Swords of Good Men

After finishing the book, I realized: this must be the setup to something bigger.

It works in its own right as the tale of a town under siege by a truly fearsome army - the biggest, baddest, Vikingiest Vikings that a woman claiming to be Skuld, one of the Norns, could get her hands on. The first half of the book moves all the pieces into place - the besiegers, the defenders, the reinforcements, the traitors - and as such, it's somewhat slow-paced, and perhaps a little confusing with constant changes of viewpoint character, not always well-indicated. The battle itself was gripping, well-paced, and well-written: the defenders are badly outnumbered, but they have sturdy walls and brilliant wits. It took me a while (and a couple tries) to get into the book, but I found myself reading the second half all in one sitting. "Not too bad, overall", I thought. "All that setup really paid off."

And then the battle ended. And then a little more mayhem ensued. And then, with four (spoilery) words, Kristjansson reeled me in, hook, line, and sinker, and I find I can't wait to see where he's going with the second book of the series.