Overall, the sourcebook does a pretty good job of covering the historical aspects of the various Viking cultures, though in my opinion, more time could have been spent on the Rus. But that's a niggle. However, I find one aspect of the book not only non-historical, but slightly offensive, his treatment of women. Despite significant historical evidence to the contrary, he maintains that Viking women never battled, never left the hearth, and were only there to torment their men. His examples of role playing a woman, or role playing in relation to women are uniformly negative. They are there to either be shrewish, or cheat on their men. Oh, or they could be evil sorceresses, in which case they could be beaten or killed. There are several other sources which indicate that, while it may not have been the norm, women did go a-viking, and were trained in combat, at the very least to defend their homesteads while the men were off raiding and pillaging.
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |