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Hundreds of years ago, on a wild sea coast, two bold-hearted men met in combat and love…This is the story of Caius, a Christian monk struggling to reconcile his sensual nature with his newfound faith, and of Fenrir, a ferocious Viking raider abandoned by his comrades and left for dead. When Caius takes pity on the wounded man, his brethren are horrified: what kind of wolf has Cai brought into the fold?
But only when Cai and Fen join forces can the monastery of Fara be saved from the raiders from the east. And Fara holds a secret worth guarding, a legendary amulet with the power to bind even the might of the Vikings. Fen, his heart divided between old loyalties and a new love, must make a decision which could shatter his own heart and Cai’s into the bargain.
Will there ever be peace and a future for these brothers of the wild North Sea?
Rating: Narration – A; Content – B+
I decided to interpret this month’s prompt – “with a little help from my friends” – as choosing which book to read based on the recommenation of a friend, and I chose Harper Fox’s Brothers of the Wild North Sea (with thanks to Sam I AMNreader on Goodreads) from the titles suggested to me. It’s one of those books that’s been on my radar for ages, and seeing as the audiobook is narrated by Hamish Long – who I know is an excellent performer – I decided to listen rather than read.
The story takes place in the seventh century, at a monastic community in north-eastern England, on a part of the coast vulnerable to Viking raiders. Our narrator Caius – Cai – is the son of a local chieftan who disowned him when Cai decided to leave the hill-fort that had been his home in favour of the monastic life. His father lives for hunting, fighting and fucking; he thinks learning is a waste of time, and had expected his first-born to follow in his footsteps, but Cai wanted to pursue the kind of learning that is only available to him through the church. Some two years before this story begins, Cai joined the brotherhood at Fara, where he has become adept with herbs and potions and is now their medic. The monks work hard, tending livestock and crops rather than being called to pray five times a day, and Abbot Theodosius is progressive, a man of learning and of science who was banished to Fara when discovered to be in possession of books now deemed heretical by the Roman Church. He has made it his life’s work to try to recall and write down what he can of the books that were destroyed, jokingly calling it his “gospel”.
Cai is content at Fara, although he doesn’t think he’s particularly suited to the religious life; he’s too strong minded and has too much of his father’s hot temper in him to make a good monk. But luckily for him, Abbot Theo is not one to encourage mindless obedience – or to condemn any of the brothers for taking physical comfort where they may, despite the church’s insistence on celibacy.
But rumours that their impoverished monastery conceals a treasure are enough to bring the Vikings raiding, and Cai’s settled life is torn apart when the next incursion kills not only his lover, Leof, but Theo, too. Heartsore and weary, Cai goes to see his father to ask him for weapons they can use to defend themselves the next time – and on his return, discovers that things – bad as they are – have taken a turn for the worse. It seems that word of Abbot Theo’s unconventional ways had reached the ears of the bishops further south, and they had already dispatched a new abbot to Fara. In Cai’s absence, he has forbidden the burial of Theo and Leof in consecrated ground and ordered the remaining monks to abandon most of their duties in favour of prayer and contemplation. Preaching fire and brimstone, he and his followers set about making sweeping changes at Fara, but Cai refuses to bend, continuing with his work as healer and trying to bolster morale among the brothers.
The new abbot refuses absolutely to listen to Cai’s warnings about another Viking raid being imminent, so they are ill prepared when the raiders arrive. But Cai learned to fight at an early age, and while he may be a man of God, he isn’t about to sit back when the lives of his friends are threatened. While the abbot prays, Cai organises the brethren and they manage to narrowly beat back the raiders – all except one, who has been critically wounded and left behind. Cai is sorely tempted to finish him off in retribution for those Fara has already lost – especially Theo and Leof – but his instincts as a healer kick in, and Cai has the injured Viking taken to what is left of the monastery, where he proceeds to tend to his wounds and care for him.
The Viking – Fenrir (Fen) – is bloodthirsty and sarcastic, making clear to Cai his intention to kill them all and escape – as soon as he’s strong enough. He doesn’t understand why anyone would tend to an enemy, but as time passes and he comes to know Cai as he recovers, Fen slowly falls under the spell of his inate goodness, his honour, his curiosity and his compassion… and that Cai is not at all hard to look at just adds to Fen’s growing attraction. At first, Cai believes Fen to be the pagan savage he’s been taught to believe the vikingr are, but the more time they spend together, the more he can’t help but come to appreciate the man’s wry humour and practical outlook. Their slow-burn romance is really well done, emerging from the greater understanding the two of them develop from their conversations during Fen’s recovery, and growing into a fierce, passionate love. I liked the way Fen slowly becomes a valued member of the community, helping out on the land and most importantly, supporting Cai as he works to protect his brethren from the cruel edicts of the new abbot and from the threat they still face from across the sea.
The story moves quite slowly overall, but that allows time for the relationship between Caius and Fen to properly develop and for the author to show how strongly they have come to care for each other and their small community.
Harper Fox is – rightly – lauded for her lyrical prose, and her ability to really ground her stories in their settings. The landscape is imbued with a harsh beauty and the tang of the sea air and the salt of the marshes are palpable from the very first page:
From here, the whole coastal plain was laid out before him, a long, wild stretch of grassland that parallelled the glimmering sea until both melted into the distance. A vision of heaven on a spring day like this one. Drawing a deep breath, Caius let himself forget the long winters, when the gale swept down untramelled from the north, scouring every living thing to tatters in its frozen, sand-filled blast.
– and liked the way elements of mysticism and folklore are woven into the story, emphasising the fact that that Christianity was not yet fully assimilated into the lives of the Britons at this time.
Hamish Long is a terrific vocal actor, one I know I can rely on to bring a story to life – and he does that here with aplomb. His voice is pleasant and easy to listen to, he differentiates expertly between all the characters and does a wonderful job when it comes to delivering the emotional content of the story. His portrayal of Caius is terrific – his youthful optimism, his warmth and his good-humour all come through strongly, as does his fierce determination to protect those around him – and I liked his interpretaion of Fen very much, the slight accent and harsher edge to his tone perfectly conveying his vibrancy and sarcastic humour. There is only one female character in the story, Danan, the local ‘wise woman’, and it was really easy to forget I was listening to a male voice reading her spiky, Scottish-accented dialogue. The one bum note in the whole thing is Mr. Long’s mispronunciation of “Samhain” as it’s spelled rather than correctly as “Sow-wen” (“sow” rhymes with “cow”), but that’s a tiny blip in an otherwise flawless performance.
I have a few niggles; the pacing lags in places, and the ending feels a bit rushed, but overall I enjoyed Brothers of the Wild North Sea a great deal. The writing is beautiful, the setting is superbly realised and Cai is a charming and captivating principal. Combine that with Hamish Long’s masterful performance, and it’s an audiobook I’ll definitely return to.
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