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A review by seshat59
The Golden Wolf by Linnea Hartsuyker
5.0
I loved this series so much, and The Golden Wolf, the concluding installment, did not disappoint.
Taking place approximately fifteen years after the dramatic, concluding battle in The Sea Queen, The Golden Wolf sees Ragnvald, Harald, Svanhild, and Solvi in their twilight years, and the narrative expands to include their children as narrators, specifically Einar, Ragnvald’s firstborn if illegitimate son, and Freydis, Svanhild and Solvi’s abandoned daughter. The character development, which has shone throughout the series, peaks in this book. Ragnvald made the choice in the last book to outthink and out maneuver Harald’s enemies. Now, ruling in all but name with his equally ambitious and capable sister patrolling Solvi-less seas, his ambition comes to haunt him in the most immediate of ways, his family. Serious as he’s always been, he has been unable to bond with and/or praise his sons, but he is able to hold them to impossible standards and to manipulate them for his own machinations.
Svanhild was such a strong female character, one who defied traditional feminine roles and still does in this book. Her daughter, however, does play a more traditional role and yet still exhibits great strength. Kidnapped on a sea route, impregnated, abducted again, she survives pregnancy and a husband, who wasn’t outright cruel but was still not kind. “She had felt like someone else’s property her whole life, moved from Tafjord to Sogn, then carried off to Vestfold, with no one asking her what she wished.” Even so, Freydis perseveres, grows, and finds a prominent position for herself.
Both Ragnvald and Svanhild have placed ambition above family, and in this book, they have one last chance. Both make their choices, and it’s interesting to see what they choose and how that affects the lives and happiness of themselves and their children.
The ending may be unpopular, but I felt it was justly done and apropos to the foreshadowing and themes of fate (wyrd) and personal choices woven throughout the series, from the beginning when Ragnvald had his vision of Harald as a golden wolf to the very end. Could they have avoided their fates? No doubt.
This is masterful historical fiction and definitely one of the best Viking stories I’ve encountered.
Taking place approximately fifteen years after the dramatic, concluding battle in The Sea Queen, The Golden Wolf sees Ragnvald, Harald, Svanhild, and Solvi in their twilight years, and the narrative expands to include their children as narrators, specifically Einar, Ragnvald’s firstborn if illegitimate son, and Freydis, Svanhild and Solvi’s abandoned daughter. The character development, which has shone throughout the series, peaks in this book. Ragnvald made the choice in the last book to outthink and out maneuver Harald’s enemies. Now, ruling in all but name with his equally ambitious and capable sister patrolling Solvi-less seas, his ambition comes to haunt him in the most immediate of ways, his family. Serious as he’s always been, he has been unable to bond with and/or praise his sons, but he is able to hold them to impossible standards and to manipulate them for his own machinations.
Svanhild was such a strong female character, one who defied traditional feminine roles and still does in this book. Her daughter, however, does play a more traditional role and yet still exhibits great strength. Kidnapped on a sea route, impregnated, abducted again, she survives pregnancy and a husband, who wasn’t outright cruel but was still not kind. “She had felt like someone else’s property her whole life, moved from Tafjord to Sogn, then carried off to Vestfold, with no one asking her what she wished.” Even so, Freydis perseveres, grows, and finds a prominent position for herself.
Both Ragnvald and Svanhild have placed ambition above family, and in this book, they have one last chance. Both make their choices, and it’s interesting to see what they choose and how that affects the lives and happiness of themselves and their children.
The ending may be unpopular, but I felt it was justly done and apropos to the foreshadowing and themes of fate (wyrd) and personal choices woven throughout the series, from the beginning when Ragnvald had his vision of Harald as a golden wolf to the very end. Could they have avoided their fates? No doubt.
This is masterful historical fiction and definitely one of the best Viking stories I’ve encountered.