He was as blue as hell, and as great as a neat
Medieval historical fantasy WITH ZOMBIES. I'm boggling about two things: first, they seem to have arisen independently of one another, and second, they're good. Toothless was brilliant,, as I've said (zombies and Templars and the Second Crusade). I listened to that one back in January, and read it a little later. Just this morning, I was passing the time in a bookstore while waiting for my car to be inspected. They had a section which was basically "Zombies And", because there are many writers jumping on the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bandwagon. It's not for me to judge. (It was right beside the "My Boyfriend Is A Supernatural Hottie" shelving section.)
I had a look through the zombie-centered novels in hopes of finding something that would please my very specific demands.* What do I see but Viking Dead, by Toby Venables, which has a cover with, guess what, Viking zombies. It escaped me at the time, but now that I've looked it up to add the link, I'm delighted to state that the undead Vikings are not wearing horned helmets! (I am the sort of person who went through her teens explaining to the less fortunate around me that Vikings didn't wear horned or winged helmets and that Frankenstein was the name of the scientist rather than his creation.)
So far, I've only read a couple of chapters, but the author's obviously read his sagas, and he achieves a good sense of intimacy with the characters, despite writing in the third person and switching viewpoints a good deal. I'm saving it as a reward for after I write my final papers. (But this is so much more fun!) I'll let you know how things work out. It reminds me of the much-neglected historical novel Meadowland, by Tom Holt: burnt-out Vikings count the costs of their lifestyles and adopt Christianity as just another god-worship for the times when Thor and Freya need backup.
*My demands (in used bills, please):
Category 1: undead viewpoint character(s), sensitive use of vernacular first-person, gallows humor, worldbuilding that creates livable world instead of waxwork museum history.
Category 2: accurate history used to entertain, inaccurate history for fun rather than because author knows no better, use of the undead as sum quod eris for the living, exploration of the monstrous condition, lots of bloodshed.
If it has at least one from each category, I'll try it out. More than one, and I'm apt to love it.
I had a look through the zombie-centered novels in hopes of finding something that would please my very specific demands.* What do I see but Viking Dead, by Toby Venables, which has a cover with, guess what, Viking zombies. It escaped me at the time, but now that I've looked it up to add the link, I'm delighted to state that the undead Vikings are not wearing horned helmets! (I am the sort of person who went through her teens explaining to the less fortunate around me that Vikings didn't wear horned or winged helmets and that Frankenstein was the name of the scientist rather than his creation.)
So far, I've only read a couple of chapters, but the author's obviously read his sagas, and he achieves a good sense of intimacy with the characters, despite writing in the third person and switching viewpoints a good deal. I'm saving it as a reward for after I write my final papers. (But this is so much more fun!) I'll let you know how things work out. It reminds me of the much-neglected historical novel Meadowland, by Tom Holt: burnt-out Vikings count the costs of their lifestyles and adopt Christianity as just another god-worship for the times when Thor and Freya need backup.
*My demands (in used bills, please):
Category 1: undead viewpoint character(s), sensitive use of vernacular first-person, gallows humor, worldbuilding that creates livable world instead of waxwork museum history.
Category 2: accurate history used to entertain, inaccurate history for fun rather than because author knows no better, use of the undead as sum quod eris for the living, exploration of the monstrous condition, lots of bloodshed.
If it has at least one from each category, I'll try it out. More than one, and I'm apt to love it.