NorsePlay Reviews: The Saga of Eric Brighteyes.

If you've read all the sagas, you certainly have left yourself wanting. So short of now living the actual dream by lawbreaking and living as a fugitive in the wilds of Iceland, or becoming a poet laureate & owning rooms with open mic verse, killing someone over a lacrosse/rugby match, or soldier-of-fortuning your way into a warrior's notoriety, you're probably looking for some saga-comparable NorsePlay to read.

[1978 CE cover.]

Noted for being an influence on Tolkien's works, this 1891 CE Victorian homage celebrates the Icelandic Sagas by using all their best tropes: a name-worthy weapon of note, the love triangle, sorcery, generational baggage, interfamilial friction, class boundary breaking, berserks, legal gamesmanship, outlawry, ghosts, curses, and lots of stirring violence.

[this deceptively marketed 1982 CE Star Wars inspired cover actually has nothing whatsoever to do with the story.]

Haggard, more well known for the fantasy subgenre of lost civilizations he explores in She (1887 CE) and some of his other installments involving great hunter/adventurer hero Allan Quatermain, does a terrific job of borrowing Medieval Icelandic elements, telling it in antiquated but still readable language, and presenting the story in a fitting fashion. If one took the heart of Laxdæla Saga, gave it the consequential fallout of Grettir's Saga, and dressed it in some trappings from Eyrbyggja Saga, you would get Eric Brighteyes, and honestly, if you didn't know it was Haggard, you might actually mistake it for being in the Saga corpus.

Below I've linked the two-part audiobook for your enjoyment (trust that you'll get over the reader's voice in a few chapters [and hey, it's free]). Let us know what you think in the comments below!


[Part 1]


[part 2]

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.

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