Book Review: West Oversea

West Oversea
by Lars Walker
Noble Novels, 277 pages, $11.01

When reviewing a book, it's important to have a clear idea of what my expectations are, relative to the intentions of the books author.

I'm over a year and a half overdue in writing this review of Lars Walker's novel, West Oversea, because I realized that what I expected the book to be was markedly different from what Walker intended.

Walker and I have a mutual friend, one of the regular commenters on this blog, who suggested I read and review his book here over a year and a half ago. He sent me the book, kindly autographed for my small collection of autographed books, and I set out to read it. But the last year and a half has been a busy time for me, what with running for office and all, and the book wasn't what I expected.

I was looking for historical fiction, with a leavening of Catholicism. This is the story of a Catholic priest, Father Aillil, in the time of the "Vikings," as we think of them, who takes ship for Greenland in search of his sister taken by raiders many years before.

But there was more to the book than I expected. It also has a strain of fantasy interwoven, as Father Aillil undergoes a series of supernatural experiences, which he interprets as coming from the Devil, while his pagan companions believe he is encountering their Norse gods.

Father Aillil and his companions, many of whom are actual, well-documented historical figures, travel westward across the Atlantic, making landfall in North America, and meeting Leif Ericsson in Greenland. As an account of what such a journey in the 10th century might have been like, it's engaging by itself. As a story of magic and pagan gods, and their interaction with a Christian priest, it works on that level as well. As a testament to Christian faith overcoming obstacles, it's inspiring.

But Walker has set himself the challenging of weaving all these threads together in one fabric. Does it work? I can't say whether it will work for you, but as for me, once I got over my preconceptions, I found it highly entertaining, and I quite recommend it.

And Lars, I sincerely apologize that it's taken so long to get this written!