The Long Ships - A Saga Of The Viking Age

Red Orm--canny, courageous, and above all, lucky--is only a boy when he is abducted from his Danish home by the Vikings and made to take this place at the oars of their dragon-prowed ships. Orm is then captured by the Moors in Spain, where he is initiated into the pleasures of the senses and fights for the Caliph of Cordova. Escaping from captivity, Orm washes up in Ireland, where he marvels at those epicene creatures, the Christian monks, and from which he then moves on to play an ever more important part in the intrigues of the various Scandinavian kings and clans and dependencies. Eventually, Orm contributes to the Viking defeat of the army of the king of England and returns home an off-the-cuff Christian and a very rich man, though back on his native turf new trials and tribulations will test his cunning and determination.

What Hacker News says

designerarvidMay 2026

Just reread this[0] classic piece that captures Viking life. It holds up so well.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Long-Ships-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1...

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kridsdale2Oct 2022

I'm presently nearly done reading (fiction) The Long Ships about this region 1022 years ago. I'm enjoying seeing how cultural attitudes that took root in the transition from a bunch of guys doing whatever they wanted, and everyone can be a king as long as they can murder would-be-murderers well enough, to accepting a (supposed) life of peace as followers of Christ.

It makes me want to understand the subsequent 1000 years of history to see how they became as they are now.

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BakaryOct 2022

What I enjoyed about the Long Ships is how the author avoided moral handholding and let the reader make their own appreciation of it.

Interestingly, the contrast highlights the concept of master vs. slave morality pretty well. The Vikings see strength as the ultimate determinator and servitude as the appropriate result of weakness. Insofar as they have rules surrounding honor or other meta/legal considerations, these are there to facilitate the resolution of power struggles through duels or other such concepts. They nonetheless have a fairly stable civilization. And of course Christianity is the canonical (no pun intended) example of slave morality as identified by Nietzsche.

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kzrdudeJul 2022

Röde Orm / The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Ships

I guess it's a swedish favourite, a viking historical fiction / adventure novel. Fond memories since I was a teenager. I have only read it twice.

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drak0n1cOct 2019

Pagan Viking society entailed many sons going on trading and raiding expeditions, sometimes never to return. It was not uncommon for both father and son to leave on the same trip, and young men were often recruited or enslaved by passing ships. Given such an unpredictable environment, the best way to ensure stability and the continuation of the family estate was to grant inheritance rights to the women who stayed home.

For those interested in a classic adventure novel set in that era, I recommend "The Long Ships" by Frans Bengtsson. The latest edition's foreword is written by Michael Chabon.

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knuththetruthJun 2018

"The Long Ships" by Frans G. Bengtsson. It's a wonderful, humorous adventure tale about the life of a viking.

I'd also just suggest you browse the New York Review Books collection. They put a lot of effort into reviving this kind of literature in translation, as well as digging up forgotten American gems.

https://www.nyrb.com/

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