Mother of Kings

By Poul Anderson

With this new novel, science fiction and fantasy grandmaster Poul Anderson has crafted a powerful story of a mighty queen, magic, and the mastery of ancient nations.

Blending characters both historical and mythological, Mother of Kings is the tale of Gunnhild, Queen of England and Norway, who loomed so large in the tenth century-at the end of the Age of the Vikings-that she became a figure of legend, even of myth.

As a child of just seven summers, Gunnhild finds herself fascinated with the powers of a witchwoman who is a concubine of her father's, a powerful Norse chieftain. She also finds another fascination in handsome and lordly Eirik, son of their king. When her mother dies, Gunnhild promises, "I will never yield," and that, "through me, our blood shall flow greatly."
Gunnhild has learned from her chieftain father the way the powerful use the weak. But there are other lessons and other powers she seeks. Sent away to learn the magic of a pair of shamans, Gunnhild becomes a Spaewife-a knower of the Gods, a master in the ways of witchcraft and sorcery. Aided by her new abilities, Gunnhild marries Eirik. She is destined to become queen, and her magic is a fearsome complement to Eirik's strength. But Eirik's enemies are cunning, and Gunnhild is soon without his might.

If Gunnhild can keep the promise she made as a child to never yield, her family's blood will flow greatly, and the sons she bore Eirik will each become a king.

Her own struggles, though, are far from over . . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Apr 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781429970365

Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) grew up bilingual in a Danish American family. After discovering science fiction fandom and earning a physics degree at the University of Minnesota, he found writing science fiction more satisfactory. Admired for his “hard” science fiction, mysteries, historical novels, and “fantasy with rivets,” he also excelled in humor. He was the guest of honor at the 1959 World Science Fiction Convention and at many similar events, including the 1998 Contact Japan 3 and the 1999 Strannik Conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Besides winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, he has received the Gandalf, Seiun, and Strannik, or “Wanderer,” Awards. A founder of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, he became a Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 1952 he met Karen Kruse; they married in Berkeley, California, where their daughter, Astrid, was born, and they later lived in Orinda, California. Astrid and her husband, science fiction author Greg Bear, now live with their family outside Seattle.

Reviews for Mother of Kings

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a good book. Poul anderson ventures into family life in the tenth century with the story of Gunhild Ozurrsson, who was wife to Eric Bloodaxe, who was for a short time king of Norway, and then a sub-king in York, and always a major player in Scandinavian power politics. It is a well researched book and fully engages the reader in the intricacies of Norse life. Anderson manages to give an engrossing tale a narrative treatment that is modelled on the style of a Norse Saga and works it well. Set aside a couple of evenings for this book, but you will get a better view of Norse life than you thought it might be. You will also engage with that very moody but competent poet, Egil Skallagrimsson.

[myopicbookworm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book suffers, like many, from having been written in one genre by an author best known in another. If you have had any joy from reading translations of the Norse sagas (which Anderson clearly has), or are prepared to tackle non-fantasy historical novels on the scale of, say, Sigrid Undset's "Kristin Lavransdatter", then this book may appeal. If you are just an SF or fantasy fan, then you would probably do best to stay away.The central character is a fictionalized version of Gunnhild, wife of Eirik (Eric) Bloodaxe, son of Harald Fairhair and his successor as king of Norway. Were is not for the fact that she and others are shown as successfully practising shamanic magic, the book would read essentially as a spiced-up historical novel set in 10th-century Scandinavia. Anderson is steeped in the history and literature of the Age of the Vikings, and gives highly plausible images of his historical figures, of whom Eirik Bloodaxe and King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark are perhaps the best known. Aethelstan of England and his successors also play minor roles as the action moves at times to the British Isles, from Orkney and Caithness as far south as Viking York, which Eirik briefly ruled. Occasionally the heart sinks, as the author, after the model of the sagas, heads off into a piece of genealogical scene-setting full of unpronounceable names. ("Long before this, one Ulf, son of Bjalfi, dwelt in Sygnafylki in Norway, not far from the Sognefjord..."). But after a few short chapters I was quite into the story, even though Gunnhild, openly acknowledged as a "Lady Macbeth" figure, becomes a less than wholly sympathetic character as she machinates to maintain her husband's grip on Norway and his sons' inheritance, her semi-sorcerous power-wielding ultimately becoming self-defeating.The book is not a very easy read, as the language is often formal and archaic, rather reminiscent of Victorian translations of the sagas, though not quite as impenetrable as William Morris in full flow. The author also includes his own modern English take on Norse poetry, which works surprisingly well. Anderson is probably less accurate than Tolkien in its imitation of the alliterative forms, and necessarily eschews the opaque kennings of the orignal forms, but still, it is strong alliterative verse with gold and iron in its bone and sinews, and adds to the atmosphere.MB 6-xi-2010