Viking Mania Vol. I and Vol. II by Robert Peterson: book review

Viking Mania Vol. I: selected stories of kings and queens, gods and ghosts by Robert Peterson (2022) is a collection of 14 short fictional stories of ethnic mythology. Viking Mania Vol. II published in 2023 has 15 short stories.

The stories in both volumes have similar themes, such as war, famine, disease, monstrous creatures (e.g., trolls, goblins, and dragons), battles, bravery, fate, and the will of the gods.

In the first volume “The Man of No Fate, Odin Confounds the Norns” is about the “silent and brooding folk” who can call up storms, the carver of fate, the All-Father, the Delight of Frigg, the One-Eyed Dreamer, and a man “whose name is hidden.” Another one is “Ragnar Gets a Bride, Guile Can Win a Battle, and Sometimes a Bride” with characters such as King Shortlegs, King Hopp Thorson of Agder, and Stein Nilsson. The epilogue is also interesting and funny.

In the second volume, the characters represent “a hypermasculine, warrior society whose Gods were not big on turning the other cheek or forgiveness.” But they did have virtues such as “generosity, moderation, keeping promises, courtesy, loyalty persistence, respect for the dead, and above all, oath-keeping.”

All the stories are humorous with an assortment of strange and interesting characters, such as “Eyestein and Gunnar Face the Buskerud Hag” and “Sutton Styrbornson & the Mead of Poetry” – but I was hoping for a poem or two to be included in this chapter. “Judgment in the Court of Riddles” is also interesting – and it does contain several riddles.

Both volumes are an unusual collection of entertaining and amusing fictional stories with a few that are slightly based on history.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris. Her latest book is: Innovations within Constraints Handbook (2025).

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