The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok

The story of Ragnar Lodbrok is the quintessential concept of today's image of the ultimate Norse Warrior. He was daring and bold throughout his life. Then, while he was facing his own death, he meet's it head on and laughing. Ragnar then composes his Life-Song/Death-speech as Death reaches for him. The "Ragnar" archetype character has become a staple for books and movies throughout the world. My favorite example is in the 1958 movie, "The Vikings", in which Ernest Borgnine portrays Ragnar Lodbrok. This was one of those pivotal movie moments for me that I will never forget as he, (Borgnine), gets a sword and laughing, looks at his captors with contempt and jumps into the wolf pit to his death. I was probably only 5 or 6 years old when I first saw that movie and it had a profound effect on me that has lasted all my life.Ben Waggoner's translations are quite fluid, understandable and entertaining. He has presented these stories in a very modern, readable format. Each of the five sagas are well introduced at the beginning of the book and very well footnoted. Dr. Waggoner also includes an extensive Bibliography and Index.My personal favorite in this edition was, "Krákumál". I liked the way the kennings were laid out to the right of the poem. The only way it could have been better would have been if the original Norse script side by side with the translation.If you like these Saga's, I recommend Dr. Waggoner's other Saga translations which are available on Amazon from Troth Publications.Very good read, highly recommended!Spence the Elder"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"-M. Addams

This book is pretty good. Nothing fancy, a little over 100 pages and easy to read. Its translated like a barbarian would speak there for I believe it to be a great translation. It's an interesting read to find out about the lives of the great Viking hero's. I wish there were more depth to the stories, but thats for Hollywood to do i suppose.

We are fans of The Vikings, and so when I saw this book, I ordered it. There is an introduction which explains the origins of these sagas, written as one might expect present-day writing. The Sagas are written in "old style", for example, "And when they came back to the town, they took all the treasure, burned every house in town, and tore down all the walls. Then they sailed their ships away." The writing has a sing-song feel as I read it. The stories in the book include The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, Sogubrot (the story of King Ivar), List of Swedish Kings, The Tale of Ragnar's sons, and Krakumal (an epic style poem relating a battle tale). A bibliography is also included for those who want to read more. This isn't light reading, but it is good.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of scholarship that went into this book. At first, I was reluctant to purchase it, for whoever heard of "Ben Waggoner"? I did not want to read someone's half-remembered, politically correct updated paraphrase of the medieval sagas. How relieved I was to find that Ben Waggoner is a consummate scholar who has read EVERYTHING on Old Norse literature, and has not only given the world a fresh translation of the sagas from Old Norse, but also has copiously sprinkled the book with golden nuggets of references to other medieval authors and texts for further reference. Casual readers and scholars alike will be pleased with this book.

being interested in the viking age, this was an excellent read for me. definitely recommend!

I'm a fan of the History channel's series "The Vikings". I wanted to learn more about the sagas about Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. A fascinating read. If you're a fan of the series you'll be pleased. If you're looking for a factual account only, this book is not for you since it presents the known sagas about this family.

One of the better translated sources out there. If you're thinking of getting this because you're watching The Vikings, by all means, get this. Learn about the REAL mythology (some fact, much fiction). Word of warning though: You may end up cringing at The Vikings story lines after reading this as they really don't know what the heck they're doing.

If you watch the history channel fantasy based on this book, you realize the TV producers kept much of it intact. Not as twisted and epic as GOT, but full of timeless wisdom, nevertheless. Also check out The Legend of Burnt Nyall.

Perfeito! Entrega no prazo, qualidade, produto em ótimo estado!O livro, é uma obra prima. Perfeita revisão histórica das Sagas. Estou lendo.

Such a great book, great history's and a very good way to tell them. I'm really enjoying reading them, you can learn a lot and get involved in this great culture and religion

As unhelpful as this may seem I'm in 2 minds about this book. One one hand I think it's a bit of a hard read, there's a lot that I think could do with some serious annotation which would take a lot of time and research for the layman (I am a total layman btw) but I guess if I hadn't taken geography in school so I could mess about with my mates in front of a soft teacher and taken history like I sorely wish I had now then things like that may come a little easier. So in short it could just be my lack of the skills necessary to appreciate this book. It's a little thin but the writing is tiny so it doesn't feel quite like I got short changed which was my first impression of Stephan Weaver's Vikings history and mythology (that turned out to be the best introduction into the Viking world I have read to date ironically enough) and there are a lot of poems written in the context of the time period which although great to have it was hard for me personally to stick with. However, this is a subject that interests me greatly so I do think I would like to have a go at the aforementioned research, if you're as passionate about the Viking legends and history like I am then I would say this is a worthy addition to your collection, if you're a beginner and read nothing yet then I would maybe save this book until you have read maybe 2-3 easier books to read first.

I have read a few of the Sagas now and so far I'd say this was the weakest. I'm not sure if it is down to the original source or not, but I found the story to be rather messy and confusing in places. Having just read Egil's Saga before this, it came off rather poorly.

I am enjoying this book very much. It is a "plus" that the introduction is erudite.