Who's Afraid of Beowulf?

Rating:
Summary: Be Careful What You Wish For
Review: Archaeologist Hildy Frederiksen has always wanted to make a major discovery and an intact Viking ship burial certainly fits the bill. She most definitely does *not* expect the dead Vikings to come back to life and is understandably rattled when they do. It seems a thousand years ago King Rolf Earthstar of Caithness, ('God forsaken place but it is my Kingdom') and his band of heroes fought a dreadful battle with the evil Sorceror King, won the battle but lost track of their enemy and so found it necessary to do a 'King Arthur' that is put themselves into an enchanted sleep to wake when they are needed to destroy the Sorceror King once and for all. Thus Hildy finds herself the dazed and bewildered guide to an unflappable King Rolf and his bickering band of heroes as they make their way southward to confront the Enemy in his new stronghold, London. Absolutely hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Viking adventure
Review: Hilary Frderickssen is a young American archaeologist with a passion for Vikings. A Viking ship burial is discovered on the site she is excavating in northern Scotland. When Hildy investigates, she gets a shock when she discovers that the Vikings on board the ship are still very much alive. King Hrolf of Caithness and his followers have been awoken from their thousand-year sleep to fight the evil Sorcerer King who rules his evil empire from an office block in London. Hildy has the daunting task of providing the Vikings with food, clothing, and transport, and helping them get to London to find the Sorcerer-King. There are some very funny incidents as she introduces them to the delights of fish and chips and Marks and Spencers suits. While Hildy accompanies the King and some of the Vikings to London, the ones remaining behind in Caithness kidnap Danny Baker, a hapless TV producer, and hold him hostage.This is a very funny book, with a clever plot and lots of amusing incidents and characters. The Vikings are a delightful bunch, especially Starkadd the Berserker ("like honey, thick and sweet")and Hildy is an engaging heroine. There are also two cthonic spirits, Zerxx and Perxx, who live off energy and are involved in playing a mysterious and complex game called Goblin's Teeth, which seems to be a blending of chess, scrabble, monopoly, snakes and ladders and any other game you can think of. I have read lots of Tom Holt's other books, but I don't like any of them nearly as much as this one.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Viking adventure
Review: Hilary Frderickssen is a young American archaeologist with a passion for Vikings. A Viking ship burial is discovered on the site she is excavating in northern Scotland. When Hildy investigates, she gets a shock when she discovers that the Vikings on board the ship are still very much alive. King Hrolf of Caithness and his followers have been awoken from their thousand-year sleep to fight the evil Sorcerer King who rules his evil empire from an office block in London. Hildy has the daunting task of providing the Vikings with food, clothing, and transport, and helping them get to London to find the Sorcerer-King. There are some very funny incidents as she introduces them to the delights of fish and chips and Marks and Spencers suits. While Hildy accompanies the King and some of the Vikings to London, the ones remaining behind in Caithness kidnap Danny Baker, a hapless TV producer, and hold him hostage.This is a very funny book, with a clever plot and lots of amusing incidents and characters. The Vikings are a delightful bunch, especially Starkadd the Berserker ("like honey, thick and sweet")and Hildy is an engaging heroine. There are also two cthonic spirits, Zerxx and Perxx, who live off energy and are involved in playing a mysterious and complex game called Goblin's Teeth, which seems to be a blending of chess, scrabble, monopoly, snakes and ladders and any other game you can think of. I have read lots of Tom Holt's other books, but I don't like any of them nearly as much as this one.

Rating:
Summary: Anglo-Saxon was never like this
Review: Tom Holt's humorous fantasies tend to have the same basic framework, involving a feisty present-day female who somehow gets involved with historical or mythical characters come to life and pursuing their quest through the modern world (usually in Britain). Sometimes it works better than others. Here it works very well.

Enjoy, then, this tale of archaeologist Hildy who, excavating a Viking tomb in bleak and windswept Caithness (Scotland's northernmost county which really was, at one point, in military and cultural terms more a southern outpost of Scandinavia than a northern one of Britain) only to revive a team or warriors who were in suspended animation and promptly resume their mission, dragging her along with them. The Anglo-Saxon hero of the title doesn't feature, but an entertaining cast of characters does and Holt is on top form with his deft and humorous handling of plot and situations.

If you're new to Tom Holt this would be a good place to start.

Rating:
Summary: A BOOK WITH A MISLEADING TITLE
Review: Who's Afraid of Beowulf? Sure, it's a catchy title, but I'm afraid that it is misleading. Beowulf is not a character in the story, but he's mentioned about 3 times. Despite Beowulf's absence, this book is still pretty good. Tom Holt treats us to an interesting cast of characters that drive or walk around London or Caithness. There's the cameraman, who keeps saying, "This is like that time in (name of place) where such and such happened." There are two electron-like entities called Prexz and Zxerp, who have nothing better to do than play board games. Then there's the Vikings that Hildy Fredericks-daughter discovers. And together they vow to rid the world of a sorcerer that has managed to stay alive for several hundred years. This is a pretty decent parody on Vikings and fantasy. It's not so much that Tom Holt has funny scenes, but he has interesting characters, that make this book enjoyable. Unlike some parodies I've read, the end of this book is very satisfying and won't leave you hanging.