The saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue (Penguin little black classics #3)

'In two I'll slice the hair-seat / of Helga's kiss-gulper'

In this epic tale from the Viking Age that ranges across Scandinavia and Viking Britain, two poets compete for the love of Helga the Fair - with fatal consequences.

Congratulations, Gunnlaug, you earned my first 1 star review of the year ! Usually, I rate 2 stars a book that I was able to finish but didn't like, but this time, I had to rate it lower.

I was puzzled that it may happen because the book is roughly 50 pages long ! It took me a whole day to finish it ! I kept putting it down then forcing myself to take it back because hey, how hard can it be to read 50 pages in one day ?

One the whole, this Xth century saga was a macho contest. Hardly any mention of women here, except if they are mothers or the one girl they're all fighting over. The protagonists appear to have only brothers - that would be explained because baby girls (except if they're very decorative) are usually left to die somewhere while baby boys are kept. It's a wonder if there were women enough to reproduce, but no wonder that when men see one, they fight over her ! The guys in there are all about boasting, arguing, brawling (by the way, a horse thief doesn't compensate a guy whose horse he was trying to steal, but the owner of the horse has to compensate the thief because he struck him : logical) or writing poems that suck to kings, licking their boots so that they could spend a season in their kingdom as their guests !

I've never read northern sagas before, but I've read Middle-Ages texts and had no problem with them, even much, much longer ones. I read them for pleasure ! I know, obviously, that women back then were expected to reproduce and serve beers, I wouldn't have minded so much if the men had at least a few brain cells. But they apparently don't know what a brain is. Hence my 1 star !