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Starkadder #2
Vargr-Moon
His king had sent for him. He had long avoided the court and its men of power, for power, he had seen, drove men mad. But now he, fated slayer of Starkadder, was commanded to attend.
Other men were there gathered: warriors, blood-bondsmen, lordly weapon-wielders, mercenaries: summoned for a terrible purpose.
From a midnight-black past of legend and epic, a vergr had descended upon the land. Half-myth, winter-haunting, a creature both wolf and man, killer and devourer of all flesh, moon-maddened and growing in strength, it must be destroyed before it destroyed the realm. Now forces beyond the understanding of men were stirring.
Other men were there gathered: warriors, blood-bondsmen, lordly weapon-wielders, mercenaries: summoned for a terrible purpose.
From a midnight-black past of legend and epic, a vergr had descended upon the land. Half-myth, winter-haunting, a creature both wolf and man, killer and devourer of all flesh, moon-maddened and growing in strength, it must be destroyed before it destroyed the realm. Now forces beyond the understanding of men were stirring.
- GenresFantasy
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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May 2, 2022
Many years have come and gone since that fateful day in Dalalven. Hather Lambisson has attempted to move on with his life, starting a family and ruling his father's hold with honor. Although, no one will let him forget that he was the man who slew Starkadder, even though Hather knows it was not his hand that murdered his friend. Life has become fairly static. At least until King Omund calls a council...
A Vargr has been created and loosed upon the world. It has been razing villages around the countryside. King Omund wants this menace hunted down and exterminated before the glimpses of the moon. If the vargr consumes thirteen living hearts before then, it will become unstoppable. The new moon is only a few weeks away...
What is a Vargr? What follows is an excerpt from the book.
Hather felt himself blink. He must have misheard. Behind him a voice asked: "Sir, did you say a vargr?"
"I did," King Omund replied, smiling faintly. "A vargr," he repeated.
The incredulity which met his statement was both unmistakable and embarrassing. Vargr was a word of legend, a word relegated to myth and the singings of the skalds. It had shades of meaning which were both difficult to describe and to comprehend. In common parlance it could mean 'murderer', but that was too weak, too shallow a term to be synonymous. It held taints of berserk rage, of bestiality, even of shape-shifting. The fantasies of excessive intoxication and the delirium which came of eating bread baked with rotten rye were embraced within it, as was slaughter, horror, cannibalism and death. It was curse and plague. It was disease and terror. It was...vargr. It was witchcraft and sorcery and the power of the runes and hatred and lust and cruelty.
King Omund is putting together a team to hunt down the Vargr and its henchmen. Omund wants Hather to head up this hunting party. Hather refuses. After all, his father was killed by Starkadder, his mother went mad and faded into death, in bitterness his wife took her own life, and pretenders seek out blood feud with him over the death of Starkadder. Hather wishes only to return home and leave this duty to someone else. Although, upon his return home he finds destruction, and his son missing. He soon learns the Vargr has kidnapped his son. Nothing will stop him from saving his son.
Far to the north, the dwarven built stronghold of Skroggrmagi, will see the final conclusion of this game of cat and mouse. The varied players in this drama converge on this stronghold as one-eyed Odin and Mother Skuld make their wagers. Even the dwarven blade, Tyrfing, will resurface and become a desired item of many. Betrayals abound and friends quickly become foes.
At 244 pages, Vargr-Moon tells a complete tale, even though it is the middle book of a trilogy. Hather is a man much deserving of a quiet life, but the Norns and Gods are not finished with him yet. This was not a fast-paced story, but it was quickly told. The climax of the book was well worth the price of admission with its big reveal. In the final chapters the scenes blend with no delineation or break heightening the suspense and tension. A fine tale.
And once again, thanks go out to Stan Wagenaar for bringing this trilogy to my attention.
A Vargr has been created and loosed upon the world. It has been razing villages around the countryside. King Omund wants this menace hunted down and exterminated before the glimpses of the moon. If the vargr consumes thirteen living hearts before then, it will become unstoppable. The new moon is only a few weeks away...
What is a Vargr? What follows is an excerpt from the book.
Hather felt himself blink. He must have misheard. Behind him a voice asked: "Sir, did you say a vargr?"
"I did," King Omund replied, smiling faintly. "A vargr," he repeated.
The incredulity which met his statement was both unmistakable and embarrassing. Vargr was a word of legend, a word relegated to myth and the singings of the skalds. It had shades of meaning which were both difficult to describe and to comprehend. In common parlance it could mean 'murderer', but that was too weak, too shallow a term to be synonymous. It held taints of berserk rage, of bestiality, even of shape-shifting. The fantasies of excessive intoxication and the delirium which came of eating bread baked with rotten rye were embraced within it, as was slaughter, horror, cannibalism and death. It was curse and plague. It was disease and terror. It was...vargr. It was witchcraft and sorcery and the power of the runes and hatred and lust and cruelty.
King Omund is putting together a team to hunt down the Vargr and its henchmen. Omund wants Hather to head up this hunting party. Hather refuses. After all, his father was killed by Starkadder, his mother went mad and faded into death, in bitterness his wife took her own life, and pretenders seek out blood feud with him over the death of Starkadder. Hather wishes only to return home and leave this duty to someone else. Although, upon his return home he finds destruction, and his son missing. He soon learns the Vargr has kidnapped his son. Nothing will stop him from saving his son.
Far to the north, the dwarven built stronghold of Skroggrmagi, will see the final conclusion of this game of cat and mouse. The varied players in this drama converge on this stronghold as one-eyed Odin and Mother Skuld make their wagers. Even the dwarven blade, Tyrfing, will resurface and become a desired item of many. Betrayals abound and friends quickly become foes.
At 244 pages, Vargr-Moon tells a complete tale, even though it is the middle book of a trilogy. Hather is a man much deserving of a quiet life, but the Norns and Gods are not finished with him yet. This was not a fast-paced story, but it was quickly told. The climax of the book was well worth the price of admission with its big reveal. In the final chapters the scenes blend with no delineation or break heightening the suspense and tension. A fine tale.
And once again, thanks go out to Stan Wagenaar for bringing this trilogy to my attention.
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