Read Brothers of the Wild North Sea
oh, fuck my eye—that was so goddamned expert. that's all i got. well—as well that this book is lush, deftly plotted, marvelously novel in setting and context, and total of profoundly beautiful writing absolutely radiating compassion and love and kindness. now that's all i got. also: ipads are not as easy to weep into as paperbacks.
3.5 stars This one was hard to rate. Overall, it's a lovely story and I enjoyed it. I liked the characters, the setting and the sense of humor between Cai and Fen. I simply expected to be more emotionally involved in the story, and there were a few things that I believe were resolved too easily. Besides, I retrieve that the blurb is a scrap misleading when it comes to Fen's character. Loved the audiobook. The narrator was truly amazing.
3.5 stars.****Review completed June sixteen, 2013 Brothers of the Wild Northward Sea is set in the year 687 Christian Era, in Britannia, northeast coast. Our ii chief protagonists are Caius, the eldest son of a chieftain and Roman descendent, who had walked away from a rich inheritance of land and men to get a monk… …and Fenrir a proud Viking warrior and who came to Fara for a raid. During said raid Fen had been severely wounded and he had been left behind past his other 'brothers'. Brother Caius is not merely a monk but also the monastery's md, and he feels obligated to tend to Fen's wounds and is nursing him dorsum to wellness. "(…)And as for your hair, I gave it to the tanner to stuff saddlebags." That wasn't true, merely the await on Fen'southward face was worth the cost of the prevarication. "Don't worry, it'll grow back. You lot can look like a bang-up louse-ridden thug again soon enough." There is a lot to enjoy virtually this book and I did similar it but unfortunately I didn't love it. Initially I was surprised that a lot of those monks were so ready to "sin". In High german I would accept written it'southward not a 'Zeiterscheinung' because also today's clerics are not averse to the joys of the flesh. I tin can't translate 'Zeiterscheinung' but telling you it'south not an emanation of the times should come pretty close to what I wanted to say. What didn't work for me Is there something similar an obligatory WTF moment? Well, I've had one. When I hit the 94 % mark the story lost some other half star when Caius woke up and was Are yous f@cking kidding me??? I mean the man was As if! I guess if you lot are willing to suspend conventionalities then it will piece of work out for you lot. Besides, I had to wonder how Caius did *scratches head* Usually I would mutter when a book ends at 94 %. In this case, even so, I was glad for the somewhat precipitous catastrophe before I hitting the official 100 % mark since I was then miffed nearly this unbelievable miracle. Don't get me wrong. Brothers of the Wild North Bounding main is by no means a bad book, and in that location were enough good reasons to round up to iv stars after all. Hence, I'd like to encourage you to give it a endeavour because what does not accommodate me might suit you. Savor!
Hither, the very soil was sacred. Cai was an uncertain convert to the new faith, but he could experience that much, sense the rightness of the ancient name the tidal island bore, a proper name similar the yearning weep of a bird. It rose upwardly in his center--Fara Sancta. The island of the holy tide. Fara.
"And while we are discussing names--do me a kindness and stop trying to telephone call me Fenrir. You cannot pronounce information technology, and the sound you make pains me."
"What shall I phone call you lot, and so?"
"Fen will practise."
"Very well. And since you sound like a sheep giving birth when you lot say mine, you'd amend telephone call me Cai."
Fen'south brows shot up to the place where his fringe had once been. "You're a fine ane to talk nearly lice. I've heard well-nigh you dirty Christians, mortifying your flesh below your robes until it rots--using your vows of poverty to excuse yourselves for sleeping in flea-ridden filth.
"There, Oslaf. Aren't you glad he's started talking? Go and go your breakfast."
What will e'er draw me into a story written by Harper Fox is her undeniably cute writing style. I love her vocalisation and Brothers of the Wild N Body of water is no exception. This story reads similar an ode to a long foretime time period. Besides, it's an homage to a cute land and its people, flora and fauna and the sea. She knows how to exhale life into her characters and the wonderful and fascinating setting. It'southward done beautifully. I'grand definitely not a bloodthirsty reader, however, I expected more gory scenes in this story, and I must say information technology felt a flake tame. Then again it was a romance, a dear story and not a state of war story. Also, what I really liked were the MCs and their dialogue. Plus, the well-placed humor was vey enjoyable besides.
The book is very long-winded and I could have done with a shorter story. Frankly, information technology wouldn't have impaired the plot at all.
I take to wonder if at that time people knew the terms f@@@ing and c@ck. I like the subject matter 'enemies to lovers', however, I'g not sure if a Viking warrior and would have fallen for a Christian monk in real life. I won't beat effectually the bush, I plant the sexual practice scenes disappointing. Interestingly enough, I enjoyed their intimate moments similar an embrace, a look or snuggling and hugging much more. It was so much more appealing than the sexual act itself. He pressed tighter into Fen'south comprehend. This identify had forever in it. Time couldn't stop it, nor even the limits of life. Not distance--not even the wastes of the wild North Ocean.
On top of that, where was the enemies to loves trope that was supposed to exist hither? Where'due south the plot? Then, to summarize, consider me rather shocked that this book has so many good reviews. It was way besides long, with nada happening, and the writing didn't work for me at all. It left me rather dislocated at times... This book is so far from Ragnar and Athelstan that it wasn't even funny. Ugh. Overall, information technology was a complete bust. I struggle to understand a lot of things, I didn't feel the characters connection/chemistry, nor did I like the story. A bust. Damn, I had needed a adept read. Other Characters: ⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱*Nope*⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱
The volume centers effectually the monk of two years and healer, Caius 'Cai' (24) and a Viking raider, Fenrir 'Fen'. Afterward a raid, Fen gets hurt - by Cai - and instead of finishing him off, Cai instead heals him. Weeks go, Fen is healing, and the patient and the doctor gets closer. Can their love survive duty? Here's what I don't understand.... Fen is supposed to exist this badass Viking warrior, yet he is defeated by Cai, a monk who, yes is trained to fight, but zilch compare to Fen. I mean, Cai only ran at him and struck him downwardly, no fighting back. I only don't see this happening. And where'southward that wildness Cai go on referring to with Fen? This 'barely tamed human'? All I saw was a consummate tamed man. Fen was just there. At that place was nothing special most him.
→ Brother Bridegroom 'Ben', a monk of Fara.
→ Brother Oslaf, Ben'southward lover, a monk of Fara.
→ Abbot Theodosius 'Theo', a monk of Fara.
→ Blood brother Leof, a monk of Fara.
→ Brother Martin, a monk of Fara.
→ Abbot Aelfric 'scarecrow', a monk of Fara.
→ Aedar 'Addy', the hermit of Fara, an sometime man; was a missionary, a priest in far westward Hibernia.
→ Danan, the herbalist, though some call her a witch.
→ Blood brother Eyulf, a errand-boy (?) of Fara.
→ Blood brother Gareth, a monk of Fara.
→ Brother Demetrios, a monk of Fara.
→ Brother Wilfrid 'Wilf', a monk of Fara.
→ Brother Cedric, a monk of Fara.
→ Gunnar, the heir to Sigurd's Torleik clan. Fenrir calls him his 'bróðir minn'.
→ Broccus 'Broc', Cai's father.
→ Godric, a village human being. Barda, his married woman.
→ Sigurd, Fen's warlord. The leader of the Torleik clan, The Viking's eyes flickered shut. Cai reached to ease him over onto his dorsum, but he reanimated. "I am called Fenrir," he rasped, the effort bringing blood to his lips. "Fenrir, after Fenrisulfr, the great wolf of our legends. You must brand me well once more, monk, and then y'all have to set me costless. I am a prince in my own land—second heir to Lord Sigurd'due south Torleik realm, and Sigurd and my brothers and my comrades will be back for me. Yous must let me go."
"Happily. I'd dump you back on the beach in a heartbeat, your majesty."
"A prince in my own…" The Viking writhed, fresh sweat breaking on him. "Oh, gods. Kill me now, monk. I have soiled myself. I am disgraced."
Quick basic facts:
Genre: - (Developed) Historical Romance (M/Thousand).
Series: - Standalone.
Dearest triangle? -
Cheating? -
HEA? -
Favorite graphic symbol? - None.
Would I read more past this author/or of series? - Probably not.
Would I recommend this book/series? -Nope.
Volition I read this once more in the future? - Nope.
Rating - 1.v/two stars.
Review before reading:
This book made me seriously call back of Ragnar and Athelstan from the Vikings and I shipped those two so damned difficult *sob*, and then of form I'm gonna read this book. I promise it's good. I need a good book correct now.
