Arrow-Odd: A Medieval Novel

by Unknown, Hermann Pálsson (Translator), Paul Edwards (Translator)

English, Icelandic (translation)

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1280

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Unknown" when the author or editor (as applicable) is not known and cannot be discovered. If at all possible, list at least one actual author or editor for a book instead of using "Unknown".

Books whose authorship is purposefully withheld should be attributed instead to Anonymous.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't even looked up this book on here until I'd finished it, so you can imagine my surprise to learn it only had 2.86 stars with 7 votes. I consider this as one of my favorite sagas, a story of pure entertainment focusing on just one character, unlike the long stories of feud and court, which are just as great but somewhat more educated, perhaps is the word.

Odd is the most modern personage from all of sagadom I've read. He is irreverent, cocksure, individualistic in that he trusts to his gut and goes his own way, rather than doing whatever is expected of him. He doesn't believe in gods and God, but faces off against trolls, giants, a giant bird, a magically-strengthened personal enemy who, in Odd's quest for vengeance, continues to kill more and more of his friends until Odd realizes the feud is pointless because neither will ever kill the other. He kills freely, but also saves people, often different sorts of people with whom he makes friends, like giants and an Irishwoman.

This Irishwoman, to save herself, offers to make him a magical shirt that cannot be bit by any blade. He accepts, and spends three years in Ireland to protect her from Vikings in exchange for the gift. This is how he manages to survive for three hundred years, presumably. I was surprised that no reference was made to his age at the end, confirming the witch's prophecy at the start that he would live three hundred years, but since all the other details of her prophecy came to pass, I think we can assume he was about 300 when he died.

When it comes to recommending this saga, I think it depends on your previous exposure to sagas. You should definitely start off with something like Egil's Saga or Eyrbyggja Saga first, get a taste for the true greats, before selecting this one as a fantastic getaway from whatever is going on in the world. This is the kind of book to read during, I dunno, maybe a coronavirus outbreak. Pure escapism, but good escapism. Five stars gladly.