This was an interesting and compelling read about the history of the Viking warriors and that the strongest were probably women. I read Captivating History's The Vikings, and it did not mention one word about Viking women warrior, which was disappointing. Glad I found this! You can tell the author is passionate about the subject and kept her facts and observations honest/genuine.

I liked this more than I thought I would and thought this was going to be dull AF, it was not. Told in a narrative fashion like Nathan Philbrick and Rob Chernow's nonfiction favorites.

Highly recommended for people interested in ancient and early history.

Thanks to Netgalley, Nancy Marie Brown and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 8/31/21

Thank you Nancy Marie Brown for a well researched and thought out book. It's a thought provoking read that challenges gender rolls. What if is a powerful question and one that needs to be asked more often. Hervor's story is compelling. Thank you for stretching my mind!

This is a very engaging read. I appreciated the weaving together of fact and fiction to provide a close-to-realistic-as-possible representation of a Viking-age woman. The depth of research that went into this book is evident when reading, and it adds an authoritative tone to the text overall. Added to that authoritative tone is that the Real Valkyrie is written by a woman, and really, that is most appropriate when it comes to writing about women of the past.

The Real Valkyrie is an engaging piece of scholarship, revisiting the history of Viking exploration, conquest, and culture. The book centers Viking women, showing their essential roles in Viking culture while exposing the flawed conventional narrative which relegates them to supportive domestic roles, or imaginary mythology, while minimizing Viking women's actual extensive participation in political leadership, military strategy, and armed combat. Brown's innovative method integrates occasional fictional extrapolation, with detailed presentation of scholarly research. The result is a readable, fascinating story which corrects historical inaccuracies we've inherited from Victorian anthropology, giving voice to the "real Valkyries" of European history.

This was an interesting book. It is part history, part archaeology, and part historical fiction. The author begins each chapter with an excerpt from the story of Hervor, the name she assigned to the female warrior skeleton. These vignettes are based on Viking sagas and provide a fictionalized account of the life Hervor may have led. I found them enjoyable. They captured my attention and piqued my interest in the nonfictional content presented in the chapter. They also kept the book from becoming too dry while breaking up the extensive amount of factual information. This format was a very effective way to make history accessible to readers who are not necessarily historians.
This book is well-researched and very thorough. Anyone studying, or otherwise interested in, the Viking period would be delighted with the wealth of information presented in this book. It offers fascinating insights into the lives of Vikings and those with whom they interacted.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters which focused on textiles, clothing, dyes, and other forms of personal adornment. This is an area of personal interest, and I was very pleased that the author devoted considerable attention to this topic.
This book would make an excellent reading assignment for a university course on Vikings, the Dark Ages or European history. There is plenty of material here to spark academic discussion.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ACR in exchange for my honest review.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Viking women! Absolutely fascinating.

In the 1800s archeologists unearthed a Viking burial site in Sweden and originally concluded the grave to be for a man. In 2007 DNA tasted showed that the Viking was a woman, not a man, which greatly changed our views of Viking gender roles..This book explores the science behind the archeology in a way that will be of interest to anyone who likes knowing how archeologists work as well as the modern bias that caused such mistakes as the incorrect sexing of such burial sites.

However, this book uses the burial site to not only tell us what we discovered about this woman and how it changed our perspective on the Vikings, but gives us a fictional take on what her life may have looked like based on the findings. This leads to a mix of fiction and non-fiction that work well together to build the story surrounding this burial site to bring Hervor's story to life.

This book explores the gender roles of Vikings and how they changed over time thanks to thinks like the influence of Christianity. Norse myths are also explored, adding fun bits for those who love mythology and what it says about a culture. Really great red for anyone interested in the kind of lives Viking women lived.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vikings and Valkyries - these two words can conjure up a lot of images, especially today with the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the real Vikings and Valkyries (real Valkyries?) were much more interesting, and although the Vikings we are referencing here were alive more than one thousand years ago. Even so, we're still learning about how they lived, worked, and fought. In 1878, in the Viking village of Birka, the bones of a Viking warrior were discovered. The figure was determined to be a warrior based on what had also been buried with the figure:

an axe blade, two spearheads, a two-edged sword, a clutch of arrows, their shafts embellished with silver thread, a long sax-knife in a bronze-ringed sheath, iron bosses for two round shields, a short-bladed knife, a whetstone, a set of game pieces (bundled in the lap), a large bronze bowl (much repaired), a comb, a snip of a silver coin, three traders’ weights, two stirrups, two bridles’ bits, and spikes to ride a horse on the ice, along with the bones of two horses, a stallion and a mare.
In 2017 the more fascinating discovery was made ... according to DNA testing, the Birka warrior was female.

Author Nancy Marie Brown takes this information and presents both a historical fiction account of what life might have been like for this Birka warrior (whom Brown names 'Hervor') as well as a very thorough exploration of what a Viking's life was like.

Brown posits that women as warriors in this time was not at all unusual and that it wasn't until Christianity came to the region (mid-900's) that a woman's role in society was looked upon differently.

In her narrative, Brown has Hervor traveling east in the Gulf of Finland and combines some Estonian mythology from this same time period. Brown writes:

Estonian folklore revolves around women, and while its pagan culture was warlike, women were not excluded from that facet of life.
...
The Estonian language ... like all Finnic languages, ... uses only one personal pronoun—no she, he, or it, just tema.
...
Estonian women and men wore identical jewelry—unlike in neighboring lands, where men, though gaudily bedecked, had their own jewelry styles. Likewise, weapons are found in up to 30 percent of female graves in tenth-century Estonia, along with nongendered objects like tools, implying that women had equal access to power.

