Review: A Reckless Courage by S.K. Putt
Blurb:
Åslaug Grímrsdóttir, a former priestess of the sisterhood, and Örvar Haakonsson, a former drengr of the Krärkar shieldwall are happily living a peaceful new life on their farm. Until the Gods decide to test both short-lived, by weaving their fates into new paths.
Fates woven, hearts broken, life is given and life is taken. The time has come, for A Reckless Courage.
Review:
Despite its size and brevity, this prequel novella by SK Putt packs an absolute punch. A Reckless Courage tells the tale of two lovers, who are bound by the ropes of fate against all odds. How it ties into the rest of the series, known as The Fleshed Lands, I am yet to discover, but on its own two feet, this story makes its mark and takes no prisoners.
A Reckless Courage begins with some vivid worldbuilding clearly inspired by the tale of how Odin lost his eye, a classic Norse myth. The viking influence runs deep in this story, and it could be put on the same shelf as John Gwynne’s Bloodsworn trilogy as much as it could be beside The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell. It constantly straddles the line between historical fiction and low-magic fantasy, and against the atmospheric geography of the Fleshed Lands, it develops its own patina.
SK Putt’s prose is vivid yet not flowery, and his characters are faced with real world challenges that discuss the meaning of marriage and parenthood, fate’s place in one’s life, and even addiction. More importantly, these themes are heavy and relatable, but not once are they shoved at the reader; instead, Putt handles them expertly, allowing them to be the undercurrents to the story’s wave. Somehow, in only eleven chapters of alternating perspectives, Putt manages to firmly invest the two main characters of Aslaug and Orvar in the mind of the reader, while also taking them on separate paths, and finishing the novella with an explosion of large-scale action. This is nothing short of spectacular to read. As someone who has written and read many novellas myself, I found a lot to learn from in A Reckless Courage.
Where I occasionally found myself getting stuck was with the character dialogue in this book. Against the lush and accessible prosaic writing, the dialogue sometimes felt a little colloquial, or even inconsistent from character to character. But the internal monologue of the characters was still really strong, so this is a minor complaint that ultimately did not detract from my enjoyment of the story in a substantial way.
Overall, A Reckless Courage is a merciless depiction of grief driving apart the cornerstones of love and respect, framed within a Norse-inspired world that I look forward to reading more from. I’ll be reading book one, The Kinslayer, in due course, and I’m excited to do so. A high recommendation from me on this one!
