Mother of Kings, by Poul Anserson

Mother of Kings

Poul Anderson

Not too long ago I read and reviewed Cecelia Holland's The Soul Thief.  (Review)  It was about a young Irish lad who has to face and overcome some daunting Scandinavians, including the witchy wife of Erik Bloodak,  Queen Gungilde.  Well, she's who this historical fantasy novel is about.  Queen Gunhilde, that is.  Erik is in it too, but sh likes him a lot more in Poul Anderson's book.

We begin with Gunhilde as a headstrong young girl who sees Erik for the first time when the gorgeous young Viking visits her father's holdings.  She sets out to get him,, and she does, after a crash course in shamanistic magic at the hands of some lustful Finnish sorcerers.  First she gets Erik, whom she refers to as her "stallion", and we ladies know what that means, then sets out to make him King of Norway and anything else she can manage.  Unfortunately, his father, Harold Fairhair, the present king also had tons of other sons on both sides of the blanket.  Gunhilde has to help Erik kill them all one by one before she has any hope of success.  They proceed to have son after son themselves, keeping them busy until Haakon, called Athelstan's Foster, a half brother of Erik's, kicks him out of Norway.  They head to Orkney, then Northumbria, which is where we meet the two in The Soul Thief.  Anderson's account of Erik's death is different, probably more accurate, but nonetheless it happened about this time and Gunhilde and sons and daughter  have to hightail it back to Orkney.  Once the boys have all grown up they start in on the kindship themwselves, agreeing to share it with the est suited, Garold Grayfell, as the head king.  One by one, in spite of every witchy thing Gunhilde can manage, they die while rivals cement their own hold on Norway.

The novel throughout addresses the sea change from Paganism to Christianity with a little primitive magic thrown in.  In one of the final scenes, Gungilde, who has genuinely puzzled over religion throughout much of her life, always choosing the most expedient for her purpose, has a vision of three men on a bluff, one hanging from a tree, namely Odin, another nailed to a cross, do I have to say who that is, and one between them dancing about like a Finnish shaman.  Her conclusion appears to be that it is all the same thing, a power men define to suit themselves.

First and foremost Gunhilde is about getting what she wants, Erik, then promoting their bloodline through her sons and to a lesser degree her daughter.  To these ends she will balk at nothing, drawing the ship Erik captains to her location with the Finns, then convincing his crew to kill the men and take her with them.  Once she has Erik she uses the talents developed under these same men's tutelage to turn into a swallow to go  spy on rivals, to know what is happening to her family members. then to fashion a deadly arrow to kill Haakon the Good, finally to fight the female warrior deity Haakon Jarl has protecting him.

The most remarkable thing about this novel is how gorgeously Anderson mimics the saga and poetry styles of the the Norse skalds of the time.  Perhaps the most gifted, Egil Skalagrenson, is a character in the book, and Gunhilde's ime nemesis.  I have always enjoyed the four accented beat per line alliterative style of Norse poetry.  I enjoyed the use of its characteristic features in the prose of this novel immensely.  In fact, it was my second favorite part.  My first was how Anderson, a native of Denmark,  manufactures words and phrases that evoke the language of the people and time.  One small example is to call migratory birds "wanderbirds", and there are many many more and more poetical examples throughout the book.

Unfortunately, the book shares another characteristic of the sagas, and that is that is very long and full of intricate detail that might be more appealing to Biking ears than our own.  I felt some of the expeditions could have been summarized, and the point gotten to, but that may just be me.  Though I doubt it.

I know that technically this novel is fantasy, but so long as there are no unicorns or dragons, I tend to regard the magic as alternate technology, so I gave it a chance.

I downloaded this novel from NLS's BATD site and read it on my digital talking vook machine.  Forgive my spellings.. I read this book by ear.