The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1
by Sigrid Undset

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780679752738
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, Vol. 1

Book Review: Powerful, Luminous Stuff
Summary: 5 Stars

The basic plot follows Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter (don't be scared away by the names). They were betrothed as children under rather mysterious circumstances and were then raised together. Eventually, the two fall in love, and want to finally get married, seeing as they were betrothed to one another anyway. Times have changed, though, and the powers that be have decided to marry them off elsewhere. Olav and Ingunn vow to fight for their marriage, and the remainder of the action is this intense struggle.

The novel is superb. The writing at some moments, particularly the early love scenes, is truly sublime, with the lush imagery set up against the unique medieval Norwegian backdrop. I had to read a number of passages over and over just to reexperience their beauty. The moral scope of the novel also strikes me as particularly powerful and certainly invites comparison to Tolstoy. The events of the novel are all marked by a sin early in the novel which sends everyone into a moral tailspin. The characters are trapped in a moral maelstrom of their own making and in their struggle to find some sort of redemption is the ultimate meaning of the novel.

The Axe is one of the best novels I have ever read. Sigrid Undset cannot be forgotten. I can scarcely wait to read the rest of the Hestviken saga.

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