by Robert Jansson
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Product Description
Literary and historical fiction at its absolute finest, Kári’s Saga by mystery writer Robert Jansson is intuitive, learned and extraordinary. Crafted with delicately precise prose, this penetrating and insightful narrative immerses the reader in the austere and vengeful world of Viking Iceland. Set in the year 1000, when pagans and Christians struggled for dominance, family obligations and raw ambitions fuel a heated feud left unresolved by the flawed legal system of the day. Jansson explores how an individual, however strong, cannot stand alone against such adversity. Love and loyalty match deceit and betrayal along a path strewn with misdeeds and lawlessness in a place where men weigh their conscience by the bloodlust of others. Never a dull moment, the author commands the reader to consider lofty ideals against a treacherous landscape of wickedness and transgression. What honor, love and happiness lay ahead for a man whose world is fraught by so much jealousy and malice?
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Kari's Saga by Robert Jansson, 2008-10-09
I really liked Kari's Saga. With its historical descriptions of what life was like in Iceland in 1000 A.D. and its well described characters, I was transported back in time. This book has an interesting story that will keep you turning the pages and well-developed characters that will draw you into the book. It's a great read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
(3.5 stars) I loved the historical story about Icelandic law in 1000 AD but hated the way some of it was written, 2008-10-08
"Kari's Saga" is by far one of the most interesting books I've gotten from amazon vine to review. I don't mean in terms of the story, though it had its moments to be sure, but because the purpose of amazon vine is to review the selections we receive and I had a lot of difficulty figuring out to review this book.
Plot first. This is the story of Kari, an Icelandic man and former Viking warrior who is having some problems with a neighbor. It started with a legal dispute over a plot of trees that Kari inherited from his mother and his neighbor-Broad Gisli, felt belonged to him because Kari's mother was his father's sister and the trees were closer to his house. Kari won in court but Gisli has his men chopping wood (very scarce and precious in Iceland) in the forest anyway. This leads to two deaths-Kari's steward, killed by Gisli's son, and Gisli's son, killed by Kari. This tow was resolved in court and compensation paid for the deaths. And all this happened before the book even starts!
So at the start of the book Gisli attempts to burn down Kari's lodge but is foiled, and injures Kari in the process. Kari plans to bring another lawsuit but is having trouble putting his faith in the legal process when there is no true way of enforcing a settlement. With no ruler in Iceland no one can order Gisli to be peaceful, and with a legal system that consists completely of justified killings or lawsuits (with the occasional outlawry thrown in) there is no jail to throw those who don't follow the law in.
Add to this Kari's shrew of a wife, his foster family with the legal minded father and son Thord and Odd and the more action minded brother Hauk, plus Kari's former friend in arms Bjorn, an outlaw from Norway who is slow with his wits but very fast with his axe and a one eyed welsh trader who brings disturbing news about why Iceland may have to convert to Christianity soon and you have the saga
The plot of this novel (which is very much oriented in the law and Kari's struggle between obeying the law and using it to resolve things versus taking violent action) might be a bit tedious to some people but I'm pre-law and a former mock trial champion (Go Riverdale Mavericks 2005!) so I really loved it. Reading about Icelandic law in the year 1000 was fascinating because it's very similar to our own legal system but because Iceland had a really minimal government, with no capital or elected leader and no penal system, there was no real way, other than a threat of returned violence or lost honor, to enforce the law.
What I didn't like about this novel was the way the author structured a lot of his sentences. As Vine reviewers we get proof copies, which are often changed before being printed for sale, and so we're not supposed to comment on the spelling or grammar of the novel but I feel that what I disliked was more of a style on the author's part. I found myself re-structuring sentences as I read this, which really slowed me down, but a lot of the sentences just didn't make sense. And I'm not entirely sure that the author understands how to use and semi-colon.
But when I got to real crisis of the story I was so caught up in it that I stopped seeing flaws and saw only the story. And all in all, if you like books like this; it's a very good story.
Three point five stars.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Kind of a tough sell....., 2008-10-01
In my varied attempts to find myself at college, I 'found myself' being an Icelandic lit scholar for a year. Thus, if it's a saga, I've read it. So I've got a bit of...history with this genre.
