion.

Entire communities have been forced to change their beliefs or face the consequences. When these differing theologies come crashing together like this, the results are as you would expect, bloody. The fantasy elements are handled very delicately. Kristjansson offers a suggestion of the fantastical at certain points throughout the narrative, but leaves these open to interpretation. I can imagine that this is going to prompt some vigorous reader debate. Some will undoubtedly relish the ambiguity in the writing, while others will probably loathe it.

Personally, I rather enjoyed this subtle approach. Once again, I find myself in the situation where another debut novel has blown me away. The writing is so self-assured. I was gripped from beginning to end, it feels like Kristjansson has been producing books like this for years. As an aside, I discovered that listening to the soundtrack for Game of Thrones season three while reading Swords of Good Men is a perfect accompaniment. This is the first book in The Valhalla Saga.

I will most definitely be back for more. Aug 17, Jane rated it liked it Shelves: King Olav to his general, Finn: It's basically three plots which eventually merge into one: In Norse mythology Skuld is also a personification of Hel, the goddess of death, as this 'Skuld' shows towards the end of the novel. There are echoes of Egil's Saga , an Icelandic saga of 's and of Beowulf. Many of the names seem to be lifted from the first work, particularly variations on the name of Egill Skallagrimmson, an anti-hero.

Into Stenvik arrive two cousins, Geiri and Ulfar. The latter had been involved in a brawl in his hometown, paid wergeld [money in reparation for a serious injury or death] to the family of the man whose arm he broke, and has been exiled for a period of time. He is protecting his cousin on their travels. Their story will now be tied up with that of the town. The story is pretty straightforward: The ending was a bit melodramatic to me. She was originally a stray but rescued herself, appearing one cold winter evening two years ago and moved in shortly afterwards.

Esme — how to demonst. The object is small and made of leather: Bent out of shape but still relatively well preserved; the worn sole has been mended more than once with a leather patch. Another small hole had been left before being sealed in the chimney to ward off witches and evil spirits, and guard against ill fortune.

It now lives in a clear plastic box close to where it was uncovered, found by the builde. December 10th and it snowed all day, with a big freeze forecast overnight. The cat is not impressed. The hills next to my cottage are completely white and eight long tailed tits on the snow covered Christmas tree were a bonus. They are regular visitors to the feeding station but today they looked like tiny hyperactive carol singers. My Claw is Quick — the Grimalkin series continues…. However, the voice came out male and so Grimalkin could not be a tortie as cats with this coat colour are almost exclusively female.

This is down to genetics but the gender of the PI was easily changed. The cover art also changed his coat colour from black — perfect for breaking and entering — to silver tabby. Four legs, whiskers and a tail, perfect night vision and a talent for breaking and entering …. He is also the only cat in history with a clown phobia. The case takes an even weirder twist when it becomes clear that a power-crazed parrot is calling all the shots.

Sam Spade never had to deal with hysterical gerbil witnesses, pirate assassi. Popularity Popularity Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Avg. A Story for Yule Nov 18, Available for download now. Give Me a Crucifix and a Colt. Inheritance Powder and a Long Drop: Three short articles on Victorian Crime and Punishment Apr 08,