The Last Viking

The Book in 1 Sentence

A book that reminds me of S.P.Q.R due to its heavy instructional feel of the language presented in the book.

Brief Review

This book was nowhere near as interesting as I thought it was going to be. There is a heavy reliance on dates and people that override the narrative that I think was meant to be told. While Harold led an intriguing life, it is lost in the multitudes of historical details.

Why I Read this book

I saw this video randomly while searching for something else and thought it would be a good read.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

Look. I am not sure what else to say about this book that wasn't above. Harold was both a genius and a tyrant that learned through experience. He ruled in Norway, before and after working in the Holy Land and Byzantium.

I think the final battles and his work in Constantinople were interesting. I have always been curious if the Vikings, who near the end of the first century turned to Christendom from their Norse gods, ever went as a group to the Holy Land. The fact that they did and spent time defending the Kings of Constantinople before the split of the Church is crazy to me.

I mentioned the video above, but at the end she asked if anyone would want to ask a question. Thinking about that, I am curious what the split of Norse/Christian Vikings were? How the Vikings separated there more pagan views with the Christian views? And lastly if they had been Vikings through and through during the Crusades, would they have pushed into Europe? This would exploit the fact that almost all able-bodied men were gone for a long time. If you read the Knights of Black and White, which is one of my favorite books and what started my interest in the Templars, you'll learn that before the First Crusade, there was a ban on fighting by the Catholic Church. The Crusades were a way to help relieve young men of there want to fight. So sending all these young men and Knights to the Holy Land, what would the Vikings have done?

Rating

I think what killed this book for me was just the overwhelming detail. I stopped caring about the book pretty quickly, but wanted to hear how it ended. Mainly because I knew that their last fight was just before the invasion of William the Conqueror from Normandy and that had such a lasting impact on the world as we know it. I didn't realize that it played such a large part to the outcome of that story. Overall, this is a 5. It is really quite boring, but not to the same level as S.P.Q.R which is a textbook.

I want to take a second before this releases and add in an interview with the Author about this book. I think this interview is far more entertaining than the actual book, but it does give a lot more information about the book and how it is written. While I wasn't thrilled to listen to this book, after the interview, I'd be more inclined to read his other book in the future and do feel that a 5 might have been a bit rough, so I will upgrade to a 6 (But for authenticity and transparency, I will not update the picture).

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