Berserker

By: William Meikle

Narrated by: Jonathan Waters

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sometimes the monsters are real.

For Tor and Skald this is their first Viking raid, and their minds are filled with thoughts of honor and glory. What awaits them are beasts - huge, hairy, and fanged, the Alma, who will not suffer intruders in their domain. When the Vikings slaughter a female Alma, they soon find themselves in the middle of a battle with vicious creatures bent on bloody revenge. Now they must stand and be counted, for destiny awaits in the mountains, where the hairy ones dance.

©2016 William Meikle (P)2016 Gryphonwood Press

Viking Sci-fi

As a Viking history enthusiast and practioner of the old ways, I thought this book would be a nice change from that of the sagas. However, I am a little disappointed in the author's research, if he did any, prior to writing this book.

The storyline takes us on a Viking ship and through a terrible storm. The author writes that a viking on the deck of the ship is swept overboard by a wave, and immediately taken to Valhalla. Well that's not how it works. Men don't just go to Valhalla when they die. In order to go to Valhalla one must die bravely in battle, not swept into the sea by a wave.

The author also continues to refer to the leader of the Vikings as "captain." Once again a little bit of research would have been nice. The correct term should have been "Jarl" pronounced "yarl."

After battling abominal snowmen and after almost all of the viking crew bare killed, the ending of the book leaves listeners hanging. The somewhat abrupt ending leads me to think that maybe there will be a second book?

The narration of this book was, in my opinion, the best part of the book.

Vikings vs Snow Monsters & a Whole Lot More

First, I love Viking stories either historical or fictional. So I knew I had to give this a try and it was really great.

At first I thought the story would be a little bit campy, but it isn't at all. It has vivid descriptions and lots of action. The backstories for both Vikings and this new race of creatures they come upon is done very well!

Only negative is I wish it was a bit longer. Maybe more adventures for Tor and Skald in the future? Hope so!!

I received this book for free from the narrator/author in exchange for an unbiased review.

You tried plundering the wrong place!

What did you love best about Berserker?

I liked that despite the odds, the Vikings were able to muster their courage and fight against the odds.

What did you like best about this story?

I have always been interested in mythology, but this book made we want to maybe look into Nordic mythology a little more than I have in the past.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Waters – was your favorite?

Yes, he takes the original story and adds his own little twist to them. The monsters in this book were original, but still very close to ones that were in Nordic mythology.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I really liked the narrator. He did a great job and I didn't find anything wrong with his performance.

Any additional comments?

I received this book for free from the narrator/author via audiobook boom in exchange for an unbiased review.

Entertaining and well done all the way around for

Everybody knows that Vikings are badass warriors. It is a huge deal to be invited on your first raid. If you prove yourself, you have a chance to become. Become a man. Become a warrior. Become a true Viking. For Tor and his childhood mate Skald it is the opportunity of a lifetime. It will also be much more than they bargained for when the trip takes an unexpected turn as one of their own foolishly kill a strange snow beast. Oops. Bad idea. There are more. And now, they are pissed off and hungry for blood. Bad idea indeed.

Who doesn't like non-stop Viking, snow beast battle action sprinkled with appropriate amounts of blood and seeped with supernatural lore? Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I would, but Mr. Meikle won me over. I already know he can write and have read several of his works before, but I was afraid this one would be too fantasy pie in the sky for me. It wasn’t. As a matter of fact, for a fairly short format (clocking in at a hair under 5 hours), the characters and the mythos were surprisingly well developed.

It took me a few minutes to get into the groove of the narration for this one, but once it clicked, it really was the perfect choice for this tale. Vikings can’t be the easiest thing to narrate, I would imagine, but Jonathan Waters did a good job keeping pace with the story and fleshing out the characters.

Entertaining and well done all the way around for William Meikle and “Berserker”.

*I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is it.

Berserker

What did you like best about this story?

Loved this story. The Yeti is great, a very sensitive and original image of these mythical creatures ... A great story all in well written and worth a read. Action packed and fast moving

Any additional comments?

I received a free copy in exchange for my review courtesy of AudioBook Boom

Decent Viking and Monster Story

This was a fun story although I was a bit ambivalent towards it. It had a lot of Viking action which everyone enjoys, it also had a fairly basic story that felt like a remake of Beowulf or 13th Warrior. I wasn't overly impressed with the writing itself so that is what made me think that the story was so so since it was a rehash. I did enjoy the characters and thought they were well developed for a short story even though I did occasionally not know who was who. I found myself more curious about the Alma than the Vikings though, they were definitely my favorite part of the story. Jonathan Waters did a great job with his narration. I really enjoyed his character voices.. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

hard to follow

I found the writing and the narration to be over-dramatic, and the plot hard to follow. there wasn't a lot of character development within the first few minutes of the book, so the characters didn't stand out in my mind, they felt vague. basically the whole thing felt over-done and melodramatic.

Decent action/survival novel; tech issues w/audio

Note: In exchange for an unbiased review, the author, publisher, and/or narrator were kind enough to provide an audio version of this book at no charge via AudiobookBoom.

This was an interesting - and different - "survival" story; one that pits man against beast (beast in this sense being some sort of Yeti/snow monster creature. The story moved along at a good pace, not getting bogged down in unnecessary exposition/narrative. The narrator did a decent job, but there were some glitches with the audio file I received (error markers the narrator made that weren't completely removed). This didn't detract too much from the overall experience, but it is probably something that should be rectified.

Good

This story was well written and exciting but was not my cup of tea. I think that it is still a wonderful book per my review but I personally could not get into it.

I received the book free in return for a unbiased review.

Wendigo's Vikings and more

Written as perhaps a Thor and Viking style story. Viking warriors against wendigos, betrayal, hammers, visions and battles on a scale to satisfy. The story is instantly recognizable as the typical hero myth. A young warrior finding his way, the wise teacher, the loyal companion, the monsters, the betrayers, the quests, and more. A story to make Joseph Canpbell proud. Can't wait for more by both author and narrator. I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookboom in exchange for an unbiased review

Really good creature/Viking story

This is a really good creature feature style, Viking story with supernatural elements. It's an epic adventure with nonstop action.

The Vikings step ashore to once again pillage another unknown land. Things immediately go very wrong when one of the snow creatures is attacked and killed unprovoked by the Vikings. The only thing is, there's not just one of them. The Vikings divided by the death of their leader, must defend themselves against the mighty force of the snow creatures out to seek brutal revenge for killing one of their own.

The narrator did a good job with the different characters of the book. I did notice a few issues with the recording where a few short sentences were repeated and should have been edited out, but they occur earlier in the book and didn't distract me from the story.

I was given this book for free of my own choosing and voluntarily left this review.