Description

Frans Gunnar Bengtsson’s The Long Boats resurrects the world of the tenth-century AD once the Vikings roamed and rampaged in the upper fastnesses of Scandinavia down seriously to the Med. Bengtsson’s idol, Reddish Orm—canny, brave, and most importantly lucky—is merely a child when he's kidnapped from his Danish house by the Vikings and designed to take his spot at the oars of the dragon-prowed boats. Orm is subsequently taken from the Moors in Spain, where he's initiated in to the joys of the senses and battles for the Caliph of Cordova. Escaping from captivity, Orm wipes up in Ireland, where he marvels at these epicene animals, the Religious monks, and from which he then progresses to play an ever-more significant part in the intrigues of the different Scandinavian leaders and clans and dependencies.