Daughter of the Wind by Michael Cadnum
Genre: Book
Grade: D+
It depresses me to see a novel that has so much potential crash and burn. Daughter of the Wind started out as an exciting story to read, but soon lost its intrigue as the pages turned.
The story is set in the Viking times and surrounds the life of three characters. First, there is Hallgerd, the daughter of a jarl (chief of a Norwegian village), who is kidnapped by the Danes to be forced to marry against her will because of her well known beauty. Then there is Hego, a blacksmith who longs to be a hero who can boast about his brave deeds but struggles to do so by constantly making poor and slow decisions that only hurt his reputation. And Gauk, who is a berserker, a temperamental fighter who can easily be provoked.
At the beginning, Gauk’s close friend is killed by a bear which leaves him to struggle with his sorrow from the loss throughout the rest of the book. When he returns to his home village he learns that the jarl’s daughter, Hallgerd, is kidnapped and makes the decision, followed by his eager friend Hego, to go rescue her. The novel is without a doubt graphic, but that is not what bothers me so much about it.
Honestly, this novel is so hard to read because it is very choppy. The book is packed with adventure from the beginning till the very end. However, when the story is set in the middle of action it is suddenly interrupted by paragraphs describing what Odin’s favorite color is, etc. As I was reading it I was getting the idea that the author was either showing off all he knew or was trying to teach his readers all there is to know about Viking culture. Sure, I love to learn about Vikings and their history, but I do not look for it in adventure stories like this one.
Even though I will not spoil the ending, I was very disappointed with the way half of the book’s pages were about Guak, but the story’s ending did not reveal what his ultimate fate was. The book’s clumpy writing also makes it difficult to feel any connection with the characters within it because it is too busy informing the audience about Norse mythology. There were also some obvious spelling errors toward the end of the book that I am surprised were not noticed before the book was published. Honestly, why can’t some writers and editors take their jobs seriously?
I would suggest that readers looking for a good adventure novel set in Viking times should steer away from this one. However, if they are looking for a story that is filled with random information about Norse mythology, used only to take up more pages, then all I can say is, “Be my guest!”
*Book cover image borrowed from http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/michael-cadnum/daughter-of-wind.htm
