Review: Viking's Witch
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2013
Odaria is a witch, meaning a herbalist and healer, on a small Scottish island inhabited by Picts. She has become the target of a religious cleansing act and is about to be burned alive when she conjures up a force from the sea to protect herself. The party of marauding Viking sailors subdue the villagers and Odaria, believing that she is responsible for wreaking the havoc of the Norsemen on the island, is terrified.One of the Norsemen, a jarl, or respected landowner, had previously retired from going a-Viking but has gone to sea again to search for the king's son whose ship is rumoured to have gone down in a storm. Rothgar is searching for any news so orders the villagers to be kept alive, though imprisoned. He picks on Odaria when he finds her in hiding, telling her to prepare food and drink. Having been married, then widowed, he has a different attitude to women from the majority of his group and Odaria first tries to fight her way out but then realises that it would be better to be under Rothgar's protection than given to the mob of churlish seamen.The monastic settlement of Lindesfarne has recently been destroyed. Brennan, the village leader, sees no reason to co-operate with the Norsemen. He refuses to say whether a ship may have been wrecked. A few items of flotsam are found however, such as a Norse shield, and Odaria uses her gifts to divine what became of the owners. Convinced that the king's son was washed up on this island, Rothgar finds it increasingly difficult to control the Viking men and needs the aid of a feared 'bersekr' whose leg Odaria saves from blood poisoning, to prevail. The trust that grows between Odaria and Rothgar soon leads to desire, though they get interrupted many times and a physical union takes a good while longer.There is much well researched detail in this tale by Kelli A Wilkins; whale-oil lamps, silver and jade brooches, graves dug with swordblades, all combine to produce a lively picture of the times. The village must have been relatively prosperous because they had stored up a great deal of food and drink; their persecution of a herbalist is explained by saying that Odaria had refused to convert to the new Christian religion. The bloodthirsty practices of the times, on both sides of the culture clash, are more than hinted at, so not for the nervous.