Overview
They set sail from Norway, two swift-moving longships and their handpicked crews, following the route navigated by the legendary Leif Ericson. But for young shipmaster Nils Thorsson and his fellow Norsemen the real journey begins when they push on into the uncharted continent of Vinland.
There the explorers revel in the chance to penetrate a virgin land -until they trespass on the grounds of a primitive people who have seen enough of the light-hairs' cruelty to believe they are too dangerous to ignore. In one swift dawn raid, they deal with the invaders by letting go a swarm of fiery arrows Only three men from the sailing party escape: the intrepid Nils Thorsson, the hardened seaman Svenson, and an enigmatic native guide called Odin. Now. stranded in the wilderness with their one-eyed guide, Thomson and Svenson know that to survive they must master the ways of war, of the hunt — and of a proud and fearless people.
Two Norwegian longships venture across the great sea to Vinland--now Newfoundland--and the colony of Straumfjord, where a group of Viking sailors ventures into a native culture like nothing they've ever seen. This novel takes readers back into the antiquity of Coldsmith's People, the ancestors of the characters in the Spanish Bit novels.
Synopsis
They set sail from Norway, two swift-moving longships and their handpicked crews, following the route navigated by the legendary Leif Ericson. But for young shipmaster Nils Thorsson and his fellow Norsemen the real journey begins when they push on into the uncharted continent of Vinland.
There the explorers revel in the chance to penetrate a virgin land -until they trespass on the grounds of a primitive people who have seen enough of the light-hairs' cruelty to believe they are too dangerous to ignore. In one swift dawn raid, they deal with the invaders by letting go a swarm of fiery arrows Only three men from the sailing party escape: the intrepid Nils Thorsson, the hardened seaman Svenson, and an enigmatic native guide called Odin. Now. stranded in the wilderness with their one-eyed guide, Thomson and Svenson know that to survive they must master the ways of war, of the hunt -- and of a proud and fearless people.
Publishers Weekly
In an epic novel that, with its emphasis on the Plains Indians of the 11th century, can be considered a prequel to his popular Spanish Bit Saga novels (see Child of the Dead, reviewed below), Coldsmith provides a gripping and imaginative account of the earliest days of the Norse exploration of North America. At the same time, he offers an enjoyable examination of the very contemporary issue of cultural diversity. Nils Thorsson, commander of the ship Snowbird, survives an attack by Indians along the St. Lawrence River; the only other survivors are Nils's steersman, Svenson, and an Indian who had joined their band after escaping an enemy tribe that had gouged out one of his eyes. Jeeringly nicknamed after the Norsemen's one-eyed, supreme god, ``Odin'' has been regarded by the Norse as subhuman, an ignorant barbarian. But Nils and Svenson grudgingly change their opinion as Odin leads them inland, away from their pursuers and to his village. There the two foreigners find themselves in a civilization far different from their own, yet with its own extraordinary attributes. Finally managing to arrange a voyage that he hopes will take him back home, Nils leaves Odin's people only to discover, after great danger, that his heart belongs to his adopted civilization and the family he has established there. Coldsmith weaves a wealth of fascinating historical detail into his narrative, deftly re-creating a long-ago world enlivened by believable characters, realistic (and often witty) dialogue, vivid prose and nonstop action. (Mar.)