Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir

Originally published as Sagan af Hlina kóngssyni, this Icelandic fairytale, in which a peasant-girl named Signy sets out to find the missing Prince Hlini, is an engaging variant of the 'missing husband' tale-type (number 425A, in the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification system), although technically, Hlini is a future husband to Signy, rather than a current one. Still, as noted on the rear cover, The Story of Prince Hlini has many commonalities - the heroine's quest for the Prince, the defeat of the ogresses who hold him captive - to that more famous Norwegian story, East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, and is every bit as fascinating, from a folkloric perspective.

Unfortunately, although I did appreciate the story, I found the text itself a little stiff - no information as to translator is given, so I assume it must have been Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir herself - and the color illustrations a little flat. It's not so much that there was anything wrong with either, but I did come away thinking that this could have been a much more dynamic storybook. Still, given the paucity of Icelandic folklore, in picture-book format, I was happy to have stumbled across it, and recommend it to young folklorists with an interest in Icelandic tales.… (mere)

Sverdbæreren er en fantasybok. Men den starter helt realistisk. 16 år gamle Signy spiller rollespill sammen med vennene sine. De tar en pause, kjører for å kjøpe pizza, og kommer ut for en bilulykke underveis. Signy blir liggende i koma på sykehuset. Og det er her fantasyhistorien begynner. Signy våkner i et øde landskap. Hun har fjærklær og skinnklær, sverd og skjold. Ganske snart treffer hun både alver og dverger, og alle forteller henne at hun er sverdbæreren, den utvalgte, som skal befri dem fra dronningen med ishjertet… Det islandske landskapet er fint beskrevet. Variasjonen mellom virkelighet og fantasi er fin. Anbefales for jenter fra 14 år… (mere)