The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French

Summary:

Rolf, a youth in early Christian Iceland, loses first his father, then his property, and finally his freedom to the schemes of a greedy neighbor. Outlawed from Iceland, Rolf travels abroad, meeting with shipwreck, enslavement, Viking berserkers, and many other dangers and adventures. All the while, Rolf searches for a way to prove his father was killed unjustly and win back his own property and freedom. Even more difficult, Rolf must end the cycle of enmity, vengeance, and pride that hangs like a curse over his family - from Librivox

What I Liked:

The characters were well-written. Asdis was my favorite, as she was always just there in the background but you knew she had a hand in what was happening. Frodi was also a compelling character. And the ending! No spoilers but - ah!

I appreciated the lack of romance! Even though it was obvious that (spoiler warning) Rolf and Helga would end up together (end spoiler), Allen French didn’t take from the action of the story to chronicle their relationship.

The poetry/prophecy element was beautifully written.

The story itself was intriguing.

What I Didn't Like:

Though it’s not necessarily negative, The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow was written in the early 1900s, and as such it does contain some antiquated words and writing styles.

Allen French switches from present to past tense, and this can be jarring.

Content Concerns:

A central character is a witch/pagan prophetess. I personally wasn’t bothered by this, as we never see her with spells or the like, just mumbling prophecies.

A Christian woman and a pagan woman sing back and forth, seeming to magically war with song.

The plot is based upon a “curse” and a murder.

Multiple characters are okay with others dying if it benefits them.

A Viking Berserker is described as having magical powers. (Spoiler warning) He can only be killed with a silver arrowhead (end spoiler). Characters fight a ghost.

Characters lie and steal and take vengeance and freeze to death and fall of cliffs. Stories are told of people being burned alive.

However, none of this is in any gratuitous detail.

The “magical” elements are written as such to keep the story true to its historical setting, a time in which people did believe in ghosts, curses, and the prophecies of an old woman.

In Conclusion:

I loved this book. It combined my love of historical fiction with my love of action and adventure stories and threw in a sprinkle of mysterious (and almost fantastic) prophecies. I found the book in the Middle-Grade section of the library, but upon reading it, I’d say that it is most suitable for an upper-Middle Grade and Young Adult audience.