‘A Stranger at the Hearth’ by Katherine Buel is a novella length story of historical fiction that introduces us to a young Sigurd of Norse saga fame.

Sigurd, son to a dead king, when we meet him, seems to be a likeable fellow. He's got some innate talent and a thirst for adventure. What will temper this young blade isa mysterious man named Regin who takes Sigurd under his wing. Before the story is over, we get a glimpse in to who he will become as he discovers betrayal, gold and dragons.

This is a retelling, but if you know anything about Norse myth, then you will wonder what version. I find it better to just fall in to the flowing rhythm of this prose and gather around for a good tale.

This book is a novella length retelling of the Norse Saga (legend) of Sigurd. It's a quick read, and follows Sigurd through his early life - the trials, the tribulations, the jubilations, and everything else you would want from Viking lore. Full of kings, gods, and monsters - a great read for anyone interesting in Vikings.

Thank you for an e-arc of this book. When I requested this, I really wanted to try more mythology based story to see if I enjoyed the genre. This is one of the best I read, but unfortunately this type of story is not for me.

It is an interesting take on a Norse myth and highly recommend you give it a try.

This book is the first in a series of novellas that aim to retell the myth of Sigurd that is part of the norse edda (not to mistake it with the story of siegfried the dragon slayer and song of nibelungen).

Based on that it takes the original Sigurd saga as a source, this is a marvelous retelling that (if you know the source material) has been meticulously crafted in reference to its sources. Honestly, big kudos to that, I'm impressed by the clear dedication and accuracy.

Now to the book/novella: It starts early in Sigurds life, in his youth. It reads like a perfect mix of autobiographical (chronological description of the key events in his life) and fiction, while having an old-school sounding prose that heavily reminded me of classical texts. If you are even at least a bit interested in (norse) mythology in a world full of dragons, giants, witches and gods with a prose to match, you will want to check this out. The novella length, too, makes it perfect as a cozy afternoon-read.

There were multiple things I loved about this book, first, the length was perfect and I was able to finish in one sitting, second, the retelling was brilliant, and third, the writing was beautiful!

A Stranger at the Hearth by Katherine Buel was a real treat.
As a fan of Norse Mythology, I was very happy to sit and immerse myself in the story. "Epic in scope but deeply human, The Norse Saga of Sigurd gets a gripping retelling sure to enthrall readers of Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, and Genevieve Gornichec." and Ms. Buel delivers.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #VictoryEditing, and Katherine Buel for the ARC copy of #AStrangerattheHearth.

I found Katherine Buel’s A Stranger at the Hearth something of a mixed bag. It is the latest in a vein of retellings that follow in the footsteps of such luminary works of fantasy as The Song of Achilles, this one centered around the legendary figure of Sigurd from Germanic and Norse myth. The source material is the “Saga of the Volsungs,” so the author is reimagining her character strictly through the Norse as opposed to Germanic prism of Sigurd’s figure.

It’s one of those works that adopts a style that attempts to pull at your heartstrings by replicating a lyrical quality to its prose; unlike Madeline Miller’s works, where that tone worked for me, here it often failed to capture not just my imagination but even my attention. It’s a great shame; I’m a sucker for a good Norse retelling.

Sigurd himself I found unexceptionally dull, which is not what you want in a main character of legend. I was interested initially, before Sigurd’s birth, and as some court intrigue was introduced after the death of his first benefactor. My interest waxed and waned over those early chapters; observing Sigurd’s excellence from afar woke no great fascination, but was again piqued when a mysterious figure, the Master of Masters, took an interest in our legendary (to be) lad. Buel has created a compelling character in this arcane blacksmith, a figure part trickster, part puppet master. With him, dialogue and point-of-view click much better than they do elsewhere; the stilted quality of some elements of the prose are notably absent.

I’m sorry to say, A Stranger at the Hearth was one of the weaker reads I’ve come across this past year. I wanted to like it; it is my hope that, if you choose to read it, you find something that I might have missed. It’s not vivid enough, it’s not fantastic enough, it’s not rooted to historical reality enough; I haven’t read the original text that Buel is retelling, but if I had to bet, I’d say she hasn’t allowed herself to move far enough past it. The truth of succesful retellings does not lie in excessive faith in the original; rather, it lies in the bravery to bring radical, novel elements, often drawn from the novel perspectives that the author’s own contemporary moment in time might open up. Think of Madelline Miller and what her retellings offer. Think of Shelley Parker-Chan and She Who Became the Sun. Katherine Buel doesn’t introduce–in my reading of the text–anything revolutionary, anything truly exciting in the vein of these two other authors. Hers is too true a retelling.

