The year is 1018. King Cnut of Denmark is ruling England. He’s in Oxford to collect payment and to try to unite the various groups living in England. This means there’s hundreds of people living in tents. People who were recently at war with each other. People not necessarily happy with their new king.
And then there’s a murder. The king is accused by the victim’s wife. Winston, an illuminator/painter and his companion former nobleman Halfdan, accidentally find themselves investigating the murder. They need to prove the king’s innocence and keep themselves from getting killed in the process. Hijinx ensue.
It’s like Holmes and Watson in a “Road To…” movie. I loved it. Some people are complaining about some of the modern words and phrases that are in the book, but hey… would we really have been better off with the ancient Saxon word for “boyfriend” or is the modern equivalent just fine? Considering I’m reading it in modern English and not ancient Saxon (or Danish), yeah, it’s ok.
This book was cute, an easy read, largely inoffensive (except to some folks: sorry, when your point-of-view character is a horndog you’re going to get descriptions of women as objects. Halfdan isn’t exactly enlightened or broad-minded and in the 1000s no one would expect him to be).
Other books in the series have been translated into English and I already know I’m going to read them. I’d also be surprised if this doesn’t get optioned by Hollywood. It’s just that level of easy fun that sells.
Hollywood? Seriously — get this. Animate it. Throw in some songs. Get Robert Downey Jr as Halfdan and Neil Patrick Harris as Winston. It can be the spiritual successor to “The Road to El Dorado”. I’m not kidding.
