A review by sriq
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson

Historical Viking fiction told with a discreet, tongue-in-cheek humor that keeps characters sympathetic even in gruesome brutality. The plot surges forward with the vigor of Icelandic sagas from a thousand years ago, with characters who compose poetry in the midst of failing battles, earn their epithets in drunken brawls, whose fortunes turn in waves. Recommended if you enjoy the historical novels of James Clavell, or the Viking period generally.