This was a very short and relatively fun read, although the awkward writing, flat story, and misrepresentation of Viking culture really ruined it for me.

Firstly, the writing feels like a first draft. The dialogue is often cliché and it often just feels stilted. Secondly, the story is so underdeveloped. The vague semblance of an idea was there, but it was only a few lines. I would have loved to see “Valhalla made flesh”, but we don’t. We also get to know absolutely none of the characters. We get character traits for Vif, our main character, but no actual development. Who was the boy she was protecting? Who were her companions? Who were the men she killed at the end? They also try to play it off like it has some deep meaning… What deep meaning, exactly? Brute force is the path to achieving your goals? Revenge is just? The story is bland at best, and whatever moral that was trying to be portrayed was overshadowed by the violence.

And third, the writer clearly didn’t do his research. I don’t mind evil sorcerer villains, but not in Viking stories, especially if the sorcerer is a man. That has some very problematic implications, but you wouldn’t know that if you didn’t know about what sorcerers were like in Viking-Age Scandinavia. Furthermore, Vif also says “demons” and “Hell” (with two L’s). How did she learn those words? The rest of the story just feels extremely generic. There aren’t many small details that are wrong, necessarily, but that’s because there aren’t many details at all. The colorist said that he “researched” by watching the Vikings TV show, reading the “Northlanders” comic, and a few other fictional media pieces. This isn’t real research. It’s good to know what your contemporaries are doing, absolutely, but it is in no way historical research. The writer and artist didn’t say whether they did research or not, but it’s very clear that they didn’t do much more than the colorist.

To put it bluntly, it’s bad. The art is beautiful, which is the only thing that saves it from getting one star. But please, don’t read this. Read Heathen or Vinland Saga.