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Berserker #1
Shadow of the Wolf
Blood Lust!
When Odin's curse fell upon him, Harald Swiftaxe, the young Norse warrior, lusty in love and battle, was fully human no longer. He was incensed with the animal rage of the god's devotees, the Berserkers. The snarling ferocious savagery of the bear possessed him. Immune to fire and steel, frenzied by the smell of blood and the sight of torn human flesh, he was driven to the worst of human deeds....The stench of fear was meat and drink to him, and cowering women learned of his cruel, insatiable lust.
The bear screeched its ecstasy-yet at times the man dimly understood the horror. Could the demon god be killed, the spell lifted...? If there was a way, the price of failure would be high, greater than death itself....
NO.1 IN A SAVAGE NEW OCCULT FANTASY SERIES SPANNING THE DARK AGES OF EUROPE
When Odin's curse fell upon him, Harald Swiftaxe, the young Norse warrior, lusty in love and battle, was fully human no longer. He was incensed with the animal rage of the god's devotees, the Berserkers. The snarling ferocious savagery of the bear possessed him. Immune to fire and steel, frenzied by the smell of blood and the sight of torn human flesh, he was driven to the worst of human deeds....The stench of fear was meat and drink to him, and cowering women learned of his cruel, insatiable lust.
The bear screeched its ecstasy-yet at times the man dimly understood the horror. Could the demon god be killed, the spell lifted...? If there was a way, the price of failure would be high, greater than death itself....
NO.1 IN A SAVAGE NEW OCCULT FANTASY SERIES SPANNING THE DARK AGES OF EUROPE
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 10, 2017
Viking Age: The Sword and Sorcery group on Goodreads had a Viking Age theme, for fans of books like The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson or Scott Oden's newly released A Gathering of Ravens ...or C. Dean Andersson's Bloodsong! — Hel X 3. I went after 1970’s Berserker series.
Availability: The Berserker series was originally published in 1977-79 under pseudonym Chris Carlsen (real name Robert Holdstock). Since 2014, it has been available as an omnibus paperback edition under Holdstock: Berserker SF Gateway Omnibus: The Shadow of the Wolf, The Bull Chief, The Horned Warrior. Melvyn Grant was the cover artist for the originals, which represent the books well with Sword and Sorcery flare ala Frazetta..
1) Shadow Of The Wolf 1977
2) The Bull Chief 1977
3) The Horned Warrior 1979
1977 Grimdark!: This reads fast and drips testosterone. Monstrous possession ala lycanthropy is prominent, but here it is Odin’s ursine Berserker spirit in the spotlight. Like Jeckyl-n-hide, Harald Swiftax is cursed to relent his body to a bear-entity that is less chivalrous than himself. The Berserker in him is bestial, without empathy, and blood thirsty. This is Harald’s story, from being cursed to struggling to break it. The book is geared toward all the good and bad of stereotypical masculinity. It features mostly men (save for one screaming-hot witch who bares all); it has plenty of gore-rich melee, one overtly gratuitous, drawn-out sex scene, and a few lesser rape scenes.
The milieu is filled with supernatural forces from Nordic gods, Celtic witches, and even Lovecraftian Old Ones. Overall, entertaining. It’s like riding a wolf or bear at a rodeo (animal choices intentional). Pacing alternates from easy-going/trope-filled village pillaging to high octane savagery and horror. Several story lines had the potential to be over-the-top epic, but were left hanging or deflated. One or two moments seemed either contrived : or inconsistent .
That said, there is still some great story telling employed. Most of the mysteries are resolved. The title “Shadow of the wolf” eventually makes sense. It is part of a trilogy; some mysteries remain (i.e., exactly why was Swiftax or his family targeted by Odin’s curse?)
Death Dealer Sigurd Gotthelm is a great secondary character who wears a cursed horned helmet and is reminiscent of Frazetta's Death Dealer (though arguably more interesting than the James Silke's presentation of the Death Dealer in Prisoner of the Horned Helmet 1998’s Gath of Baal). Frazetta painted the original in 1973, so perhaps that was in inspiration for Gotthelm. I hope there is more of him in the subsequent books. I have no idea where the next two installments will take me, but I own the next one and am jumping in.
Availability: The Berserker series was originally published in 1977-79 under pseudonym Chris Carlsen (real name Robert Holdstock). Since 2014, it has been available as an omnibus paperback edition under Holdstock: Berserker SF Gateway Omnibus: The Shadow of the Wolf, The Bull Chief, The Horned Warrior. Melvyn Grant was the cover artist for the originals, which represent the books well with Sword and Sorcery flare ala Frazetta..
1) Shadow Of The Wolf 1977
2) The Bull Chief 1977
3) The Horned Warrior 1979
1977 Grimdark!: This reads fast and drips testosterone. Monstrous possession ala lycanthropy is prominent, but here it is Odin’s ursine Berserker spirit in the spotlight. Like Jeckyl-n-hide, Harald Swiftax is cursed to relent his body to a bear-entity that is less chivalrous than himself. The Berserker in him is bestial, without empathy, and blood thirsty. This is Harald’s story, from being cursed to struggling to break it. The book is geared toward all the good and bad of stereotypical masculinity. It features mostly men (save for one screaming-hot witch who bares all); it has plenty of gore-rich melee, one overtly gratuitous, drawn-out sex scene, and a few lesser rape scenes.
