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The Guardians of Iceland and other Icelandic Folk Tales
This collection of twenty-seven short stories of Icelandic fairy tales and legends. These stories of trolls, magic, Hidden People, and creatures from the sea were passed down from the days of the Vikings, from generation to generation, told on cold winter nights in front of the fire.
The stories are brought together here and updated, to entrance today's readers with the traditional folklore of Iceland. The trolls that are actually part of the landscape, the race of Hidden People with strong magic powers and the four powerful beings that protect Iceland from all invaders. Theses along with mermaids and mermen, giants, shape-shifting seals, and dragons in disguise are here for adventurous readers to discover.
The stories are brought together here and updated, to entrance today's readers with the traditional folklore of Iceland. The trolls that are actually part of the landscape, the race of Hidden People with strong magic powers and the four powerful beings that protect Iceland from all invaders. Theses along with mermaids and mermen, giants, shape-shifting seals, and dragons in disguise are here for adventurous readers to discover.
132 pages, Paperback
Published October 24, 2016
98 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Heidi Herman
17 books69 followersMy passion and a common theme in my writing is my Icelandic heritage. I started with children's books and folklore, but now focus on women's fiction. But, I enjoy adding a little taste of Iceland in my contemporary novels - if you mention one in a review, that's not a spoiler!
I spent thirty years in the telecommunications industry, which was rewarding and challenging, and had a thread of writing. When my father passed away in 2015, I reassessed my priorities, opted for early retirement, and indulged my passion for writing.
After several children’s folklore books honoring my mother’s Icelandic heritage, I took on a greater challenge. My first novel, was set in the contemporary American west, blending together some of my favorite things - Iceland, rodeo, hiking, and understanding the value of true friends. I still attend many Scandinavian festivals, have speaking engagements on a number of topics, and, of course, adventures travel, but my true passion now is literary fiction. I focus primarily on mature women's fiction with elements of clean romance. My newest book is Reins of Friendship, a novella prequel to my new series Life's A Rodeo.
I am a snowbird, living in South Dakota during the summer and Arizona during the winter, migrating with my husband, our four horses and three dogs. His passion for team roping and my love of rodeo have carried over into my novels, in what I hope is an interesting and unique experience for readers.
I spent thirty years in the telecommunications industry, which was rewarding and challenging, and had a thread of writing. When my father passed away in 2015, I reassessed my priorities, opted for early retirement, and indulged my passion for writing.
After several children’s folklore books honoring my mother’s Icelandic heritage, I took on a greater challenge. My first novel, was set in the contemporary American west, blending together some of my favorite things - Iceland, rodeo, hiking, and understanding the value of true friends. I still attend many Scandinavian festivals, have speaking engagements on a number of topics, and, of course, adventures travel, but my true passion now is literary fiction. I focus primarily on mature women's fiction with elements of clean romance. My newest book is Reins of Friendship, a novella prequel to my new series Life's A Rodeo.
I am a snowbird, living in South Dakota during the summer and Arizona during the winter, migrating with my husband, our four horses and three dogs. His passion for team roping and my love of rodeo have carried over into my novels, in what I hope is an interesting and unique experience for readers.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 10, 2019
A nice collection of some Icelandic folk tales. There are two Icelandic versions of Rumplestiltskin, which is interesting. And there seems to be a major problem with trollwitches pretending to be your wife.
January 4, 2019
A highly enjoyable introduction to a mythology that is little known in the US. I'm always eager to read folktales and legends from around the world, especially if there's not a lot published. Turns out, there are a lot of trolls in Iceland.
The only reason I'm giving this book three stars is a severe need for editing. A few missing articles or periods or maybe a misspelled word, I can handle but the issues went further. Title character names were spelled multiple ways in some stories, some sentences were obviously missing key words and some sentences directly contradicted each other, making the story confusing.
The only reason I'm giving this book three stars is a severe need for editing. A few missing articles or periods or maybe a misspelled word, I can handle but the issues went further. Title character names were spelled multiple ways in some stories, some sentences were obviously missing key words and some sentences directly contradicted each other, making the story confusing.
December 16, 2022
Was looking to learn more about Icelandic myths, and this book had a lot of great, interesting stories. It could have used better copy editing and some help with formatting, though.
July 25, 2018
The book could have been better edited, but it is a charming collection of Icelandic folklore. I was pleasantly surprised that they place so much value in being kind to animals. As my family travels to Iceland today, I can vicariously travel with them with this book!
February 17, 2023
Easy introduction into Icelandic folk tales. I bought this after a visit to Iceland, it inspired me to look into its myths and legends…it does not disappoint! There are some wonderful life lessons to be learnt from these stories.
February 7, 2024
Some really engaging short folktales, and I loved it! If you know nothing about Icelandic folk tales aside from what ‘Eurovision: the Story of Fire Saga’ taught you (like me!!), this is a great intro.
Easy to follow and every story is pretty short, it was a good folklore anthology to dip into when I had a spare 5 minutes, or to read start to finish in a few hours.
There is a map of Iceland included at the start, which lists a couple of relevant places, but I would’ve liked having the other specifically-referenced places marked out - I actually spent some time googling other places whenever they came up in each story & writing them in on the map!
There are always certain limitations with old folktales and not having what 21st century readers consider to be character development or denouement - how can you build that kind of story in 5 pages?! I did love the (Icelandic? Author’s? I think both) way of ending stories with “nothing more was written about this story” rather than “and they all lived happily ever after”, it felt much more appropriate and accurate!
Easy to follow and every story is pretty short, it was a good folklore anthology to dip into when I had a spare 5 minutes, or to read start to finish in a few hours.
There is a map of Iceland included at the start, which lists a couple of relevant places, but I would’ve liked having the other specifically-referenced places marked out - I actually spent some time googling other places whenever they came up in each story & writing them in on the map!
There are always certain limitations with old folktales and not having what 21st century readers consider to be character development or denouement - how can you build that kind of story in 5 pages?! I did love the (Icelandic? Author’s? I think both) way of ending stories with “nothing more was written about this story” rather than “and they all lived happily ever after”, it felt much more appropriate and accurate!
August 23, 2018
A fun collection of Icelandic folklore and tales.
July 15, 2020
I quite enjoyed this collection of fairytales even with not being able to completely understand them all.
December 24, 2020
Now I'm up to date on many Icelandic tales and want more than ever to visit this fascinating country.
October 11, 2018
This was a little bit PG for me. I wanted some stories with a little more grit.
These are good stories to share with children and all of them are told rather quickly.
These are good stories to share with children and all of them are told rather quickly.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews