Giles Kristian was one of the first historical writers that I came to know: we share a publisher and we’ve shared events and I’ve loved his writing since the first of the ‘Raven BloodEye’ novels came out a handful of years ago. He wrote three of those and then took some time out and wrote a couple of cracking, fast-paced ECW novels, and now he’s back with a vengeance… yes, that was deliberate in all the senses it could be: this is by far and away the best book Giles has ever written and that’s setting the bar high.
God of Vengeance follows what could be a straightforward tale of Viking need-for-vengeance. Sigurd is too young to accompany his father and brothers on their ship when they go to join their king in defeat of a rival: which means he stands on the shore and watches their betrayal in all its bloody horror. Left homeless, lord-less, king-less and for a while with only the barest handful of men, he has to build his band to the point where he can seek the vengeance his heart, his pride, his birthright demands… or die in the attempt.
So much, so not-hugely-uncommon, but this is a step apart. Giles is Norse to his very bones and it shows in every beautiful, lyrical, mythical sentence. More than even the BloodEye books, this has the feel of a saga, to be told around a camp fire: all the lyrcism of the bards made into beautiful, liquid prose. His men shine from the page. Their gods walk alongside. Their struggles are real and bloody and success is not guaranteed. If good drama is created by the combination of passion, anticipation and uncertainty, this has all three in powerful measure. And more than that, this has the magic of the gods, the sense of magic walking across the pages that sets it apart from the humdrum of ‘every-sentence-authenticated-by-21st-century-academics’ feel of many contemporary novels. This is wild, and beautiful, and potent. It’s accurate too, I’m sure, but I didn’t feel as if I was being slapped around the head by the research in the way I often do. And it has powerful, strong women as well, which is always a plus.
So this definitely gets 5 stars and I’ll be working very hard to lay hands on the new ARC when the sequel comes out.
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