A review by remembered_reads
Hammerfall, Vol. 1: While the Serpent Sleeps by Boris Talijancic, Sylvain Runberg

4.0

Hammerfall is the first volume in a tale of 8th-century Viking raids and religious shifts, and contains all the set pieces one expects from such a setting. The book opens with a battle sequence followed by a chase scene, and the action continues with only a few breaks for a wedding night bookended with two short scenes of exposition via dialogue.

The art is wonderful. Both the motion conveyed in the action sequences and the detail in the "wide-angle" panels are equally detailed and well-rendered. There's a panel with several men on horseback at the top of a cliff looking down on a snow-covered valley and another of a carriage falling through ice that are absolutely stunning work.

The translation by Tom Imber avoids a common issue in BD translations and manages to capture the feel of the original without leaning too far into the melodramatic.

An entertaining romp!

The edition I read was an e-ARC via NetGalley.