LoveSpell, $5.50, ISBN 0-505-52446-5
Historical Romance, 2001
There are some pretty good raves about this book. Maybe I am expecting too much, but Danegeld just bewilders me because I don’t understand the heroine Britta at all. Since Britta is telling this story (the story however is written in third person – no “Hello, this is me, Britta!” sort of storytelling), I’d think she could do a better job explaining her motivations.
The best way to describe the plot is road trip with some touches of magic. Britta is a healer with a lousy past, and now she may or may not have lost her magic and lives in a deserted island with a wolf-like dog named Fenris. One day, she witnesses a Viking raid plundering, raping, and looting the Saxon village she has just plied her healing skills to. The Vikings, however, are led right into an ambush. Only our Viking leader Karn survives – barely. By the way, this book doesn’t shy away from depicting violence. Readers looking for noble, sensitive Vikings please read something else. Of course , Karn is rather sensitive and all, but he just watches as his men rape and loot and murder. This is so… I wish I’ve read this book before September 11. Cartoony violence I can take. Real violence now disturbs me.
Anyway, for the rest of the story, the violence and dangers and all pile up to the point that everything does become rather cartoony.
Britta is ordered by the Saxon boss, whom she despises for killing her father and all, et cetera, to heal the Viking. She does, gets some vision about she and this Viking (vague and as long as one paragraph), and next thing I know she is risking limb, life, and wolf to save this man.
I scratch my head here. A woman who spends her life avoiding and abhorring violence risking everything for a man she witnesses brutalizing people – just because of a vague vision?
They go on a road trip to find some powerful witch to play guru to Britta, Karn finds sexual healing in playing the macho dude to Britta’s rather excessive trials and troubles, and… eh.
Okay, I love the rich atmosphere of this story. It’s so real, the way the author uses details of the Dark Ages, myths and legends and superstitions and all, to make it seem as if I’m actually living in that era. The violence, it’s real too. At the same time, the magic thing of Britta comes off as rather loopy, B-grade fantasy, as is the whole Super Britta odyssey. And I still don’t understand why Karn is allowed to tag along – what does Britta want with him? I don’t exactly understand that still. Karn sees Britta as a way to get home, now that I understand. Anyway, they fall in love in a rather rote, lackluster way. Somehow in all the rich details and atmosphere, the emotional aspect of the story is lost.
Still, it is nice to visit a distant land in a distant time for a few hours, thanks to the author’s skillful descriptive style. As a first book – unless I’m greatly mistaken – Danegeld is impressive. As a romance, well, it can use more character depths, a little less inept fantasy elements, and a more developed romance between the main leads.
