Viking: The Green Land

Disclaimer Katie Aiken Ritter is one of my friends in Goodreads, but I added the book long before we become friends and this is an honest and objective review.

I am obsessed with everything that has to do with the Viking era. I have read a significant number of non-fiction books concerning the culture, the journeys on distant shores, the beliefs, the myths and the religion of this extraordinary corner of the world that has offered so much to the later generations, was vastly misinterpreted by monks and bishops (not that they were angels, obviously, they were conquerors and savage ones, but horned helmets? Always pictured as rapists, slaughtering without mercy, humanoid animals? Please...) Whatever they may have been, they still fascinate and intrigue our imagination, centuries after the peak of their power.

My love for all things Viking is so deep that I may even be tempted (and I stress the ‘‘maybe'‘....) to read a Viking romance novel if the plot is remotely interesting. Fortunately, Viking:The Green Land is not a romance. One thing I cannot stand is disrespectful innacuracy and misinterpration of people and events that are facts, historically accepted and established (yes, Vikings TV series, I am looking at you!) and thankfully, Katie Aiken Ritter's novel doesn't seem to suffer from these problems. What is so interesting in Viking:The Green Land is that we are looking into the expedition that supposedly led to the discovery of Greenland, an incident that is rarely mentioned in novels belonging to the genre.

It is very, very difficult to describe the plot without spoiling the numerous twists and turns of the book, so I will refrain from it and write about the characters. Tiller is a hero that we can fully support, he is logical, brave, noble, eager to discover, learn and accept what is different without condemning it. His real identity was a major revelation, I admit I hadn't suspected who he was at first, and then I realised that yes, it was obvious. Thio, the Fishgirl, is such a unique character! She is a brave, intelligent, Viking woman, with great strength and an unflinching will to survive and protect herself from the vipers that surround her. And they are many...The villains of the story are black-hearted and brutal, the rest of the Viking crew upon the ship that carries them to unknown shores are like mirrors of every society. They are realistic characters, not Alpha, all-conquering heroes, but human beings with fears, passions and insecurities like us. The native people of Greenland become a major focus in the latter half of the book, making the story even more interesting and original.

The language is beautiful, sometimes poetic, other times raw, taking us into the thoughts of the characters in a clear and somehow,impressionistic way. I really liked the glimpses into the language of the Greenlanders, although it was a real struggle to grasp the pronunciation of their names or even to tell them apart at first. Perhaps, a character list would be a useful addition in a later edition of the novel. The end is very touching and paves the way for the following installment of the saga. I want to meet Leif Erikson in all his glory, reaching the Newfound land before any other.. The author's notes were very imformative, as well, and a delight to read.

The reviews about Katie Aiken Ritter's novel are raving and rightly so, in my opinion. It is an exquisite addition, not only in the Viking fiction genre, but in Historical Fiction in general. The research has been meticulous, obviously, but the readers don't feel as if they're present in a lecture. We witness the action in vivid, wild, raw, beautiful sequences. The novel has a Bernard Cromwell touch, and has all the makings to become a showstopper in the genre.

P.S. Michael Hirst, if you are reading this, this is how one writes about the Vikings in a respectful way, okay? Bye...