THE ODDNY EINARSDOTTIR SERIES

BOOK I: THE SWORD

Editorial Reviews

"Before my review, I would like to thank the author for reaching out and providing a digital copy of the book for my review. 

This is an incredible undertaking and thought-provoking read. The story is centered on Oddny and takes place over the span of her early life. The author is incredibly well versed and studied in Norse history, making this book a very informative read. 

The footnotes and diagrams were incredible additions. I feel like in finishing the book, I have a much better understanding of what viking daily life was like. This book truly is a slice of viking life novel. It's dark, and there's a lot of things that a modern reader could find appalling. But it was all part of the culture then. It's such a breath of fresh air to not read a novel (viking based or otherwise) where the MC doesn't have a hero complex. The characters are human and thus flawed. This was an incredible read! 

---Sarah

"The attention to detail throughout the book, including everyday mundane tasks, is exceptional. It allows readers to grasp the hardships of daily life with the perfect level of scene setting and character building without overwriting. The characters evoke true feelings of disgust, admiration, despair and hope."

--- Natalie

"The Sword... is a wonderful exploration of the enchantment, magic, and inherent violence of early Norse culture and family life... Author Lilypearl Colman has created a delightful character in Oddny whom all women will readily identify with even a thousand years after the novel’s setting... This was a fantastic read that I can highly recommend."

—Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

"You know how some books claim to be dark in the blurb, but they turn out to just be Dr Who/Twilight kind of dark? Well this isn't that. The dark bits here are really, really dark.

Oddný Einarsdóttir: The Sword is a historical fiction tale about a young Icelandic girl in the 10th century, who is taken as a slave by a brutal, deviant Viking. A lot of the novel is about the horrendous treatment she and her fellow slaves endure on the maniac's farmstead, but after certain important events occur, the situation radically evolves.

The violent sections are handled deftly: sometimes they are described in 'real time,' as it were, sometimes only hinted at, with the unpleasant details filled in later via Oddny's recollections. It never feels grim for the sake of being grim, and it's always impactful. Characters are well rounded - no one is fully evil or pure of soul. Aside, that is, from the Viking Orlygr who as far as I recall has no redeeming features whatsoever. I struggle to think of many more memorable, terrifying villains from all the books I've read. Pray you never meet anyone like him, seriously.

The writing in this novel is excellent throughout, particularly the dialogue, which feels very genuine. Descriptions of the beautiful Nordic scenery are highly evocative, and the inner world of Oddny is complex and full of pathos. In a few bits here and there it strayed a little close to the dynamics of a romance novel for my liking, but this is a far more complex and nuanced book than that.

The other main strength of the book is the sheer amount of research that has obviously gone into it and this paid off in how authentic it all felt. There are numerous endnotes, background info and illustrations to provide cultural context and I found these quite interesting. This is a book which demands quite a lot of the reader in some ways - the prose is clear and concise but it is easy to lose track of the names of places and people because of the unfamiliar Nordic language. I never felt totally lost though and I got through the book quite quickly.

Overall, this is an absolute hidden gem of a novel, and I urge anyone who values mature, superior story-telling to give it a go. I'm looking forward to the next one."

—Thomas

"Grizzly and grim, The Sword is a fantastic tale that does not stray from the gruesome truth of life, particularly a woman’s, in 10th-century Norway. This has everything I look for in Norse/Viking historical fiction – it’s gritty, it’s dark, and it’s so realistic.

Told in a unique voice that I admittedly found hard to get into at the start. For instance, the section of chapter 3 where Oddný went to pen the birds was confusing. EDIT: Upon second reading, it was clear that it was Oddny being raped, not Geira or Thordis. I must've been tired when I read this section. >.<

By the time I was 25% of the way through, however, the prose was flowing, and I was hooked. I struggled a little with the dialogue between the characters, but the story itself was stunning, richly detailed, exciting, and heart-wrenching. When Valmundr appeared, I breathed an audible sigh of relief, elated that Oddný’s suffering was close to its end. The violence in this novel is gory and visual, while the love scenes are graphic to a point before fading to black.

At first, I didn’t like Kjartan for the way he forced himself on Oddný, regardless that she ended up liking him afterwards, but his death broke my heart. I was almost cheered aloud when he threw the dagger at Örlygr, and my heart raced when it seemed he had the upper hand over the evil leader. His brutal death was heart-wrenching, and at that moment I was dismally hopeless. It had been a long time since I wished for a character’s death as strongly as I wanted Örlygr dead.

I’m still so impressed by the realism in the pages of this novel. All characters are morally grey, flawed individuals – my favourite type. I really enjoyed this story and am eager to read the next in this series.

I forgot to mention how fantastic and detailed the index and educational illustrations at the end of the book were. Really nice addition. Throughout the novel, it was obvious how well-researched the novel was, and it was great to have a bit more information to look at."

— Gwendoline T, Goodreads author

"So many things make this a wonderful book. The writing is superb. The research and authenticity pulls the reader into the Viking world, with its culture, beauty, language and brutality. This is not just another Viking story. It is rich with detail, and characters that jump off the page. I highly recommend."