As a saga, it's pretty good. Like the canonical ones, it rides right in that big chink between violence and law. So there's big swordfighty action and then a bunch of bearded guys quibbling points of law. For good measure, Jansson's chucked in some history about the Christianization of Iceland, which makes the contrast between pacifist 'law' society and the older 'feud' society a little clearer to the modern reader, but does have a tendency to blur the boundaries for others.
The story keeps you interested (once you get past the first few chapters--he leans a little too hard on the 'info dump' to give readers their bearings in the early pages, but it's admittedly a much different society than our own, so it needs a bit of explaining). One thing that did irk me was this:
The women. Very simply: if you're young, pretty and oppressed, you love Kari. If you're old and wrinkly and your breasts could be (and will be, at Jansson's hands) described as 'flaccid,' you also love Kari. If, however, you have your own property, are beautiful and independent, you're evil. It's a little dopey. Two women in love with the same man, and awwww, they help each other. Right. Does that sound credible to you? And while it's nice that the two pretty young things can overlook Kari's extensive catalog of disfiguring scars, I wish our author had been less shallow in his portrayals of them.
The evil is pretty undermotivated. You're greedy. That's pretty much it. Gisli's greedy, Helga's greedy, Grim's greedy.... They go to extraordinary and humiliating lengths to screw over the dopey guy who actually has faith in the system. It sets up some fun scenes (like between Kari and Einar about the divorce) but gets a bit tiresome after a while. And for a genre that loves that 'grey area' of honor and law, everyone here is pretty black or white. It might have added some suspense for the reader not to know whom to trust well before we had to rely on them.
There's also a massive continuity error in the epilogue. Someone is almost too crippled to fight at the end of the story, yet goes on to become a great warrior. Huh. They must have had great physical therapy back then.
An okay read, but if you're looking for gripping thrills, or psychologically round characters, this probably won't float your longboat (ha! little joke there.) It's a wonderful physical evocation of Iceland and the Althing culture, and a nifty way of envisioning how the pagan/Christian changeover might have happened. It probably won't be Oprah's next pick, but if you like your history fairly painless, it's a good story of a rather overlooked area for historical fiction. And if you liked this, you'll love Njalssaga.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Viking Law, 2008-10-01
This was a great book. It is a historical legal fiction story set in ancient Iceland and starring an ex-raider named Kari. When his farm is nearly raided by a vengeful neighbor, Kari tries to seek a peaceful solution to his problems. Unfortunately, the trial causes more problems for Kari, as politics and jealousy rears its ugly head, threatening to tear him down.
I found the story a bit slow at first. Kari is a nice guy but not particularly exciting. His farm is in a remote area, and his relationship with his mean wife Helga seemed difficult to believe. I can't imagine Kari allowing her to push him around so much, or her denying him relations. It just seemed so modern. But after about 100 pages this story began to really interest me and I found it difficult to put down. Who knew politics and Icelandic law would be so interesting?
I was interested in reading about the Icelandic legal process and about the way the characters live. There is a great deal of discussion about Christianity and converting to Christianity.. None of the characters are strongly Christian or even really understand Christianity which made their discussions about it sort of entertaining. I admit I would've liked a bit more pagan stuff, and discussion of everyday life for women. But, overall a surprisngly good read. I would love a sequel. Perhaps about Odd?
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A good Viking yarn, 2008-09-30
Jansson's book is pretty good--a feud story from turn of the first millennium Iceland. He knows his subject handily, being clearly well read about Norse culture a thousand years ago. He does not wear his learning lightly, and little anthropological essays dot the narrative. Among other matters, the reader will learn how Icelandic democracy worked, how Christianity came to the land, how their swords were made, how they hunted and cooked their meals, and how Viking ships were built. I found very few mistakes in Jansson's book. There were a few pretensions: the use of the long-mark on the title character's name, for example, but no other diacriticals for anyone else. Overall, he captures much of the character and spirit of those fascinating times.
For Jansson's readers who wish to venture further, let me recommend some original sources. First read the mighty Njal's Saga (the Magnusson-Palsson translation, if you can find it), followed a nice one-volume anthology The Sagas of the Icelanders,edited by Robert Kellogg. Then turn to the heady brew of the Poetic Edda (Bellows translation). I envy those readers who encounter these wonderful works for the first time.
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