Northworld Trilogy

I've read just about everything that Mr. Drake has written, at least twice, and I think this may possibly be his best work. It's definitely not normal SF, like "Killer" nor alternate- history SF, like "Ranks of Bronze", nor yet sword-and-sorcery fantasy like "the Lord of the Isles" books. It's mythology. He wrote it after spending time in Iceland reading the Prose Edda, and he accomplished exceptionally well exactly what he wanted to do. He translated the Norse Myths into what we call "Science" Fiction, so that people who are able to enjoy SF can experience those myths the way the original creators of those stories *meant* them to be experienced. This is a level of translation that's an awful lot more valuable, and a lot harder, than casting it into modern English. But with Drake's classical and historical training, this is the story he was born to write. (Well, this and "Ranks of Bronze.") These stories contain the best Odin, and best Thor, the best Loki -- and all the rest of the crowd -- that have been written in seven hundred years. Once long ago I enjoyed comic books with the blond guy with the big hammer who talked funny. Drake has given me a Thor that I can understand, enjoy, and re-read three times -- as an adult. They don't have form-fitting green costumes. They do have armor, and guns, and attitudes. These are the real ones. Some people aren't going to get it. OK. But if you happen to be a person who *can* get it -- YOU NEED THESE BOOKS. If I lost mine, I would go without food for three days to get them back. I'm writing this because I didn't pay enough for these books compared to what I got out of them. And because, in a few hours, I'm going to finish my current re-reading, which means I won't be able to go back to Northworld for several years. If you haven't read them yet, and if you're a person to whom these myths will speak, you're lucky. Try to get an edition that will last a very long time.

This review is for the whole trilogy and not just the first book. David Drake's best stories create characters and environments (such as soldiers in a theater of combat) which seem straightforward but are actually quite alien to those of us who live in modern, civilian settings. Northworld transports a character from a futuristic civilization into a barbaric, violent world, where life is short and (for the majority) unpleasent. A lot of authors spend page after page describing rustic sunsets and muddy roads and leave me feeling like they're imagining everything happening in a 'holodeck' with low-tech scenery but modern behavior and motives. David Drake tells this story through his characters' actions rather then through extensive description or tortured internal monologues, and Northworld takes us with the main character to an alien world based loosely on Drake's intepretation of Norse Eddas. I love it, and keep my copy around for re-reading, but it is a story that I have to be in the mood for due to its grim environment.

Northworld is one of my favorite books. I've owned my copy of it for about two years, and am now reading it for the fourth time. This book is complex at times, so you have to put some effort into keeping up with it. David Drake did a good job combining sci fi and nordic mythology. The combinations of futuristic technology with a feudal society in the Peace Rock sections is especially interesting. And in response to those who say the ending is predictable, yes it is. And I would have been disappointed with any other ending.

The book was great. The gods, the wars, the best mix of sci-fi fantasies I have ever read. I will admit that I do not read many of david drakes books and like them, but this book has changed my whole opinion on the works of David Drake. If you want a good book with a lot of action in it, read this book.

This is another classic trilogy from David Drake, who forged "Hammers' Slammers" and also (with Steve Stirling, another fine wordsmith) gave us "The General" series. Drake is particularly adept and both using and acknowledging the sources of myth and legend while striding boldly outside what we used to think were the limitations and cliches of those genres.Nils Hansen is a tough, brutal man but no more so than is necessary to get the job done; and as in all of Drake's so-called military science fiction (which category does his work a descriptive disservice) here is a series hero who, like most people who work at 'the sharp end', understands all too well that - Nietzsche to the contrary - that which does not kill us does not make us stronger; it usually leaves us crippled in mind or in body and wired and plumbed with tubes and monitors and pain snaking around under the sheets.As Drake himself has said (and I have poorly paraphrased); if you choose to deploy men of violence then you owe it to them, yourself and the rest of society to not be ashamed, surprised or ignorant of the results. Not that Drake uses his books to expound philosophy; this is an excellent read on many levels.Drake tells strong stories strongly. And in a field where all too many authors over-indulge in the presentation of motivations and personal psychology to the detriment of action and passion, Drake is an outstanding craftsman of damn good books.