I almost stopped reading this book after I started the introduction and became bored and uninterested. The book is written as if it is a translation of an ancient text and the introduction attempts to ground this fiction in a plausible history with an explanation of its fictional writer and the controversies around the “text’s” authenticity and accuracy. This is fun if you care about the completely made-up backstory to a completely made-up story but I wasn’t interested. I’m glad I picked it back up and skimmed through the first couple of chapters because once the Northmen are introduced the book really takes off and is one of my favorite books so far.