West Oversea is a fictional account based on Norse legends. It’s not a genre I read a lot of, but I rather enjoyed this one.
Father Aillil is an Irish priest who settled in Norway. West Oversea tells of his attempt to find his sister who has been sold into slavery, in Greenland, it seems. Father Aillil convinces Erling Skjalgsson to embark upon a journey to Leif Eriksson’s Greenland, searching for his sister.
In the process, Father Aillil is given a powerful talisman, a relic straight out of pagan Norse mythology, the Eye of Odin. The Eye has given the priest the gift of Second Sight. But the question is, can the Sight be trusted? It seems to be giving him bad information, drawing him astray, and towards death.
West Oversea details the journey of Father Aillil, Erling Skjalgsson, and a host of others as they journey toward Greenland, visiting Iceland, and the mainland of America in the process.
Spoiler Warning: Father Aillil never finds his sister. When he finally returns to Norway, he discovers that she appeared in his hometown shortly after he departed on his journey, and has since disappeared. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in this ending.
Lars Walker does a great job of depicting the struggle to continue to follow God in a world full of distractions. When these distractions are vying for your attention, you have to do whatever it takes to stay focused on Christ. Father Aillil decides that, in order to destroy the Eye of Odin, it may just require that he cut off his own hand to do so.
While West Oversea does well at describing the intense conflict between serving God and being distracted by the world, I found it somewhat lacking in explanation of Norse mythology. I felt like the story required that I have an understanding of the stories of the Vikings. And as a result, I couldn’t follow the story as closely as I would have liked.
All in all, I feel like West Oversea was an interesting book, and Walker definitely knows Norse history at the time Christianity’s influence began to take hold. And Walker does a good job of bringing out the struggle between light and darkness.
If Norse mythology and Viking stories interest you, then you need to check out West Oversea.
If you are interested in reading West Oversea, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.
Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Nordskog Publishing in order to read and review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”