Vinland Saga Omnibus, Vol. 1

Manga about vikings…

This can be a good introduction to manga, especially if you like viking setting. The story has some nice features like a gradual unveiling of the situation through the whole volume and giving the reader just enough information to be intrigued. And of course interesting characters.

The art sometimes is almost as good as in Berserk—can be very detailed, shows the chaos of epic battles with a lot of sounds and things happening—,but it often has too many anime features, like faces. It’s also great at portraying snow—falling or covering everything—, seas, storms and auroras which looks unusual in black and white. The addition of maps is very nice and the action is fast-paced and has some anime features.

Overall it feels adventurous with a few funny moments, looking forward to some great story moments.

A great first installment! I am looking forward to continuing this series.

Short Review: This was recommended to me by a number of people. I found it via interlibrary loan because it is expensive. It was well worth reading, but this first volume is only the first of 9 volumes released to date (all over 400 pages). So there is a real investment if you are going to pick up the whole thing.

The story is about early vikings. The violence and raiding of the culture are front and center. This is a very violent novel. But it presents itself as a book that is in the long run against violence. You just have to get through a lot of violence to get there.

This first volume is clearly primarily set up. There is a story here and it was engaging, but it felt like it barely scratched the surface.

My slightly longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/vinland-saga/