Shelley Glodowski,Midwest Book Review, Fall 1999
Mirsky keeps us glued to this excellent first novel, using a subtle yet powerful story-telling technique that recalls old-time adventures involving swordplay, fair maidens in distress, relatives who are scoundrels, a misunderstood hero engaged in epic exploits, strange lands full of mysterious and wonderful peoples, and the power of good versus evil. The King of Vinland's Saga is a book the reader can't stay away from . . . and mourns when it is finished. ---

SF Site . . . Review by Georges T. Dodds
THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA is a wonderfully rich adventure novel, with memorable characters, a storyline that is faithful to the mediaeval Icelandic sagas, and enough sword- and axe-play to please even the most jaded of adventure readers. . . . Mirsky's work compares well to that of his predecessors, both in terms of capturing the gloomy mood of the saga and the larger-than-life heroes, while avoiding any blatant historical inaccuracies . . . . Besides the heroic leader Sigtrygg, the huge berserker Arnliot with his cursed axe . . . in many ways reminiscent of Haggard's great Zulu warrior, Umslopogaas, Vragi the quiet and retiring old veteran who hasn't forgotten his skills with the sword, Girstein, the most reasonable and supportive of Sigtrygg's step family, and Thjodhild the vindictive and jealous kinswoman, the book is peopled with many complex and interesting characters. The fight sequences, be they between Greenlander and skraeling or amongst the Greenlanders themselves are excellently portrayed, on par with any of Mirsky's literary precursors. . . This is one to please even the likes of Snorri Sturluson, and it even passed my "keep me up reading until 3 a.m. test."

IDUNNA Magazine, November '99
The King of Vinland's Saga . . . earns a place on the bookshelf beside other neo-sagas such as Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard and E. R. Eddison's Styrbiorn The Strong. . .

Mirsky has an excellent command of the saga style and spins a fine, page-turning tale. . . there are some truly wonderful scenes of sea-faring and berserker duels. . . Vragi's final fight is worth the price of the book all by itself. . . ." -- Diana Paxson, Author of The Wolf and The Raven and The Hallowed Isle tetralogy.

Book Description
An historical adventure in the heady tradition of Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper and H. Rider Haggard, this book sweeps the reader back to a time when bold men hazarded harsh and unknown seas in search of treasure and fame. Denied his birthright at home, Sigtrygg Thorgilsson, orphaned grandson of Leif Eiriksson, must seek his due overseas -- in Leif's half-forgotten land claim of nearly 50 years before on the shores of the New World -- despite the opposition of greedy and unforgiving kinsmen who would keep his inheritance from him.

From the Inside Flap
Stuart Mirsky's auspicious first novel is less a retelling of ancient sagas than it is a reinvention of the genre. He has found what most writers only strive for -- a singular and original narrative voice that seduces and envelops the reader and draws us to times and places far removed from our own. The King of Vinland's Saga is more than just a wonderful, escapist action/adventure tale; its marrow is pure myth and, like all true myths, its characters' ambitions and passions, their loves and hatreds, their triumphs and defeats resonate in these pages as vibrantly as they must have when our ancestors first heard their like over campfires in the icy wastelands. Mirsky set himself a task analogous to a first-time climber beginning with Everest rather than a rock-wall -- miracle of miracles, he reached the top! --- Nelson Breen, screenwriter & documentarian

The author, S.W.Mirsky
An Historical Adventure in the Old Tradition
When I set out to write this book I aimed to create a tale both modern and old-fashioned -- one which could hold its head up as an historical romance of the 19th century sort, yet still work for us moderns. To do so, I selected the "voice" of a 13th century sagaman to recount an 11th century adventure in the guise of a 19th century historical romance. And frankly, while I had to cheat a little to make the tale contemporary, I really didn't cheat all that much. In truth, adopting the voice of other times is actually a very respectable tradition for telling a tale of high adventure, though it seems to have gone out of style in the late twentieth century. (The closest thing we seem to have to it today is "fantasy and science fiction" -- which this book isn't, so be forewarned.) Hopefully, The King of Vinland's Saga will help make high adventure fashionable once more, finding its audience among those who like history or who just like their fiction well-leavened with the archaic. For myself, I was particularly taken with the remarkable sympathetic resonance between the old sagas of medieval Iceland and our own American mythos of the West so I tried to capture that as well. I hope the reader will find some or all of this in the book offered here. I, at least, enjoyed writing it.

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