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A review by ellelainey
Hammerfall, Vol. 1: While the Serpent Sleeps by Boris Talijancic, Sylvain Runberg
3.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
While the Serpent Sleeps (Hammerfall #1) by Sylvain Runberg
★★★☆☆
66 Pages
Content Warning: threats of rape, ransacking, blood/violence/gore, sex scenes/nudity
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one for the simple fact that it was so short, but there was a heck of a lot of story told in those few pages.
To start with, I had a real problem with the formatting, because the creators chose a historically-fitting font, which at times was really hard on the eyes. In paperback, or on a laptop, it would probably be big enough to not be a problem. But on a tablet, some of the text on the cream background were really hard to make out, and there were about 3 pages at the end where the text was actually a little blurry. I'm not sure if that was just my copy, like a glitch, or if that was a problem with the combination of text and colour background. Either way, it made it hard to read.
I'm a big fan of anything Viking-related, and I know their reputation, so I was prepared for the immediate thrust into action, the violence, even the threats of rape towards the women captors. However, it was refreshing to see that none of that appeared on page. Sure, there were a few sex scenes and some nudity, which means it's stuck in a certain age bracket, but they weren't excessive and were wholly consensual.
I'll admit, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Probably because we didn't get very far into the story. At the end of these 66 pages, we have the storyteller – the POV – as a captive, about to arrive and be bargained off to another clan/people. However, the blurb implies that Harald is the one who is patient and biding his time, yet he's quite impetuous in this volume. Not really the patient sort. Its his brother that keeps him calm and compliant, while Harald would go blazing in for revenge. So, because of that, I'm really not sure where the story is going or how long it's going to take to get there.
At the moment, I haven't been inspired to seek out the next volume and read it. With the difficult font, the jumpy flashbacks and back-stories, I'm really not sure that I'm prepared to pick up the next volume. We'll see.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
While the Serpent Sleeps (Hammerfall #1) by Sylvain Runberg
★★★☆☆
66 Pages
Content Warning: threats of rape, ransacking, blood/violence/gore, sex scenes/nudity
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one for the simple fact that it was so short, but there was a heck of a lot of story told in those few pages.
To start with, I had a real problem with the formatting, because the creators chose a historically-fitting font, which at times was really hard on the eyes. In paperback, or on a laptop, it would probably be big enough to not be a problem. But on a tablet, some of the text on the cream background were really hard to make out, and there were about 3 pages at the end where the text was actually a little blurry. I'm not sure if that was just my copy, like a glitch, or if that was a problem with the combination of text and colour background. Either way, it made it hard to read.
I'm a big fan of anything Viking-related, and I know their reputation, so I was prepared for the immediate thrust into action, the violence, even the threats of rape towards the women captors. However, it was refreshing to see that none of that appeared on page. Sure, there were a few sex scenes and some nudity, which means it's stuck in a certain age bracket, but they weren't excessive and were wholly consensual.
I'll admit, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Probably because we didn't get very far into the story. At the end of these 66 pages, we have the storyteller – the POV – as a captive, about to arrive and be bargained off to another clan/people. However, the blurb implies that Harald is the one who is patient and biding his time, yet he's quite impetuous in this volume. Not really the patient sort. Its his brother that keeps him calm and compliant, while Harald would go blazing in for revenge. So, because of that, I'm really not sure where the story is going or how long it's going to take to get there.
At the moment, I haven't been inspired to seek out the next volume and read it. With the difficult font, the jumpy flashbacks and back-stories, I'm really not sure that I'm prepared to pick up the next volume. We'll see.