The milieu is filled with supernatural forces from Nordic gods, Celtic witches, and even Lovecraftian Old Ones. Overall, entertaining. It’s like riding a wolf or bear at a rodeo (animal choices intentional). Pacing alternates from easy-going/trope-filled village pillaging to high octane savagery and horror. Several story lines had the potential to be over-the-top epic, but were left hanging or deflated. One or two moments seemed either contrived : or inconsistent .
That said, there is still some great story telling employed. Most of the mysteries are resolved. The title “Shadow of the wolf” eventually makes sense. It is part of a trilogy; some mysteries remain (i.e., exactly why was Swiftax or his family targeted by Odin’s curse?)
Death Dealer Sigurd Gotthelm is a great secondary character who wears a cursed horned helmet and is reminiscent of Frazetta's Death Dealer (though arguably more interesting than the James Silke's presentation of the Death Dealer in Prisoner of the Horned Helmet 1998’s Gath of Baal). Frazetta painted the original in 1973, so perhaps that was in inspiration for Gotthelm. I hope there is more of him in the subsequent books. I have no idea where the next two installments will take me, but I own the next one and am jumping in.
November 9, 2015
Chris Carlsen aka Robert Holdstock
Wow! Brutal, savage, raw, earthy, mythic. Unpolished like a freshly flint-knapped piece of obsidian and might just make you bleed if when you pick it up uncarefully. Set in a world like our, in the early Viking Age but with real magic and vengeful Gods. Poor young warrior Harald is cursed by evil Odin to be a Berserker. Very much in the Sword and Sorcery realm and perhaps a precursor to our current Grimdark. this is a swift moving and brilliant little novel which I highly recommend to all Fantasy lovers. I've never read anything quite like it and can't wait to see what happens next.
Wow! Brutal, savage, raw, earthy, mythic. Unpolished like a freshly flint-knapped piece of obsidian and might just make you bleed if when you pick it up uncarefully. Set in a world like our, in the early Viking Age but with real magic and vengeful Gods. Poor young warrior Harald is cursed by evil Odin to be a Berserker. Very much in the Sword and Sorcery realm and perhaps a precursor to our current Grimdark. this is a swift moving and brilliant little novel which I highly recommend to all Fantasy lovers. I've never read anything quite like it and can't wait to see what happens next.
October 6, 2013
Actually 3.5 stars.
Chris Carlsen was a pseudonym for writer Robert Holdstock, probably best known for his Ryhope Wood cycle, including Mythago Wood, winner of the 1984 World Fantasy Award.
Shadow of the Wolf, published in 1977, was the first of three Berserker novels written under the Carlsen name, the other two being The Bull Chief and The Horned Warrior (currently misidentified here on Goodreads as simply Berserker). It is a bleak and gritty tale. Like many a Viking saga, there is a foreboding sense of doom that overshadows and permeates the events in the novel, a dread feeling that it is one vast tragedy waiting to unfold over the course of events. The grimness is unrelenting, and there is little hope or joy to be found. The plentiful--and at times graphic--violence is both physical and sexual in nature, creating a mood for the work that is, at some points, almost depressing.
One of the things I most appreciated, beyond some bouts of truly excellent prose (the writing as a whole was a little uneven), was that it accepts its premise without compromise: berserkers are divinely driven; gods meddle in the affairs of mortals; and curses hold real, lasting weight. It doesn't attempt to explain away the supernatural with plausible, natural events, or put them forth with a nod and wink. It presents both the fantastical as well as the unflinching (and sometimes over the top) brutal violence as simple, stark reality.
Note: It also has some brief, fairly explicit sexual scenes, some consensual, some not, that could be offensive to some readers, the writing style of which seems par for the course in some other works of this time directed toward a male audience by publishers such as Leisure Books, Corgi and in this case Sphere, etc. Some seems gratuitous in nature, worked into the plot seemingly by publisher/editorial mandate, but the story treats it with the same unflinching eye and doesn't ignore the consequences, lending it perhaps some air of legitimacy in terms of the story's structure. Could it have been written without the sex? Probably. But it wasn't.
Heavy on actions and the consequences thereof, with an emphasis on gritty survival over true heroics, and splashed across a bleak and oppressive landscape, The Shadow of the Wolf isn't for everyone. I, however, enjoyed it enough to want to read the next one, even if I'm not necessarily chomping at the bit right this moment to do so.
Chris Carlsen was a pseudonym for writer Robert Holdstock, probably best known for his Ryhope Wood cycle, including Mythago Wood, winner of the 1984 World Fantasy Award.