When I read a book by Harper Fob, I know I'll exist swept out of my reality into a brilliant globe that engages my senses. This volume opens to the tang of sea air, the sand and salt-grasses and open spaces of a barren northern peninsula. Here Cai has escaped the brutish life of his chieftain father's holding for a monastic Christian customs... with a deviation. The abbot of this modest grouping is a homo of science and learning, and non in the to the lowest degree fixated on doctrine. The monks acquire most the movement of the earth forth with the life of Christ, and live and labor together to create a sanctuary where the best of religion and discovery can exist next. In that location is prayer and tradition, but the abbot is also a practical man, and work is not interrupted constantly for monastic hours. And relationships betwixt the brothers, although frowned upon as a breach of guiltlessness, are not anathema. Unfortunately, there are rumors that their impoverished monastery conceals a treasure, and those rumors are enough to bring the vikingr raiding. Caius learned sword-fighting at his begetter's knee. He may be a man of God, only when the lives of his brethren are threatened, he will fight. They manage to bulldoze off the first raid, and one of the raiders is left backside, critically wounded. Cai is tempted to kill the human being, in retribution for the men the monastery has lost, including his friend and bedmate, but he is at middle a healer, and the rut of battle is over. And so he brings the injured viking into his intendance. And instead of dying, the man, Fenrir, lives. This story progresses very slowly, through Fen'southward recovery and a gradual bounding main alter in Fen'south view of the globe, and Cai'southward view of Fen. There is loss and adventure, in an almost circadian rhythm. There is a bear upon of religion, with a gloss of the mystical, most the paranormal. The old herb witch, the saintly hermit, prophetic dreams and curious animals, come up together to requite the story just a hint of the otherworldly, over an otherwise securely reality-grounded base. The scents and sounds and feel of the era pervade the story, and the men are wonderful characters with strengths that truly complement each other. Cai's humility, honour, curiosity and compassion, are a lucifer for Fen's bravery, free energy, reckless enthusiasm and fondness for violence. When the Church back in Europe sends an intolerant new bishop with teachings of hell-fire for heresy, Cai must decide how best to award his old mentor. And when the Vikings raid once more, Fen must decide which side he is on. I really liked the ho-hum sweep of this story, which immune the time for these men to change and grow, and become who they were meant to be. It is not the virtually intense of Harper Fox's books, or my accented favorite (still Scrap Metallic), but it stands well among them. There is a bear on of the possible-paranormal in a plot thread that I can't decide whether I like or feel cheated past. Another reread will exist required to decide (ah, the cede ;) Readers who have loved the more atmospheric, slow-building stories by this author will discover themselves delightfully immersed in this one.
Written March 9, 2015 4 1/2 Stars - A beautiful, violent, incredible romantic story I've been looking frontwards to read a Viking romance in the Grand/M genre for a long time. And hither we were, a big BR with Sofia, Irina, Therese, Maya, Mel and Bev. ~ Thanks Ladies! "Ah." She clapped her hands. "Yes. Yes. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Brothers of the Wild North Bounding main is virtually of all an incredible saga nearly a strong monk and his larger-than-life man. They offset met in anger, felt emotions and loved intensely for more than one thousand years ago. ~ That's but freaking beautiful to think most. *********************************************** Year 687 Christian Era, Britannia, northeast coast Information technology's that almost unknown aboriginal time when the mighty Roman Empire had fallen and earlier the new right path with Christianity, had made the overall mighty conquest of the nonetheless wild British Isles. Information technology is also the fourth dimension when those, always then happy to fight, steal and murder —pagan, wild, blonde stately— Vikings, 'poured' in from those Scandinavian nordic still unknown places. 'There was a sail on the horizon. A corking square sail, pregnant with that cakewalk. In front of it—impossibly clear to him just for an instant—rode a dragon'south head.' This young monk, 24 years and withal a moderate "One and Only Mighty Father God" believer, is the local warlord Broccus's firstborn son. Broc the chieftain is a descended from the Roman regular army. Cai, himself, choosed to leave his fathers, in his opinion disgustful, way of living (..revelries, drinking, enough of fornication with all kind of girls, women and slaves, added with a like for fights, decease and war). Cai is a happy, lively and an exuberant man. A young monk who loves the experience of other men, and thankfully isn't he denying or hiding it. So far has Cain been able to satisfy that "lust & need" in this quite "tolerant" and isolated located monastery lead by the very kind and freethinking Abbot Theodosius. *********************************************** Just equally like everyone else in these times is Cai fearing barbarous Vikings from the north ocean. 'He crashed to a halt face-to-face with a young man whose surpassing dazzler was visible even behind the nose baby-sit of his fe helmet. The noble face registered—what—surprise? A strange recognition? Ruby-red-bronze hair streamed in the wind. Golden wolf's eyes flickered wide.' *********************************************** A thousand adventure that for sure enchanted me... ...But also that it might (cross my fingers..) have been possible to really beloved and accept cozy M/M moments on a sandy beach if you were a monk even then year 687. 'Across all of those places, hither they would be. He pressed tighter into Fen's embrace. This place had forever in it. Fourth dimension couldn't end information technology, nor even the limits of life. Not altitude—non fifty-fifty the wastes of the wild North Sea.' What could be truthful? What were too unbelievable? — Never mind.... This was a good one! *********************************************** To cut a long I LIKE - ...nods frantically intensely •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The vikingr are coming."
