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Revision as of 14:01, 15 August 2009
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{{infobox
|title= Olaf the Viking and the Pig Who Would Be King
|author= Martin Conway
|reviewer= John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary= A fun and lively, easy-reading fantasy around Norse shenanigans. It doesn't try as hard as the prequel to be bawdy and irreverent, and is better for it. Strongly recommended.
|rating=4.5
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|format= Paperback
|pages=256
|publisher= OUP
|date= July 2009
|isbn=978-0192720887
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192720880</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0192720880</amazonus>
}}
This not looking to be a good day for Olaf, the twelve year old Viking. He is finding himself caught between a huge, mythic and hungry wolf, a bear who carried him up a mountain in a sack, and a daft warrior with sharp weapons and naff poetry. Funnily enough, this is a set-up for him to be engaged as a go-between once more with both the worlds of the Norse Gods and humans, with the goddess of love, Freja, in love with a Norwegian prince. His father is dying, and his twin brother is receiving council from someone very wicked. Can Olaf help the goodly prince achieve the throne - and help Freja requite her latest love?
The flippant way the title gives the clue away to one of the major plot points is only a hint at how flippant this book is - but in a better way than [[Olaf the Viking by Martin Conway|the first in this series]] was. This on the whole is more coherent, as well, and more enjoyable in every way.
This volume succeeds where trying less to be a riff on acknowledged Norse mythology, with added stupid characters and slapstick. Here it reads more like a straight fantasy quest, with a reluctant hero facing unusual hindrances on his path to success. The adult reader passing gets a good, pleasingly patterned plot, and a great gag about a sacrificed appendix.
The children reading this won't just be passing - I can easily imagine them glued to the pages til the end. They will find a likeable hero, the mildest gross-out humour, characters easily falling over, puns, and still a slightly irreverent fantasy, tinged with the mythology we hope their schoolbooks will come to correct their opinion of at a later remove.
The early plotting, with a power behind the throne, and actively removing someone from it, has an almost Shakespearean feel to it. I don't want that to sound unappealing, as this really is a very sprightly, light fantasy. The descriptions and characters are spot on for the target audience, the plot a sterling effort in providing varied japes for the hero, and what's more, this is perfectly standalone. As it offers a major improvement over the already reasonable first, that's no bad thing.
I must thank the kind people of OUP Childrens' Books for my review copy.
For more young reads with a Shakespearean basis, you should enjoy [[The Madman of Venice by Sophie Masson]]. For irreverent, quirky fantasy, on the other hand, this brought back fond memories of [[The Mapmaker's Monsters: Beware the Buffalogre! by Rob Stevens]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0192720880}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6544980}}
{{commenthead}}
|title= Olaf the Viking and the Pig Who Would Be King
|author= Martin Conway
|reviewer= John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary= A fun and lively, easy-reading fantasy around Norse shenanigans. It doesn't try as hard as the prequel to be bawdy and irreverent, and is better for it. Strongly recommended.
|rating=4.5
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|format= Paperback
|pages=256
|publisher= OUP
|date= July 2009
|isbn=978-0192720887
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192720880</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0192720880</amazonus>
}}
This not looking to be a good day for Olaf, the twelve year old Viking. He is finding himself caught between a huge, mythic and hungry wolf, a bear who carried him up a mountain in a sack, and a daft warrior with sharp weapons and naff poetry. Funnily enough, this is a set-up for him to be engaged as a go-between once more with both the worlds of the Norse Gods and humans, with the goddess of love, Freja, in love with a Norwegian prince. His father is dying, and his twin brother is receiving council from someone very wicked. Can Olaf help the goodly prince achieve the throne - and help Freja requite her latest love?
The flippant way the title gives the clue away to one of the major plot points is only a hint at how flippant this book is - but in a better way than [[Olaf the Viking by Martin Conway|the first in this series]] was. This on the whole is more coherent, as well, and more enjoyable in every way.
This volume succeeds where trying less to be a riff on acknowledged Norse mythology, with added stupid characters and slapstick. Here it reads more like a straight fantasy quest, with a reluctant hero facing unusual hindrances on his path to success. The adult reader passing gets a good, pleasingly patterned plot, and a great gag about a sacrificed appendix.
The children reading this won't just be passing - I can easily imagine them glued to the pages til the end. They will find a likeable hero, the mildest gross-out humour, characters easily falling over, puns, and still a slightly irreverent fantasy, tinged with the mythology we hope their schoolbooks will come to correct their opinion of at a later remove.
The early plotting, with a power behind the throne, and actively removing someone from it, has an almost Shakespearean feel to it. I don't want that to sound unappealing, as this really is a very sprightly, light fantasy. The descriptions and characters are spot on for the target audience, the plot a sterling effort in providing varied japes for the hero, and what's more, this is perfectly standalone. As it offers a major improvement over the already reasonable first, that's no bad thing.
I must thank the kind people of OUP Childrens' Books for my review copy.
For more young reads with a Shakespearean basis, you should enjoy [[The Madman of Venice by Sophie Masson]]. For irreverent, quirky fantasy, on the other hand, this brought back fond memories of [[The Mapmaker's Monsters: Beware the Buffalogre! by Rob Stevens]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0192720880}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6544980}}
{{commenthead}}
