I don't watch much TV. I'm busy working, reading, and writing, I do enjoy storytelling in all its forms, and thus I do follow some TV shows. The History Channel gets a lot of grief, most of it earned. It seems like everything is ancient aliens. So, when a friend told me that he was watching a show called Vikings, and that it was on the History Channel, I wasn't very excited.
I loved reading about vikings when I was younger. Oh, who am I kidding? I still do. There's some good fantasy fiction out there. I grew up reading some great Viking books written by Poul Anderson and Harry Harrison, both known mostly for their science fiction. These were fiction, but very well researched. So, I knew quite about about the culture from weregild* to wyrd** to the gathering known as a Thing.
I figured I'd check out a couple episodes to see how bad it was, or how long it took for aliens to show up(There is a movie called Outlander that revolves around an alien spaceship crashing into Viking Age Norway. It is entertaining if you are into action/horror films) I love the show Vikings. It's a solid, dramatic history drama that is both entertaining, and educational.
The third season is set to begin soon. The series follows the exploits of legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his family and followers. It's tales of raiding, trading and exploring is taken from Norse sagas, that are part fiction and part oral tradition with some historical sources of the period. It's fun stuff.
If you can't wait for season 3, I suggest checking out Blood Eye by Giles Kristian. It's a thrilling adventure of brotherhood, warfare, and treachery, Giles Kristian takes us into ninth-century England, a world of darkness, epic conflict, and an unforgiving God served by powerful priests.
On ships shaped like dragons, bristling with oars and armor, Jarl Sigurd and his fierce Norsemen have come in search of riches. And riches they are promised, by an English ruler who sends Sigurd and his wolves to steal a holy manuscript from another kingdom.
Osric, an orphan boy, sees beyond the terror of these warriors, and somehow knows the heathens’ tongue. Renamed Raven, rechristened in blood, he will join them. They are his people. And they will be his fate.
I started the first book in this trilogy and immediately bought the next two so I could start them as soon as I finished the first. It reminded me of some of my favorite books as a teenager. Well, I'm going to sharpen my ax, practice my shield wall techniques and read Sons of Thunder, and Odin's Wolves.
*the value set in Anglo-Saxon and Germanic law upon human life in accordance with rank and paid as compensation to the kindred or lord of a slain person
** concept roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. Their concept of fate, wyrd, was stronger than that of the Classical Pagans as there was no resisting it
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