—Barry C, Amazon Customer

BOOK II: THE VOW

Editorial Reviews

"A big thank you to the author for allowing me the privilege of being an ARC reader for this book!

Okay, I was finding myself getting SO frustrated throughout this whole book. 😆 But in a good way! I love books that draw out intense emotions.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the historical and cultural tidbits shared in footnotes. Very interesting!

The complexity of these characters is really well done and I was going back and forth between liking and hating them. Some characters are easy to hate because they are just plain horrible, but others have these qualities that you don't quite agree with but can understand why they behave the way they do.

The layers to the story and the people in it really took me for a ride! There was so much that I wanted to see as black and white but had to appreciate the gray scale that had me pausing to consider my perspective and opinions could be skewed. I had to consider the time period and culture to understand the reasoning behind a lot of what was said and done.

I cried several times and even though the story is heavy, the ending was satisfying and left me hopeful. This book is very moving and I know it's one I'll be thinking of for a while."

---Anna

Elegant prose, complex characters, intriguing plot, in a fascinating world which feels entirely real. Demanding for the reader, but rewarding and well worth it.

"I was a big fan of the first book, so was keen to get hold of The Vow. It opens with immediate human drama between three women, and after that the dramatic tension rises and falls at a good pace. New, surprising plot elements are introduced at the right time, without being overwhelming. They hooked me in, so I wanted to see how they developed.

The relationship between Oddny, her husband and her son acts as a thread running through the whole thing, with the war as an unseen, background horror, which you know will intrude into the characters’ lives sooner or later. I also liked the introduction of some mystical Norse rituals type stuff, with the Sybil.

The overall plot structure is very good, and not too hard to follow. But in a more granular sense, it could be a little confusing to keep track of so many unfamiliar Norse names. It was hard to remember who’s related to who, who is a thrall, who’s a thane, who fostered who’s child, etc. It’s not too much of an issue when reading on a Kindle because you can just search the name that’s confusing you, but I’d have struggled if it was a physical book.

Saying all that, I like a book that can keep me hooked while not holding my hand, and the sheer commitment to verisimilitude in this book is amazing.

Elegant prose, like the first book. The sparing use of fragmentary sentences works well. I like that the author ignores the nonsense rules of writing you hear about (don’t say ‘suddenly’, avoid adverbs etc.). The dialogue is convincing, although I wouldn’t know if it’s true to the time period.

The violence is handled very deftly, with a blend of showing the violence in the here and now, and having it occur ‘off screen,’ which means the reader is steered into seeing different acts of violence in different ways.

Every character is nuanced, especially Oddny herself of course, and it’s good to see that her character progression is not a simple ‘subdued slave to strong independent woman’ type thing – she carries her damage with her, makes mistakes, is sometimes unreasonable. She’s highly pathetic in the literary sense.

I got the strong impression that every character was the main character in a story of their own. Saying that, I love the brutal characters in this and the first book. They are brought to life in a horribly real way. Sometimes you read a villain and you want to scream at the main character: just stand up for yourself! But Starkaðr in this book, and Oddny’s master in the first, made it very plain that I would crumble in her situation. Being able to draw a character like that is a hell of a thing. If Lily Colman ever wanted to write a more stripped-down Norse adventure with characters like that, I’d be right up for it.

A brilliant, utterly convincing book that pulls you in and refuses to let go."

---Thomas

"I would like to thank the author for sending me a digital ARC to review. I was very excited to read volume two in Oddnys story as the first book had left off in a way that I was excited to see what was next for her. The second book in the series is full of just as much attention to detail as the first and truly shows the authors commitment to the research that went into crafting this story.

These books truly are educational and loaded with facts about daily viking life. However, for me personally, book two was much slower paced than book one was.

I loved Oddny in book one, but in book two she took a turn for me - she's much more emotional in this stage of her life. Almost to a fault at times. I loved the authors development of Ragna, the freespirted, fierce sister of Vermundr. Her story really stood out to me as a woman making her way in the world where no one seems to take her seriously. She's a strong and brave character that I really loved following along with.

As with book one, The Vow is very much a slice of life story. Overall it's a solid very factually accurate story as to be expected with the author. I learned a lot of things I believed about daily viking life to be false and thank goodness for books like this to keep history straight."

---Sarah

"I had the opportunity to read Lilypearl’s epic Viking saga of Oddny Einarsdóttir, The Sword, a fierce woman born into a brutal age, and living as a slave to a cruel master. As she struggles with her master’s viciousness, physical and mental abuse, her hatred and desire for revenge grow stronger. She longs to be reunited with her father in Iceland, but she’s trapped, with no way out. That is, until a stranger arrives, also seeking revenge.

Now we are treated with the second part of the story, Oddny fighting to be a good wife, trying to love Vermundr, who remains aloof, sometimes cruel, sometimes filled with senseless anger. Trying to love her son Brandr, who is growing into a man. And sorrow. Terrible sorrow that befalls the household. Another guest to the house - a poet, Snorri, captures Oddny's heart and she is torn once again. But will her vows prevail? And will she remain true to her husband Vermundr? Will she reconcile with Brandr?

Superbly written. The research and authenticity pulls the reader into the Viking world, with its culture, harshness, beauty, language and brutality. A great continuation."

---Barry