God's Hammer

Hakon's Saga, Book 1

By: Eric Schumacher

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

History and legend combine in the gripping tale of Hakon Haraldsson, a Christian boy who once fought for the High Seat of a Viking realm.

It is 935 A.D., and the North is in turmoil. King Harald Fairhair has died, leaving the High Seat of the realm to his murderous son, Erik Bloodaxe. To solidify his claim, Erik ruthlessly disposes of all claimants to his throne, save one: his youngest brother Hakon.

Erik's surviving enemies send a ship to Wessex, where the Christian King Athelstan is raising Hakon. Unable to avoid his fate, he returns to the Viking North to face his brother and claim his birthright, only to discover that victory will demand sacrifices beyond his wildest nightmares.

©2005, 2008 Eric Schumacher (P)2018 Tantor

Old vs New

This human sacrifice in this book made feel grateful that the old gods were replaced. The author brought this aspect to life. The romanticism around vikings is understandable (I certainly am guilty of it), but the reality of the brutality and callousness of their society feels so absolutely foreign. Håkon provides a very compelling character at this intersection between the frankly evil old ways and the good. I recommend Tom Holland's 'Dominion' for a more academic and thorough analysis of just how revolutionary 'the white Christ' has been in changing and shaping our values. Ha det bra!

Great story iffy narration

I really enjoyed this story or Kings and Vikings, Thor, Odin, God, etc..... I will say it was difficult for me to get past the narration. It literally sounded like a nature documentary. Nothing against them but zero imagination whatsoever. Sounded almost robotic. Nonetheless I gripped through it and found the story enjoyable .

I think the story would be great, but...

The narrator is terrible! Every 3rd word ends on a lilting stressed syllable. It's bad.

Excellent narrator

Loved the narrator in this book. Liked the story and the characters. Worth a listen.

loved this. great look into history

great story and good reader. overall a wonderful filling out of History. marvelous history lessons

awesome!!

just a GREAT audio book with excellent naration and a fantastic story line. thouroughly enjoyable

Bland Story, Evern Blander Narrator.

the story was bland and predictable, Haakon was even worse. His piety chafed and the narrator was just awful. Honestly, I most likely wont continue with this series.

A bit slow in action but good story

I liked this story, the author writes well and the narrator did a good job.
The action was a bit slow for my usual taste but the story was good (not great) enough for me to continue to the next in the series as what I like to call my “mellow mood” stories.
The main characters development is good but I found character development lacking for all others.

A story of the Vikings and the Christians

I didn't anticipate a story like this to be "so" different from all the other stories about this time in histroy. It is historically accurate and moved along quickly. This story tells what the English did about all the raids, on England soil.
The narrations is one the best i have heard. This is "very important" with this story because of the strange names of the Vikings.
I recommend this book !

Great Saga

I'm so happy I found this book. I think I've listened to almost every Viking saga available and was hoping to find another. Well this book didn't disappoint. I'm really looking forward to the second book.

Shaun Grindell as always did an amazing job narrating the story.