Norseman’s Oath
Jason Born’s Norseman’s Oath, the fifth volume in his Norseman Chronicles, opens in A. D. 989, two years after the action of the previous instalment, when our brave but slightly hapless hero, the warrior Halldorr, is still at odds in the long aftermath of the battle that nearly ended his life and the lives of his band of comrades at Dunadd during the climax of the preceding volume.
“The earth, Midgard, is populated with the vilest creatures. They slither from one pond, across the shore and over mountains, to simply slip into another sea in order to spread their mayhem,” we are told as the book begins. “The beast of which I speak is mankind, of course.” And that same wry and dry humor, familiar to readers of the Viking sagas of Giles Christian among others, permeates this whole series and this novel in particular, where Halldorr must negotiate the cutthroat court politics of medieval Ireland.
Born introduces a large cast of characters and brings them all vividly to life; the book reads like a shot. It is whole-heartedly recommended.
