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A review by taylstark
The Saga of the Volsungs by Jesse L. Byock
4.0
I'm not sure what to think of this.
On the one hand, chronology is all over the place, continuity is out the window, I feel like large portions of the text offering explanation for some elements had been completely dropped, characters make zero rational choices, not to mention have zero motivation or moral centres, and Odin appears like five hundred times in disguise for literally no reason (a lot of these things can be explained by the fact that the saga is cobbled together from various lays by the anonymous author with little in the way of an editorial eye to making it a continuous whole). On the other hand, this text is hilarious, stirring, heartbreaking, suitably epic, revenge-filled, and at one point a dude tries to filter out poison from his beer using his moustache.
In fact, no, I know exactly what to think about this. I loved it.
On the one hand, chronology is all over the place, continuity is out the window, I feel like large portions of the text offering explanation for some elements had been completely dropped, characters make zero rational choices, not to mention have zero motivation or moral centres, and Odin appears like five hundred times in disguise for literally no reason (a lot of these things can be explained by the fact that the saga is cobbled together from various lays by the anonymous author with little in the way of an editorial eye to making it a continuous whole). On the other hand, this text is hilarious, stirring, heartbreaking, suitably epic, revenge-filled, and at one point a dude tries to filter out poison from his beer using his moustache.
In fact, no, I know exactly what to think about this. I loved it.