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Tim Severin

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rex icelingas
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Tim Severin

Post by rex icelingas » Sat April 4th, 2009, 1:00 pm

Ive only read the Viking Series so im judging him by that

I know Tim Severin is a celebrated explorer and ive heard people accuse his work as nothing but travelogues but he in my opinion does do it awfully well

Upon Reading `Odinns Child` I thought id picked up a DNF,it was so slow until they left America and then the triogy hit steam and I had to keep on reading.Severin tells a great story intertwining real Historical events with the life of Thorgils Leiffson,I loved this series so much.

Anyone else?

Carla
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Post by Carla » Mon April 6th, 2009, 9:47 am

I read Odinn's Child and thought it was quite fun as a travelogue, and liked the huge amount of detail about Norse society and all the bits I recognised from the sagas. As a novel, not so much. It trundled rather than raced, and Thorgeils was something of a passive observer. I haven't read the rest of the trilogy, or his new Corsair series. I'll get round to them sooner or later.

His non-fiction adventure writing can be superb, though. Really excellent. My favourite is The Brendan Voyage - bits of which I recognised in Odinn's Child! It tells how Severin and four companions recreated St Brendan's (legendary?) voyage to America in a leather boat. Absolutely gripping stuff, and beats his novels by a country mile. I'll post my review of it when I get round to it.
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

annis
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Post by annis » Sun April 12th, 2009, 8:36 pm

I'm afraid that I found "Odinn's Child" a real chore to read and in fact gave up after nodding through a couple of attempts, which isn't something I often do. It felt so very earnest, more like a lecture on Viking-age life and customs than a novel, and I just got bogged down in the detail. If the pace had been a bit faster maybe I might have stuck with it. I moved on to Robert Low's entertaining "Oathsworn" series instead.

Having said that, I've really enjoyed several of TS's non-fiction titles, fascinating stuff, and have found his "Hector Lynch" series very readable.
Last edited by annis on Sun April 12th, 2009, 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Carla
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Post by Carla » Mon April 13th, 2009, 7:24 pm

There was an interview with Tim Severin in one of the British broadsheet newspapers when Odinn's Child was first published, and in it he said he was delighted when he discovered just how many facts he could work into the book. That's very evident in the finished result! I daresay it helps to be a bit of a Viking geek; I had a certain amount of fun spotting bits and pieces from various sagas. I've posted my review of Odinn's Child in the review section, and I must have posted my review of The Brendan Voyage some time ago because it was there already.

Is the Hector Lynch series the one I've seen called the Corsair series?
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

annis
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Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Tue April 14th, 2009, 12:54 am

Yes, Hector Lynch is the main character. There are two published so far; "Corsair" and "Buccaneer". I see that the third, "Sea Robber" is due out in May.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/tim-severin

They are a little bit stilted, but a big improvement on "Odinn's Child" -perhaps TS is getting more of a feel for writing fiction as he goes along. I know several people felt that the later "Viking" books were more readable than the first, so maybe I didn't give them a fair go.

Carla
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Joined: August 2008
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Post by Carla » Tue April 14th, 2009, 10:29 am

I had a look at the early chapters of the second Viking novel and it didn't look that different from the first. I recall a lengthy explanation about which Norse giantess he had named his horse after. However, I'll probably read the second and third in due course, and if I do I'll report back :-)
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com

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