This was a fascinating account of the female warrior in the Birka grave. It combines imaginative storytelling with real archeology and history to form a fascinating account of how some Viking women may have lived.

Author #Nancy Marie Brown’s novel # The Real Valkyrie is a treat for readers of non-fiction. For anyone interested in Viking history.And the history of women. Laying to rest the myth that Viking society was ruled by men…..
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Nancy Marie Brown, and #St. Martins Press

Amazing! I absolutely loved reading this book! I loved the way the book flowed, giving an example of what could have happened and explaining the history from any knowledge currently known etc. The writer was very honest, stating when they couldn’t be sure and where they got their reasoning from. It was so refreshing to read about females of the Viking era, not just the males and women in positions of a form of strength! I loved that instead of huge foot notes details and source of information etc were in a section at the back of the book. A very occasional picture too - personally I always find this helpful when they are talking about an item in history. I would happily read this book again!

The Real Valkyrie so thoroughly researched and is a really great resource when it comes to not only what we know about Viking times but what the lives of women might have looked like during the time period.

Beautifully written. Appreciate the thought and depth that went into this book. Love reading about the history of this woman!

This was a really interesting and well-researched look at Viking history, I really enjoyed it. The author really brought this time period to life with lots of interesting information. These warrior women kicked ass and we get to learn about them. It definitely reads more like a textbook but the information is so interesting it didn't matter to me. If you are interested in Viking history I would definitely recommend this one.

The Real Valkyrie by Nancy Marie Brown tells the story of Viking women. Before reading this book, all I knew about vikings came from the TV show. Reading about the role women played and the blending of fact and fiction was quite interesting

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

A fascinating history of the Vikings through an important new lens; Brown uses all archeology evidence, employing the newest scientific tools and studying the oldest written documents, strongly making the case that Vikings weren’t the hyper-masculine culture the Victorians and since cultures have made them out to be. Brown argues strongly for a society in which women had equal rights and were just as likely to be landowners, leaders and fighters as men.

Brown follows one figure in particular, a Viking warrior found buried with high honor and all the trappings of warrior, now conclusively identified by DNA testing as a middle aged woman, and, based on all available research, speculates on what her life would have been like as she goes through the evidence of the few women we do know and the few facts peeking out behind all the whitewashing done by the Christian church and other misogynistic moralists.

I am obsessed with anything Viking related. I was excited to read this one. Viking women were a force to be reckoned with. Highly recommended!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

In 2017, DNA tests showed that the grave of a (presumed male) Viking warrior was that of a woman. The author uses archeology, literature and history to outline the possible life of this woman, and describe life in medieval times.

I initially wanted to read this book because I was so tickled that the assumption that the warrior was a man was proved incorrect. But I kept reading the book because it was interesting learning about Viking life. Wow those women were tough (as were the men).

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest reveiw.

One subject that has always fascinated me is the field of archeology. Learning from relics found on dig sites that can put forth a theory on how civilizations lived hundreds or thousands of years ago is very interesting to me. What I found most interesting about this book was the equality between men and women, for one the choice that woman could become warriors and fight alongside the men. At times I did find this to be a bit on the dry side but overall this book had me hooked and I would recommend it to anyone that loves learning about history.

Though I was initially intrigued by this book, I struggled to continue with it due to the odd combination of fiction and nonfiction. The format did not work for me though the topic was good. DNF.

I got about a third through this book and gave up on it, so it's a DNF for me. I kept getting bogged down in the names, and I understand that the names were authentic and well researched, but I don't speak any Scandinavian languages, or even German (I took French in school) so I just felt that I was swimming in pudding. The story moves really slowly and that was the other reason I had a hard time pushing on. I don't feel that it's fair to rate this book, since I didn't read the complete book. The 2-stars reflect more of my frustration that I didn't get engaged in the story. The quality of the writing is fine and I had confidence in the historical research that was obviously done by the author. The subject is one I'm very interested in, but this book felt too academic for a more casual history reader like myself. Thank you the NetGalley for the ARC.

I went into this book with a very limited understanding of Norse mythology and history. The author does a great job weaving together mythological stories and poetry and archaeological evidence, however, given my lack of previous knowledge, it still felt a bit over my head.

I love the history presented in the book, but it is a little hindered by it's reliance on imagination due to not having many sources. It reminded me of the way that "Will in the World" was written. Although it isn't my favorite way to read about history, I am aware that much of history relies on the imagination of the historian to interpret the evidence. It's nice to see the historical assumptions breaking away from a Victorian gender-roles that were read into Viking culture to create a different an exciting picture of this culture.

This. book was so fascinating! It was a book that is out of my typical genre of reading and I was pleasantly surprised! I have a Swedish background, so the location alone was incredibly interesting, but Nancy Marie Brown goes above and beyond with the detail that she includes in the book. It was a fantastic read!

Brown's work is well written and well researched. There were passages/paragraphs that lost my attention occasionally, but overall, I enjoyed learning about the powerful females of the Viking era. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has an interest in this historical period.

I thoroughly enjoyed this journey through Viking history and the story of Hervor. History was presented really intriguing in this book. I really recommend it!

There was a lot of detail in this book. It centers around the remains of a Viking warrior found in Birka, Sweden. Scholars had assumed the warrior was a man but DNA testing showed it to be a female. The author speculates who the warrior might have been based on her bones, the gravesite and what was buried with her. She included stories from Nordic poetry and sagas to bring this woman to life. It was interesting to see the background for women and Vikings that we don't see depicted in most movies and fiction.

I’ve never read a book like this. It’s nonfiction, but also historical fiction, but also a novel, and a retelling of Norse sagas. But this book doesn’t try to do to much- the author is in control of the narrative and keeps the reader immersed in the world of Vikings, during a time period when genders didn’t matter and anyone could be a warrior.

It’s clear a large amount of research went into this narrative. It’s dense, but quite readable. I went into this book with little to no knowledge of Vikings beyond bits and pieces learned in popular culture, but after reading this, I sort of feel like I took a full college course on the subject and that I’m well-informed!

4.5 stars. Thank you to to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for my honest review