Wow, I beloved historicals! ~ I have read and so many fantastic books this year and then far, this was yet some other.
Brothers of the Wild N Sea is a tale most the newly christened brethren Monk Caius (Cai), our dark eyed hero, who as well become the Fara Monastery's informal doctor in the two years since his conversion. 'He could hear bells. Disconnected thoughts flicked through his head. He would never know the vocalisation of God, not if it depended on guiltlessness. He'd meliorate get the mattress ticking off, rinse information technology under the pump. Perhaps he should merely leave Fara. A wolf from the body of water.'
And then everthing changes. At that place is grief and pain, new rules, new monks and most important, at that place is Fenrir (Fen). Fen, the Torleik Dane is swords-injured, he is beautiful and appealing, but still very unsafe. A true proud viking warrior.
There were many long pages to read. There were unknown very old words, and for me at least, new historical facts and doctrines. There were dark and hopeful myths and one-time cult. I'one thousand grateful to have learned a lot nigh the tough monastic life and so in the late 600:southward. Learn about the monks, those dangerous viking and that fanatical (next to horrible) difficult God-religion some people had.
I've to acknowledge I perhaps wished for more love, cute moments and less horrible bloody stuff sometimes, but equally an former historicals 'buff', I really enjoyed all those finely told details of the monk-life and so long ago. story review brusque...
I liked the linguistic communication, the text and this author'south own expression. Only my 2nd Harper Fox read and this was all the same another very positive feel.
I'm going to start by talking about what this book is not: There are books that manipulate you to tears--the author'southward hand is heavy, even clumsy, equally y'all're punched in the face over and over again like a boxer with a speedbag. This is non ane of those books. In that location are historical novels which are so mired in detail and accuracy, they forget to tell a story. This is not one of those books. There are stories most faith which proselytize endlessly, leaving yous feeling restless, annoyed, and vaguely guilty for being either. This is not one of those books. This volume? This volume moved me to tears, the emotion washing over me like a wave on shore. The author's hand was steady, elegant, and invisible. This book told such a cute story, it could have been gear up anywhere, someday. The historical details were used, not to make a point, but to enrich the story. The sights and the smells and sounds of Fara weren't included to show that the author Did Her Research, but to show the emotions and experiences of the characters. Setting? That's how it should exist done. Lastly, this is a book well-nigh love, and nigh faith, and instead of making me feel preached to, information technology made me desire to believe in miracles. You should read this volume.
I recall I tin can all-time sum up the ability of Brothers of the Wild North Bounding main past simply telling you what it felt like to listen to Hamish Long'southward narration of Harper Fox's moving, graceful, and often sublime novel. Hamish Long'due south voice does not seem to be of our fourth dimension and place, but of the time and identify of the novel itself: 687 AD, Fara, The Orkney Islands. His vocalisation is frank and sometimes gruff, just at the same time somehow muffled or restrained; its comforting gravely tones seem to accept risen up from a deep identify, like a well or the bottom of the sea. It is stonelike in its proposition of stoical endurance, just the rock is a standing stone and it is enchanted. It is a vocalism that will draw tears downward your cheeks before the book is washed. Listening to this book requires patience. It moves slowly, and its narrative rhythms, as Kaje Harper notes in her superb review, are cyclical. In fact, it seems likely that Play tricks adopts this narrative style deliberately as a style of carrying the reader into a storyspace that predates the appearance of the novel with its more linear blueprint of rise and falling action. The effect of this stylistic choice is a kind of dreamlike immersion in religiously heterogenous 7th century Britain, where denizens of old faiths and new clash and debate and fuck by the body of water. Information technology'due south the kind of novel in which the wavelike cycles of event and activity imperceptibly intensify until suddenly you notice that your pillow is wet because your optics have been leaking tears for the last 40 minutes. The principal characters of Fox's romance are a Christian monk and a Viking warrior who fall in honey confronting all probability when the wounded Dane (Fenrir) is left backside by his fellows at the monastery on Fara during a Viking raid. There he is spared and nursed back to health by Brother Caius, a Christian convert who is starting time to learn the new gospel not just of Jesus merely of science at the anxiety of the eccentric abbott, a displaced heretical Christian whose gnosticism jars with the official doctrine of the ascendant church building of Rome. In the permissive--even wild--intellectual atmosphere of Fara, scientific cognition that anticipates a Renaissance still centuries in the future seems poetically of a piece with the quieter but similarly subversive revolution in sexual permissiveness that also blossoms at dark in the cells of the restless monks. Meanwhile, other religions in the region make their presence felt, represented by the pagan "witch" who provides Caius with healing herbs and Ciaus's estranged male parent and his clansmen who wonder suspiciously at Caius'south new faith. I can but hint at the austere sumptuousness of this circuitous, exquisitely evoked setting and the characters who pulse with life inside it. None are caricatures. And the narrative'south commitment to unfolding the lifespace of this alien yet uncannily familiar globe is deliberate and exacting. The stark realism of the novel is ofttimes touched, too, past enchantment. Information technology is sometimes hard to tell, in the moment of its occurrence, when that sense of enchantment is only an effect of Fox's animistic lyricism and when it indicates a more profound disruption of the world'due south quotidian surface. In both cases, the effect is center-lifting and magical. Despite the starkness of the world information technology evokes, this is a novel virtually dear'due south power to transcend history. The ideal lovers are fatigued from rival traditions whose members were historically at violent odds. There is something brilliant and amazing that Fob does near the end of the novel to concretize this transcendence in a symbol, and when you consider the journey of this symbol non just through the pages of the book, just throughout the long history to which information technology is attached that the book can bespeak but not dramatize, the radicalism of Fox'due south treatment of love begins to take shape. For many reasons, it is a book that I will reread. In part because I fell in dear with the romance between the two main characters, whose growing love for each other is beautifully recounted, with surprising plausibility, humor, and center. On a purely visceral level, it wrecked me and restored me in the all-time possible way. Simply I will reread Brothers of the Wild North Sea besides because it is an ambitious, genre-transcending piece of work by an extremely talented author whose vision I profoundly admire. Information technology is stylistically impressive, dumbo, and many-layered. I have no uncertainty it will repay multiple readings and I recommend it very warmly.
Audio - 5 +++ stars Love it when the author chooses the perfect narrator
Story - 4.5 stars
4.5 stars Final winter, while I was laid upwards with a nasty cold, I decided to watch Vikings. I still pat myself on the back for that decision. Why? Let me explicate: This is Athelstan, the Christian monk Ragnar enslaves And this is when Ragnar and Athelstan most had a threesome with Ragnar's wife, Lagertha Let'due south just say that my perverted mind gets a workout while watching that show. I'thousand entirely convinced that Ragnar and Athelstan accept been indulging all of that sexual tension while the cameras aren't rolling. Then 'Brothers of the Wild North Sea' has been on my tbr for a while, but I kept putting it off. At present that I've finally read it, I'yard wondering why I waited so long. This book has everything that I love near Vikings: the ruggedness of northern Europe, the wars and battles, the conflict of religious behavior, and the well-rounded cast of characters. Plus, the Viking and the monk have lots of hot sexual practice. The book is set in seventh-century Britain, at a time where Christianity was non yet fully established in the UK, and native or Roman religious beliefs were still strong. I liked the slight history lesson of early on Christianity in the book. It was interesting to run across how early on Christianity in Europe was consolidated by the conservative Catholic Church, and how early Christians interacted with non-Christians. The human relationship between Cai and Fen is at times heartbreaking. The two are brought together through war, and then don't really know what to do with each other, They should be enemies, but tin't aid simply respect one another. I loved everything most their romance, from the fiery arguments, to the passionate sex, to the pining separations. Cai and Fen just fit together. There's a fine line between lyrical and majestic. Harper Play a trick on handles that line similar a pro. I was enthralled by her writing from the beginning. I could clearly picture what life was like at Fara, this lone outpost at the border of the earth. The world-building was superb, and the characters she created came alive on my tablet screen. This is ane of those books where you lot'll desire to re-read a paragraph just because it'southward written so well. Overall, this was an excellent read. Highly recommended!
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