A review by nataliealane
The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown

3.0

I love reading about women in history, so of course I jumped at the chance to read a book about Viking women warriors. As Brown points out, most warriors whose graves are found have long thought to be men, associating grave items like game boards and weapons to me and “domestic” tools and jewelry to women. However, more recent studies have shown this isn’t necessarily true. Brown’s whole book challenges the idea that Valkyrie were not simply mythological figures, although they may have been integrated into Norse myths; women could be great warriors, too, and weren’t necessarily rare. In The Real Valkyrie, Brown imagines the life of “Hervor,” a warrior buried at Birka, whose grave shows the warrior was highly revered and successful, and was long thought a man until research revealed otherwise. Each chapter begins with the next part in the life of the imagined Hervor (the warrior at the Birka grave) before giving details about a certain part of Viking life, from trade routes to feasting halls and artisanship. I love that Brown chose to intersperse historically-based storytelling into her nonfiction. It’s not something I’ve really seen (although creative nonfiction is newer to me), so although I think her creative writing wasn’t quite as captivating in its style and I’m not a huge fan of present tense, it was a cool touch I can definitely appreciate. It’s not my favorite read out of the “women in history” nonfiction I’ve read this year but it does make me want to look more into the topic and also read more creative nonfiction.