Shadow of the Wolf, published in 1977, was the first of three Berserker novels written under the Carlsen name, the other two being The Bull Chief and The Horned Warrior (currently misidentified here on Goodreads as simply Berserker). It is a bleak and gritty tale. Like many a Viking saga, there is a foreboding sense of doom that overshadows and permeates the events in the novel, a dread feeling that it is one vast tragedy waiting to unfold over the course of events. The grimness is unrelenting, and there is little hope or joy to be found. The plentiful--and at times graphic--violence is both physical and sexual in nature, creating a mood for the work that is, at some points, almost depressing.
One of the things I most appreciated, beyond some bouts of truly excellent prose (the writing as a whole was a little uneven), was that it accepts its premise without compromise: berserkers are divinely driven; gods meddle in the affairs of mortals; and curses hold real, lasting weight. It doesn't attempt to explain away the supernatural with plausible, natural events, or put them forth with a nod and wink. It presents both the fantastical as well as the unflinching (and sometimes over the top) brutal violence as simple, stark reality.
Note: It also has some brief, fairly explicit sexual scenes, some consensual, some not, that could be offensive to some readers, the writing style of which seems par for the course in some other works of this time directed toward a male audience by publishers such as Leisure Books, Corgi and in this case Sphere, etc. Some seems gratuitous in nature, worked into the plot seemingly by publisher/editorial mandate, but the story treats it with the same unflinching eye and doesn't ignore the consequences, lending it perhaps some air of legitimacy in terms of the story's structure. Could it have been written without the sex? Probably. But it wasn't.
Heavy on actions and the consequences thereof, with an emphasis on gritty survival over true heroics, and splashed across a bleak and oppressive landscape, The Shadow of the Wolf isn't for everyone. I, however, enjoyed it enough to want to read the next one, even if I'm not necessarily chomping at the bit right this moment to do so.
February 10, 2014
Very good Historical Fantasy. Dark, grim and very bloody; they don't write stuff like this anymore!
January 17, 2024
The book begins with a young Viking warrior named Harald Swiftaxe returning home from his first campaign. He finds a village of his people destroyed and a wounded “Berserker” left behind. Berserkers were a real thing in Viking history, devotees of the god Odin, although here they are presented as literally possessed by the spirit of the bear, which makes them nearly impervious to fire and steel. With some help, Harald kills the Berserk and then blasphemes Odin. Bad move.
When Harald reaches his father’s steading, he finds other Berserkers there, and after he brags about killing the Berserk he calls down upon himself the Berserker curse. In his first rage, he murders friends and rapes the young woman he’d planned to marry. I’m not a naïve reader of this type of fiction but the brutality startled me. Harald loses all qualities as a sympathetic character. Later, Harald regains some human sensibilities, although he can still be taken over by the Berserk and kill anyone nearby. But now, in calmer moments, he begins to seek to break the curse. I won’t tell you whether he succeeds or not.
When Harald reaches his father’s steading, he finds other Berserkers there, and after he brags about killing the Berserk he calls down upon himself the Berserker curse. In his first rage, he murders friends and rapes the young woman he’d planned to marry. I’m not a naïve reader of this type of fiction but the brutality startled me. Harald loses all qualities as a sympathetic character. Later, Harald regains some human sensibilities, although he can still be taken over by the Berserk and kill anyone nearby. But now, in calmer moments, he begins to seek to break the curse. I won’t tell you whether he succeeds or not.
October 15, 2025
1.5 stars. A good story plagued by what feels like the immature writing of a 16 year old trying to be as edgy as possible. Spoilers below that maybe you should read before getting into this lol.
The word 'slut' must also appear like 40 times in this 160 page novel. Many times, the fight scenes and killing felt overdone and ultraviolent for no other reason than shock value. I get that in times of Vikings these kinds of things were prevalent, but this was just not enjoyable to read. The only redeeming thing about the book is the cool factor of the berserker curse and trying to break it. But this passage of the main character meeting a female leader of an opposing force in battle I thought kind of sums up my thoughts on the writing style:
"Breathing heavily, her full, red-tipped breasts rising and shaking as they fell, her legs apart and the red brush between her thighs moist with sweat, as if she anticipated some potent lover to lie upon her in the heat of battle, she lifted her sword and touched the bear skin that covered Harald's chest"
Like just hilariously unnecessary, which the whole book felt like. Maybe this is some type of early splatterpunk-ish work that I'm not into? Thankfully, this was short, and I won't be reading the second book.
The word 'slut' must also appear like 40 times in this 160 page novel. Many times, the fight scenes and killing felt overdone and ultraviolent for no other reason than shock value. I get that in times of Vikings these kinds of things were prevalent, but this was just not enjoyable to read. The only redeeming thing about the book is the cool factor of the berserker curse and trying to break it. But this passage of the main character meeting a female leader of an opposing force in battle I thought kind of sums up my thoughts on the writing style:
"Breathing heavily, her full, red-tipped breasts rising and shaking as they fell, her legs apart and the red brush between her thighs moist with sweat, as if she anticipated some potent lover to lie upon her in the heat of battle, she lifted her sword and touched the bear skin that covered Harald's chest"
Like just hilariously unnecessary, which the whole book felt like. Maybe this is some type of early splatterpunk-ish work that I'm not into? Thankfully, this was short, and I won't be reading the second book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews