The Golden Slave

by Poul Anderson

100 B.C. The Cimbrian hordes galloped across the dawn of history and clashed in screaming battle against the mighty Roman legions. Eodan, son of Chief Boierek, has been on the war campaign for many years. The Cimbrain army has become a hungry homeless pagan tribe. Their sworn enemy, the Romans, they have battled against gloriously. But for all the burning towns, the new-caught women weeping, the wine drunk, the gold lifted, the Cimbri did not find a home. Eodan, the proud young chieftain, had been caught and sold into slavery, his infant son murdered and his beautiful wife, Hwicca, taken as a concubine. But the whips and slave chains could not break the spirit of this fiery pagan giant who fought, seduced and connived his way to a perilous freedom to rescue the woman he loved. A struggle that would make him a lover, pirate, commander, and in the end the struggle would make him a legend!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fiction, Fantasy

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Jim Kuenzli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good story about a Cimbri northman from Jute-land circa 100 B.C.. He came with a group of barbarians seeking land in Roman held territory. After some success against Roman Legions, they were ultimately defeated, and enslaved. The main portion of the book deals with the adventures of the Northern protagonist as he deals with civilization as a slave, runaway, warrior, ship captain, and finally King and even the basis of Odin himself. It’s a story of defeat, tragic lost love, revenge, and finding love where it always was. It’s a story that carries you from Italy, Grecian Isles, across the Mediterranean to North Africa snd even into Asia. Amazing scope for a rather short read. Enjoyable.

[Zharel Anger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Slave is an alternate history fiction set at the time of Mithridates VI’s rule. It weaves a possible origin to three mythical Norse gods. Relying on his extensive research into the mythology, legends, and sagas of the ancient world, Poul Anderson builds a convincing barbarian ethos and mindset. The setting, politics, social order, and technology are historically accurate enough to keep the legend well grounded. The characters, including the villain, are all unique, complex, and consistent with the historical records. In these respects, it is a proficiently written novel.

The novel is not as over the top as works by Robert E Howard, but was more enjoyable for several reasons. Eodan is superior to Conan in that he progresses as a character. The thick minded barbarian, though slow to change, becomes more likable as he progresses. The changes alone are not the primary drive behind his likability; it is his trying that makes him so. The blatant sexism of the 1960’s is mostly hidden in the historical treatment of women around 100 BCE with a few exceptions. It was popular in the 60’s to make women ‘cute’ by infantilizing them. This book is no exception: phrases like “girl stamps her feet” pop up throughout the book, women are pictured as sleeping curled up like kittens, and the women are overly emotional and distressed even though they may have been heroic in recent pages. That aside, the women Hwicca, Cordelia, and Phryne are well developed and possess their own agency. For me, Phryne steals the show. The pages with her are the best in the book. Scrappy, cunning, and brave beyond any of the men, she stands out as the real hero of the story.

This is a competently written barbarian story with insight into the violence and politics of a world dominated by Rome. It is Conan without the misogyny.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really historical fiction, but it has the feel of fantasy.

[Dvdlynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite what the cover might suggest this is not a smutty novel. Unfortunately it is also not quite up to Anderson's usual standard either.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Poul novel gets an automatic 5. If this trend should break, I shall eat my hat. The premise sounds boring, and, well, it is a bit. Hell, he wrote like 3 books about ewok-type teddy bear aliens. But it’s the execution and prose. Here, the martial descriptions are very Latinate, reminding me of the Aeneid a bit, and his word choice is always novel and evocative. Case in point, the beginning:

“The night before the battle, there were many watchfires. As he walked from the Cimbri, out into the darkness, Eodan saw the Roman camp across the miles as a guttering ring of red.”

[Tamara Zayachkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

A genuinely entertaining sword and sandal novel with evocative prose and a degree of self-awareness. It really brings the Greco-Roman world alive and feels very epic. The melodrama is fun. However it is bogged down too much by the mythologizing of the main character and overall pulpiness. Too much traditional misogyny and “great man theory” that detracts from the good points of the story.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 1 out of 5]

After three years (!) I'm allowing myself to move this to the 'read' shelf without actually finishing it. I'm at least halfway through, I think, but I've never once enjoyed reading it and I need to be kinder to myself. Looking back, it's plain that I enjoyed The Broken Sword because of its subject, setting and, to some degree its story, rather than because of its prose. Strip away the things I like and replace them with a setting I'm at best ambivalent about and it's plain that I'm not a fan of Anderson's writing.

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Tony Ciak · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice twist

[Ji-Wen · Rating 3 out of 5]

unexpected hidden gem !