Of course, this is a novella and not a novel; that is the obvious counter-argument to the criticism above. Even so; I was engrossed in Circe, in She Who Became the Sun, in many other excellent retellings, at a portion of the length of A Stranger at the Hearth. It’s a damn shame.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable read. It gave me something to look forward to and the end of the day. Looking forward to book 2.

An easy to read but occasionally dull retelling of the first part of the saga of Sigurd and the Nibelungenlied. It’s a story I’m familiar with but this version was written out very clearly and very straightforward. I liked it a lot and will look out for the next installment.

“I name him Sigurd, Warder of Victory,”

A Stranger at the Hearth is the retelling of Sigurd son of King Sigmund, son of Volsung.

I must confess though I'm very fond of and read many Greek mythology books, I have read much less Norse mythology, so I only saw Katherine Buel who I had read her other retelling, Heart of Snow.

Then I'm not going to comment about Norse myths or elements, I think my low knowledge about it made it a little hard for me to get to this book at first, but as the story continued, I could follow it.

The story of the youngest son of the dead king was interesting, especially at The End which made me long for reading the next book. Also, I should try more Norse myths!

If you don't know Sigurd, like me, without any spoilers I may say, he is a member of the royal family of Denmark, and educated by a mysterious ancient named Regin. For more, you should read this book, the story of golds, lies, dragon and betrayal!

“The truth is the truth. Bragging and trying to make yourself look like something doesn’t change it.”

ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op
Many thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for giving me the chance to read A Stranger at the Hearth (The Norse Saga of Sigurd, Book 1) by Katherine Buel in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this title as I've lately become entranced with Norse legends and have found the particulars of the stories vary with the telling. We shall see how it plays out, but this is a good start and hopefully will not fall into romance. For background - I love Wagner's Ring cycle, enjoyed The Witch's Heart, adored Neil Gaiman's audio book of his Norse Mythology and just finished A.S.Byatt's Ragnarok with tears in my eyes.

A very readable version on the Norse saga. In combination with some more formally correspond academic translations of the original works, this makes great study. On its own, it is a fun, accessible read for lovers of mythology..

It started out strong but ultimately I DNF part of the way through. The time travel and lore was confusing and not work the mental work

The Norse Sagas are very new to me and I have begun to see the fascination they hold by reading this book and now I want to read more. It wasn’t a long book but it begins the adventure of Sigurd and Gunnar and I look forward to reading the next in the series.

It’s been a long time since I read the source material, but I didn’t feel that my lack of immediate knowledge was a negative. Rather, the author’s storytelling makes a familiar story feel new and fresh, and I loved hearing it in her words.

This was excellent. I love a good myth retelling, and this one absolutely delivers. Norse mythology is not a sector of mythology that we often see explored, so it felt like a truly fresh and new story. The characters were interesting, and while there wasn’t a whole lot of plot, I can tell it’s building to something that is going to be great. This was a short, fun read and I can’t wait for the next installment!

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

There is a trend currently with novellas beginning or taking the place of regular size novels when it comes to series - and I am enjoying it so much!

A Stranger to the Hearth enters this trend with an origin story on the Norse legend of Sigurd. Starting with his heavily pregnant mother, who strides into fate and claims a future for herself and her unborn son, to his fostering with an uncanny, and seemingly unaging Blacksmith.

Sigurd is a hot head and as such he stumbles and struggles to find a place for himself, but even with the brevity of a novella, I believe that Buel did a good job of cementing character flaws and his attempts (or lack thereof) to improve them.

The story itself holds well on its own, but the author has left enough tidbits to make the reader curious about how these will all wind together in future installments.

Overall, this is a solid start to a Norse series and I think any fans of that mythos will really enjoy the story of Sigurd.

*I received an eARC from Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op & NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

"A Stranger at the Hearth" aims to retell the legend of Sigurd, whom you likely know best as Siegfried the Dragonslayer from "The Ring of the Nibelungs," as a coming-of-age story in a more realistic Viking setting, or at least that's what the promotional blurb promises. Only that this isn't your Wagner opera's Siegfried but Sigurd from the "Saga of the Volsungs," a Norse epic that likely most people haven't heard about outside college classes, so if you only know the German version of the story thanks to the opera, novels like Diana L. Paxson's and comics by Alex Alice, then you might be confused about the storyline in this book. This book assumes you know the <i>Volsunga Saga</i>, and doesn't tell you, organically or otherwise, if you don't understand something.

That's not a problem for me, it's one of my favourite legends, and I have a little collection of Volsunga Saga and Das Nibelungenlied books. But other people might not be as familiar, or even know the differences between the Norse and the German versions, so it would've helped a lot that the book established the world and the setting first, instead of dropping the reader on their head into the plot without telling them much.

Personally, I prefer the Nibelungenlied version over the Volsunga Saga even though narratively the latter is superior according to every professor I've ran into. I, naturally, don't agree. To me, the German saga is more tragic and feels more human in contrast with the more epic, more archetypal, and brutal Norse saga. Siegfried feels less of an archetype than Sigurd, more flawed, even stupider at times, and follows more the knightly themes I like. Plus, from the Volsunga Saga, I've always loved Sigmund and Sinfjötli, and couldn't care less about Sigurd; if he got trampled by Odin's horse or got made into crispy barbecue by Fafnir, good riddance, I'd have said. That's how little I care about Sigurd, and I'm not alone.

But Siegfried? Poor little foolish, heroic, doomed, brave Siegfried with his lady problems? Richard Wagner did the world a favour by taking the nice bits of the Volsunga Saga with the nice bits of the Nibelungenlied and giving us such a tremendous tour de force of an opera. I just wish there were an author that could do with words what Wagner did with music.

One issue I had with this retelling specifically is that there's no sense of time or place, is it supposed to be "real" Viking times? It doesn't feel like it, it's too fantastical a world. Is it supposed to be "fantasy" Viking times? Then it's pretty much re-cooking the Volsunga Saga as is, with practically nothing original to throw in, just padding it up a bit. If the goal was to retell the legend without deviating much and staying close to the ancient saga, at the very least there should be expansion of the world, we should see more of the places, peoples, culture, what the Volsunga Saga doesn't show because it was talking to an audience that already knew the context. In other words, give us the world where Sigurd grows up in, show us what it is like. Tell us why we should care by showing us what to care about.

Besides that, the pace isn't the best. After the opening, we jump 14 years ahead, and then a lot is crammed into a short novella of barely 9 chapters that aren't that long. How exactly are you going to tell a coming-of-age tale if you skip so much of the hero's life and cram that amount of time in a few pages? That harms characterisation, the protagonist doesn't get fleshed out, doesn't feel like he's growing up before our eyes. He grows as the plot requires, too quickly, going from A to B without us seeing how he processes it. There's so little of Sigurd's personality and thoughts here that he's a hollow character, not someone you can connect to. For those of us who didn't care about Sigurd in the original saga, this would've been a chance to make us love him by making him interesting, likable, giving him a personality that attracted. But instead, we got the same Sigurd that simply is.

On the other hand, the writing is nice. Reads a bit over-edited and over-polished, and needs to make dialogue feel a bit more natural, though.

In sum, I'm not sure I would recommend this. Splitting the whole story into novellas wasn't the best idea, the story would work better as a full novel than as a novella, because it doesn't have the plot to keep interest and carry it over to the next novella. I didn't feel like I would miss anything if I didn't read the next installment, and I probably won't. Perhaps when the entire series is done it'll be better, but Sigurd's saga isn't one that can be told in standalone fragments, especially not this short. It needs the full scope to be appreciated.

If you know me, you know there is nothing I love more than a good mythology retelling and I’m delighted to say this did not disappoint. A perfect addition to the bookshelf of anyone who loves the Norse Sagas, and a great introduction to those who have maybe felt intimidated by them.

The first in a series of novellas, we follow the young warrior Sigurd, descendent of Odin and last of the Volsung, as he comes of age and embarks on a journey through a world filled with kings and monsters, witches and giants. Beautifully written, well-paced, and mysterious, I was hooked from the start. I will definitely be picking up the next instalment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the advance reader copy.

If you are a fan of Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, or mythological retellings in general, you will love this story from Katherine Buel. As someone who didn’t know too much about Norse mythology prior to picking this up, I found that Buel tells this tale in a very accessible way, and her prose is so beautifully written.

This first installment in Buel’s new series follows the young warrior Sigurd, a descendent of Odin himself, as he comes of age and embarks on a journey of self-discovery, filled with fighting, foraging, and fantasy. The story is intriguing and well-paced, keeping you turning the pages and needing to know what happens next. (And, might I add, the ending dropped my jaw).

The characters in this story are so tangible and mystical at the same time, allowing for both relatability and wonderment. Sigurd is reminiscent of other characters in the bildungsroman genre, while still holding a sense of his own self. He is confident yet quiet, and knows his self-worth while still being open to learning more about his world.

As the first installment in a series, I am highly anticipating more from Katherine Buel.

A massive thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this advance reader copy.