VIKINGAFURSTINNAN by CHATARINA INGELMAN-SUNDBERG (2001)

Title: Vikingafurstinnan: en historisk roman om Ingegerd - vikingatidens mäktigaste kvinna  (alt. Mäktig Mans Kvinna)

Author: Chatarina Ingelman-Sandberg

Pages: 376

Published: 2018 (alt. 2001)

Publisher: Månpocket
Language: Swedish

In all honesty, I was disappointed. I found this book in the Science-Fiction bookshop in Old Town in Stockholm, Sweden and I was really in the mood for a Viking story. Having read and loved Johanne Hildebrandt's books Sigrid, and Estrid, I thought I was in for a similar experience when picking up Vikingafurstinnan. But instead of flying through the book, I had to push myself to finish it.

This book had such potential. It introduced the relationship between the Vikings and Russia and Prussia. It highlighted the change in religion that the Vikings went through. There was an impossible love story and an arranged marriage, but no spice! Nothing of this hooked on and provided an exciting story. I was solely disappointed but somehow finished the book nevertheless.

Having been told that I'd purchased this book my Grandma bought the Ingelman-Sundberg's other three Viking based novels and she seemed relatively pleased when I asked her about them. I wonder if I will make the effort of reading them in the hope that they will be much better or if I will find myself leaving them on the shelf.

It is a shame when a book has this effec

t on me because I really did have high hopes and I kept reading in the hopes that it would pick up but the book did not lead up to any big excitement. Three quarters through an event worth mentioning took place and this was perhaps the only interesting part. The main character, Ingegerd, having existed in real life was clearly an interesting historical figure but she rubbed me up the wrong way and unfortunately the book didn't agree with me.

Plot Summary:

There are worrying times in the Nordics, and the Viking bride Ingegerd and Olav the Holy are going to marry. But Ingegerd father, Olof Skötkung, opposes the wedding - Ingegerd is forced to travel to Rus to marry Jaroslav the Wise, an older man she has never met before. The nobles threaten with insurgency and Norway with war. Ingegerd finds herself in the middle of the eye of the storm.
My Rating:

3/10

I really did push myself through this book unfortunately. 
Other Books by Chatarina Ingelman-Sandberg:

Kaffe med Rån (Pensionärsligan #1) - [The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules (League of Pensioners #1)]

Låna är Silver, Råna är Guld (Pensionärsligan #2) - [The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again (League of Pensioners #2)]

Rån och Inga Visor (Pensionärsligan #3) - [The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly (League of Pensioners #3)]

Tantlexikon [The Old Lady's Dictionary]

Krutgummor på Krigstiden (Mormödrar för Fred)

Brännmärkt [Branded]

Förföljd [Stalked]

Befriad [Freed]

Vikingablot [Viking Blot]

Vikingasilver [Viking Silver]

Vikingaguld [Viking Gold]

Boken om Vikingarna [The Book About the Vikings]

Forntida Kvinnor - Jägare, Vikingahustru, Furstinna [Ancient Women - Hunter, Viking Wife, Countess]

Kampen mot Bränningarna [The Fight Against the Fires]

Tempelbranden (Släkten #3) - [The Temple Fire (The Kindred #3)]

SIGRID by JOHANNE HILDEBRANDT (2015)

Title: Sigrid (alt. The Unbroken Line of the Moon)

Author: Johanne Hildebrandt

Series: Sagan on Valhalla #4

Pages: 451

Published: Jun 17th 2015

Publisher: Månpocket
Language: Swedish


As I am always allowed to help myself from my grandparents bookshelf I found this one and naturally was allowed to take it with me home. Six months later I feel this incredible urge to read it. This book is written in Swedish, but it is available in English under the title The Unbroken Line of the Moon. Sigrid is about a young Viking girl who is chosen by the Norse Godess Freya to do the God's will on Earth (or Midgård as they call it). She gets visions and dreams to guide her along the way, but her duties as a Viking girl want to lead her down a different path. So battled between what her family wants and what the Gods want her to do she struggles to satisfy both.

This book is brilliant if you have a love for Vikings or if you feel like you'd like to try it. Hildebrandt weaves in some Norse mythology facts so that even if you don't know anything about the Norse Gods you don't struggle to keep up at all. She includes some supernatural moments that are so subtle it's believable and I didn't question any plot devices at all.

Sigrid Storråda (aka. Sigrid the Haughty) is a known queen in Norse sagas and the character is therefore based on a real woman. However, the sagas about Sigrid sometimes contradict themselves and this book is vaguely based on them. Sigrid was known for her extreme faith in the Norse Gods, Freya in particular. She refused to acknowledge the Christian Gods even when Christianity was starting to take over Scandinavia and the Nordics. The book mentions other well known vikings such as Harald Blåtand, Svend Tveskägg and more. If you watch the TV series Vikings I highly recommend this as it is a combination of history, fantasy and mythology.

Plot Summary:

In this grand saga of love, war and magic set in the tenth century, young Sigrid is destined to be the mother of the king of the Nordic lands that would become Sweden, Norway, Denmark and England.
A devout believer in the old Nordic gods, Sigrid is visited regularly in her dreams by the goddess Freya, who whispers to her of the future. Though Sigrid is beautiful, rich, arrogant and matchlessly clever her uncanny ability to foresee the future and manipulate the present guides her through dangerous politics as a bloody war between Vikigns and Christians rages on.
Sigrid father wants her to marry Erik, a local king, to secure the peace between Goths and Swedes, Thinking she is doing Freya's will she accepts the marriage offer, only to find that her destiny leis with Svend, a warrior who dreams of dethroning Harald Bluetooth, the legendary ruler of Denmark. Will Sigrid sacrifice her for the greatest Viking kingdom of all time, or will she follow her heart at the risk of loosing everything?
-Goodreads

My Rating:

8/10

Other Books in this Series:

Freja (Sagan om Valhalla #1)
Idun (Sagan om Valhalla #2)
Saga från Valhalla (Sagan om Valhalla #3)
Sigrid (Sagan om Valhalla #4)
Estrid (Sagan om Valhalla #5)

Book 1 to 3 work as a trilogy on their own and book 4-5 is there own series. However, it is referred to as a trilogy and I suspect there will be a 6th book.