Blood Eye

By: Giles Kristian

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a thrilling adventure of brotherhood, warfare, and treachery, Giles Kristian takes us into ninth-century England, a world of darkness, epic conflict, and an unforgiving God served by powerful priests. On ships shaped like dragons, bristling with oars and armor, Jarl Sigurd and his fierce Norsemen have come in search of riches. And riches they are promised, by an English ruler who sends Sigurd and his wolves to steal a holy manuscript from another kingdom.

Osric, an orphan boy, sees beyond the terror of these warriors, and somehow knows the heathens’ tongue. Renamed Raven, rechristened in blood, he will join them. They are his people. And they will be his fate.

©2009 Giles Kristian (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

ODIN DESPISES WEAKNESS

A MAN DOES NOT DECIDE HE IS KING, THE MEN AROUND HIM DO.
I have always been interested in Vikings. They have always been portrayed as large men from the North who kill and pillage and rape as if it was there right to do so. My interest is in what made them think they had the right and what kind of race of man, loves killing other humans. I was reminded by this different take that history is written by the winners. Perhaps they were not the evil race of men the are suppose to be. Giles portrays them as traders, who are consistently under attack by sneaky British types. The British demand taxes and they hate anyone who worships any God other then their God. I understand how important religion was to early Christians, especially through my reading of Ivanhoe, but I found it hard to believe the extend in which they are blamed for the conflict with the Vikings.

This is Giles first novel and it reads like a first novel. The Vikings are made to look fairly tame. They do a lot of boosting and a lot is made of Eagling a man, but I thought the whole story moved slowly and other then trash talk, their was little substance to it. There is lots of talking then a battle, then talking, then battle, repeat. Even in the battles I did not feel the horror of killing. Nor was there much Viking history, nothing new was learned.

Harry Harrison's Hammer and The Cross does a lot better job at giving you the feel of the horrific acts of these men. Blood Eagling, making of a hemnar, quartering, tying a man's intestines to a stick and then beating him until he runs far enough to pull out his own intestines, and much more. Hemnar may be spelled wrong, but it is cutting off a man's arms and legs, but keeping him alive.

WORDS FALL FROM YOUR MOUTH LIKE DRIPPINGS FROM A GOAT'S A**.
Just a quote from the book, the narrator is pretty good, he just could not save the author from his own boring writing.

HIS HEAD IS FULL OF SPIDERS.

15 of 23 people found this review helpful

Insta-Viking (Just Add Sword)

This story would have been better in graphic novel format. Take one teenager with amnesia, have some Vikings raid his village, then (presto-change-o) the boy begins speaking, cursing and fighting like a Viking professional. Never mind he's only been in this village two years and speaks the local Wessex dialect like a native. And, suspend your disbelief that the young man dumps his allegiance to his village like a hot potato. This character becomes a killing machine in a matter of weeks…and he isn't killing the Vikings that slaughtered his people…he's fighting alongside them.

The plot of Bloodeye is plucked right from two or three other sources (TV's Ragnar Lothbrok comes to mind). This novel is riding the crest of a Viking fiction wave. However, the author experienced a big wipeout in his fist two chapters.

Two swords down (except for Simon Prebble - who is a master of Anglo story telling).

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Unnecessarily ridiculous premise ruins book

If you enjoy unbelievable jumps in reality that are never explained then buy this read. It will smack you upside the head within the first 30 mins or so.
If you can get past that, (I couldn't) you may enjoy this book. Spoiler below.

Our hero is a mid teen who doesn't fit in & doesn't know from where here came. Adopted & raised by an English village and being taught a trade while bemoaning his unknown place in the world he goes off day fishing & runs smack dab into the hated Norse landing on his beach.
To fearful to run away our young hero instead stands his ground as the Norse warparty approaches. At first our hero can't understand the filthy heathens but miraculously, within a matter of moments, their strange tonge becomes understandable & bingo bang bingo our hero transforms into a Viking raider filully versed in the Norse language as well as all of thier gods! It only gets better from there but throughout the first Bk this event is inexplicably never explained! Enjoy!

Worth Listening to!

book jumps aroound a bit and chrachters are added in strange ways but flights were great!

Wolfpack

Sigurd the lucky, the saga continues. Packed with adventure and Norse antics, it will not disappoint. Great lead in from the original saga. Odin is smiling on them.

Great book

One of the best read performances I have listened to and this book was very well written has some good similes and analogies.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

slow start

Any additional comments?

slow start, but stick with it, great story, really hooked you once it began.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Totally enjoyed this book

I really enjoyed this book which gives an earnest account of how brutal life was at that time. The author was able to draw me in and keep me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next page.

1 of 3 people found this review helpful

Excellent!!!

What did you love best about Blood Eye?

I love the story but Simon Prebble's performance is great!! Bring on more!

Who was your favorite character and why?

sigurd the lucky.

Have you listened to any of Simon Prebble’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes.

If you could take any character from Blood Eye out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Sigurd.

Any additional comments?

No

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Best series I've encountered in a great while.

The Raven series is in the same class as the best of Iggulden, Sidebottom, Scarrow, Pressfield, Fabbri, or Archer. Fans of historical fiction will be rewarded with a simply kick-ass story. Worth your time and money.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful