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Northlanders, Vol. 4: The Plague Widow (2010)

by Brian Wood(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

140122850X (ISBN13: 9781401228507)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Vertigo

series

Northlanders

review 1: Set in Viking Russia in A.D.1020, "The Plague Widow" examines a year in the life of a remote settlement under siege by a contagious outbreak. The residents of this village are so focused on shutting the outside world out, they don't think about who they're shutting themselves in with. Mixing equal parts crime, history and survival fiction, this could be the most brutal NORTHLANDERS story to date!It's the beginning of a long 7 months of the coldest winter the characters seem to be able to remember. The plague is rampant and killing loved ones left and right. People are being cast out and shot from the walls to try and cull the plague-ridden ones from the healthy ones.Add to all that a Mafia-like viking boss that's only looking out for his best interest and the rest be damne... mored.A woman, Hilda, who loses her husband to plague, has to survive the winter by herself and protect herself and her daughter Karin from the patriarchal ways of the village and the increasingly hostile attentions of some of the villagers who see her relative comfort as something to be taken as she has no man."The Plague Widow" is a powerful book with its fragile main character proving her resilience in the face of pure adversity. We follow her struggle from the death of her husband to learning to do the things her man used to do, to defending herself and her daughter from far stronger men.A foreign catholic priest, in all probability a converted warrior, is portrayed in a positive way. He does his best to un-selfishly protect the "good" people of the village, standing up to, and even posing a challenge to the head mafia-viking and his men. It's a nice twist as the church so oftens gets a bad rap in these sort of stories.All-in-all, Brian Wood gives us a great story about lesser used characters from the era and how their lives are affected.This could be the very best Northlanders stgory-arc.
review 2: The Plague Widow pantas disebut cerita terbaik dari seluruh seri Northlanders (sampai dengan Northlanders vol.4). Padahal The Plague Widow agak berbeda dengan seri Northlanders sebelumnya. The Plague Widow tidak menampilkan aksi bantai membantai yang menjadi suguhan utama pada seri sebelumnya. The Plague Widow justu menampilkan lebih banyak drama yang menceritakan Hilda, seorang wanita yang ditinggal oleh suaminya karena wabah penyakit yang sedang melanda desa tempat tinggalnya, Volga.Hilda yang berjuang seorang diri untuk menyelamatkan sekaligus membesarkan anaknya, Karin, harus berjuang melawan sulitnya hidup kala itu. Wabah penyakit di musim dingin yang sangat hebat, juga gangguan dari Gunbord dkk yang bertindak semaunya.Very good story. less

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