This book paints a great, lively portrait of a city and its empire just before its downfall. Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, and Franz Ferdinand (and the rest of the Austrian nobility, of course) all spent time in Vienna in the lead-up to WW1.
Very engrossing history of the "vikings" that focuses on the regular people and their lives rather than famous lords and ladies. You feel closer to the people of the era reading this book.
In imagining a Viking, a certain image springs to mind: a barbaric warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorize the hapless local population of a northern European town. Yet while such characters define our imagination of the Viking Age today, they were in the minority.
Instead, in the time-stopping soils, water, and ice of the North, Eleanor Barraclough excavates a preserved lost world, one that reimagines a misunderstood society. By examining artifacts of the past-remnants of wooden gaming boards, elegant antler combs, doodles by imaginative children and bored teenagers, and runes that reveal hidden loves, furious curses,…
Featuring breathtaking battles, fearsome foes, and vehement vows of vengeance, SWORD OF THE WAR GOD is an epic historical adventure adventure set amongst the blood and tumult of fifth-century Europe, where the dying Roman Empire, the mighty Huns, and heroes from Norse mythology vie for power.
'Epic, violent storytelling and great fun to read' The Times 'Tim Hodkinson has created a fascinating and undeniably epic tale... Highly recommended!' Theodore Brun 'A relentless tale from start to finish that will leave you breathless for more.' Richard Cullen
Picking up where its medieval forebears left off, The Impudent Edda not only introduces readers to a fresh, new perspective on both familiar and previously unknown narratives of Norse mythology, but also brings the world’s foremost epic fantasy trilogy to its inevitable and fateful conclusion: in a dank alleyway behind a dive bar in Boston.
“The text throughout is caustic, demotic and profanity-laden, as though our narrator isn’t some hoary-bearded Viking bard sitting by the fireside but a modern guy shooting the breeze with buddies over a beer. The result is a smart, lovingly rendered blend of academia and pastiche.” —Financial Times
“You don’t have to be a Bostonian to find The Impudent Edda hilarious and even if you know a lot about Old Norse mythology, you’ll find its unique take both thought-provoking and insightful. The Norse gods as you’ve never seen them before!” —Carolyne Larrington, translator of The Poetic Edda and author of The Norse Myths That Shape the Way We Think
