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triscuit807's review
3.0
2.5 stars. This had an interesting premise but it got lost in the poor world-building. Brus and Jan are twin sons of Harald, a Norseman, who decides to go a-viking with his entire household spread across 3 ships. There's a storm, 2 ships vanish (presumed lost) while Harald's ship wrecks on the coast of Scotland. Initially they're show hospitality but tempers flare and the Norsemen are killed except for the twins. One, Jan, is help captive but Brus remains at large; throughout the book the twins swap their identity as Jan in an attempt to gain information to avenge their father. This could have been a good adventure, but the author chose to write it in a style that to a degree mimicked tales from the time. And there is a whole lot of confusion with Harald's death - just poorly written. Finally, I felt that the whole purpose of the story was to show how the Norse may have adopted Christianity. I read this for my 2020 Reading Challenge (Lit Life "historical fiction") and my Newbery Challenge (Honor 1957). I read this via Open Library due to Covid 19 pandemic and lack of ILL access.
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