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baby_loona's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
marthadude's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
#JusticeForHoskuld (the third one).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Violence, Gore, Bullying, Classism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Misogyny
Moderate: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Slavery
vivacissimx's review against another edition
3.0
Legal thriller in the sense that when people get tired of the legal drama they just kill each other instead. Fascinating insight into the frontier of law/honor/conversion from paganism to Christianity. The latter mainly in the sense that "conversion" is less of an incontrovertible process, as it is a subsuming of an existing tradition under the name of Christ. A convoluted wealth of genealogical information as well. Simple read other than all the proper names.
falcon's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rotorguy64's review against another edition
4.0
I was made aware of this book by [b:The Machinery of Freedom|112849|The Machinery of Freedom Guide to a Radical Capitalism|David D. Friedman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1298443612s/112849.jpg|108657], which had a chapter on Medieval Iceland and specifically recommended this work. According to the author, David Friedman, the Icelandic Sagas are better than most novels. While I wouldn't go quite that far, I must say that Njals Saga was very good as a story and offered valuable historical insights.
I was surprised both by the rawness of the Icelandic people and by their honor and civility. You only had to insult someone and he would come after you and try to chop your head off. This happens throughout the story, and it's always described in great detail (these fights make for great action sequences, by the way). Yet, as Friedman pointed out, these battles happen years or decades apart, all the victims of violence are named, and as I have noticed, the great majority actually do die in battle, almost all victims are males of fighting age who seemed more than happy to engage in brawls and duels, and pretty much no one ever gets tortured or executed in creative or cruel ways, with two exceptions: One background character is pushed into a steaming hot kettle over a petty insult, and towards the end, a king has his entrails ripped out in what is most definitely not a historically accurate sequence. There is the famous burning incident, of course, but even that one was surprisingly humane. All the children and women were allowed leave, as were the elders, and Flosi, the executor of this plot, was shown to be quite honorable for most of the story. Compare his atrocity to, say, the My Lai massacre, or the killing of hostages in occupied Belgium during World War One.
When the Icelanders in this story aren't fighting, they're suing each other. These lawsuits are described in even more loving detail than the fights, which should make Njals Saga of interest for everyone engaged in comparative legal studies. The descriptions show how a decentralized legal system can work, what forensics and procedural laws in the middle ages were like, and they give an insight into the mindset at the time. For all their fighting, the Icelanders knew the value of peace, they had a concept of forgiveness and of mercy, and a respect for the law. Like I said, they were raw, but very civilized. Many cultures almost entirely lacked ways of peacefully settling disputes, and their wars, unlike the small-scale skirmishes of the Icelanders in which every dead would be named, remembered and accounted for, were total wars. I'm not surprised this people so readily accepted Christianity.
If you're looking for entertainment, you can also give this saga a try. Some passages are extremely tiresome and confusing, as new characters are constantly introduced and they often share one and the same name, the relevance of events is not always immediately clear, and the style is odd, what with this being a very old document. It doesn't help that the translators of my edition had the great idea to write "thou" and "thee". What for? The original saga wasn't written in old English, so why translate it into old English when more modern English is probably just as faithful? And the poetry was very hard to get into, I don't know why exactly, but I doubt it's only the translation. Still, the story is complex, filled with mystery and fascinating events, the characters are compelling, and naturally, it really captures the spirit of the time. Like I already said, the fighting sequences are very well-written, dynamic and intense, and the same goes for the court drama. So yes, as far as entertainment goes, this story holds up if you bring enough patience.
The hidden stars of this book, in my humble opinion, are Bjorn and his wife, who appear near the end of the story. Practically every sentence of Bjorn is some more or less pathetic boast, to which she usually replies that he's full of crap and that she will never sleep with him again if he doesn't live up to his boasts.
I was surprised both by the rawness of the Icelandic people and by their honor and civility. You only had to insult someone and he would come after you and try to chop your head off. This happens throughout the story, and it's always described in great detail (these fights make for great action sequences, by the way). Yet, as Friedman pointed out, these battles happen years or decades apart, all the victims of violence are named, and as I have noticed, the great majority actually do die in battle, almost all victims are males of fighting age who seemed more than happy to engage in brawls and duels, and pretty much no one ever gets tortured or executed in creative or cruel ways, with two exceptions: One background character is pushed into a steaming hot kettle over a petty insult, and towards the end, a king has his entrails ripped out in what is most definitely not a historically accurate sequence. There is the famous burning incident, of course, but even that one was surprisingly humane. All the children and women were allowed leave, as were the elders, and Flosi, the executor of this plot, was shown to be quite honorable for most of the story. Compare his atrocity to, say, the My Lai massacre, or the killing of hostages in occupied Belgium during World War One.
When the Icelanders in this story aren't fighting, they're suing each other. These lawsuits are described in even more loving detail than the fights, which should make Njals Saga of interest for everyone engaged in comparative legal studies. The descriptions show how a decentralized legal system can work, what forensics and procedural laws in the middle ages were like, and they give an insight into the mindset at the time. For all their fighting, the Icelanders knew the value of peace, they had a concept of forgiveness and of mercy, and a respect for the law. Like I said, they were raw, but very civilized. Many cultures almost entirely lacked ways of peacefully settling disputes, and their wars, unlike the small-scale skirmishes of the Icelanders in which every dead would be named, remembered and accounted for, were total wars. I'm not surprised this people so readily accepted Christianity.
If you're looking for entertainment, you can also give this saga a try. Some passages are extremely tiresome and confusing, as new characters are constantly introduced and they often share one and the same name, the relevance of events is not always immediately clear, and the style is odd, what with this being a very old document. It doesn't help that the translators of my edition had the great idea to write "thou" and "thee". What for? The original saga wasn't written in old English, so why translate it into old English when more modern English is probably just as faithful? And the poetry was very hard to get into, I don't know why exactly, but I doubt it's only the translation. Still, the story is complex, filled with mystery and fascinating events, the characters are compelling, and naturally, it really captures the spirit of the time. Like I already said, the fighting sequences are very well-written, dynamic and intense, and the same goes for the court drama. So yes, as far as entertainment goes, this story holds up if you bring enough patience.
The hidden stars of this book, in my humble opinion, are Bjorn and his wife, who appear near the end of the story. Practically every sentence of Bjorn is some more or less pathetic boast, to which she usually replies that he's full of crap and that she will never sleep with him again if he doesn't live up to his boasts.
cubehead27's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
hannaww's review against another edition
4.0
It was way more interesting than I thought it would be.
arekuser's review against another edition
4.0
Serial latino de divorcios, asesinatos y juicios ambientado en la islàndia del siglo XIII. Aunque parezca todo muy exagerado (incluyendo mi descripción), se trata de un mundo asombrosamente lógico dentro de sus propias construcciones. La saga está acompañada de una breve introducción al texto y notas, donde el traductor y editor aporta buenos apuntes sin caer en la erudición excesiva.
telltalelakej's review against another edition
4.0
i do wanna reread this not for school in the future but there were many gay ppl in here 10/10