In Estonian society, power was corporate. It resided, not in one individual, but in a council. The power of a single council member was limited—even if that councilor was the king or war leader. A charismatic war leader from a strong clan could persuade and encourage, but the decision to go to war rested with the council.

Nor could the council be co-opted by the men. Property, in Estonian society, was also collective; clan-based, it was passed down through the female line. According to a law recorded in the thirteenth century, when a man marries “he shall then let all his goods follow his woman. If he wishes to leave her, he will lose arable land and goods.” A man joined his wife’s family, which made daughters as valuable as sons—or more valuable. In folklore, the mother of an only son is derided as nearly childless. To raise her status, she must bear a daughter.

This clan-based society where power was shared and women were esteemed was confusing to the Christians like Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus who wrote about it in the thirteenth century. The church disapproved of—and had worked hard to eradicate—such societies for hundreds of years. Man was meant to rule woman, Christianity taught. A single God-anointed king was meant to rule society.
This isn't just conjecture, but some solid research, and the 'discovery' that the Birka warrior was female would seem to lend itself to this Estonian clan culture. Brown makes a great case and I suspect that this will be common thinking soon.

My only problem with this book was that I noticed there was a list of illustrations in the back of the book, but my Advance Digital Review Copy did not include any illustrations.

Looking for a good book? The Real Valkyrie is a great non-fiction read by Nancy Marie Brown, which includes a little fiction narrative to help illustrate the idea that women warriors were common among the Vikings and that they were the true Valkyries ("pagan battle-goddesses with shield and sword").

I received a digital copy from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

If a History channel special could be found in book form, it would be The Real Valkyrie. Written with an opening vignette in each chapter, Brown takes us through the reconstructed world of a warrior woman, Hervor.

Based on an elaborate burial in Birka, Brown builds her argument that the actual Viking past, one in which men and women were equal, by teasing out the variety of Queens and warriors from the historical record. She proves that our modern bias that warriors could only be men comes from the Victorian lens in which the Vikings were initially ‘discovered’ archeologically.

Using DNA evidence coupled with modern readings of surviving sagas, Brown reveals the intricate role women actually played. They were just as often heroes, villains and adventurers as we’ve come to expect from their male counterparts.

Interspaced between factual reporting, Brown tries her hand at fiction, weaving small scenes of how she believes a warrior would have grown, trained and traveled. Brown very explicitly outlines whenever she deviates from the historical record. I enjoyed these scenes, as they brought life to the scant historical record that accompanies the era.

At times, the book delved too deeply into weaving methods or weapon design. But these details did aid the world building. Overall, the book achieves it’s aim - my view of the Viking world has shifted, to a hopefully more accurate view.

Informative, engrossing and extensively researched!

Birka, a Viking town located on an island outside of Stockholm, Sweden, is home to over 1000 Viking graves. One of the graves was excavated in 1878 and the contents led archeologists to believe it was the grave of a Viking warrior. It was presumed that the warrior was male until 2017.

"In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman."

What was this female warrior's life like?

Science and history collide in this book. The author has done extensive research using archelogy, history, and DNA in addition to poems, Nordic fables, and literature to show what life might have been like for women living in medieval times. Life was not easy back then and Viking women were tough as nails. Viking women carried weapons, they fought, they survived, they lived, they died. The writer informs readers in the beginning of the book that she is using both fact and fiction in this book. She gives the female Viking a name and imagines what her life was like, what did she experience, how she lived.

The author also looks at religion, how history is told, cultural influences and gender. History -How is it influenced? Who does the telling? How are the facts changed? How does religion affect history? How have society’s perception of women, changed how Viking woman have been thought of in history? Interesting things to consider while reading this book.

The author also mentions Lagertha, portrayed by Katheryn Winnick in the show Vikings. That show was the reason, I was interested in reading this book. I found this book to be fascinating, beautifully written and researched. I loved her take on what a female Viking's life might have looked like as she met other notable women during her life. The book is rich in detail and provides food for thought.

Interesting, powerful, and Riveting.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

A great non-fiction look into the lives of female viking warriors of reality. A must read for any heathen who is looking for truth in the roles of women of the Viking Age.

This was freaking amazing! At first it took me a bit to get into it, but once I did it was smooth sailing and I couldn't put it down.

If you, like me, are deeply obsessed with mythology and feminism - pick up this book and add it to your shelves! In 2017, a DNA test revealed that a high ranking Viking warrior that had been found in a grave in Sweden, was in fact a woman. Nancy Marie Brown buries the myth that Vikings were a society ruled by men, and brings to light the fantastic and fascinating life of the Viking warrior women. Using science and history to link the found warrior to incredible women of history, this book is a fresh and exciting take on female warriors of yore.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for advance access to this title!

First off I want to say a huge thank you to the publisher St. Martin's Press , the author Nancy Marie Brown , and to NetGalley for letting me read and review it. While this looks like just a book the history of the Valkyrie as well as the vikings its also a mixture of their mythology which means you get the best of both worlds, and because of that its perfect for those who love history as well as mythology. The author has done an amazing job of bring both to life,so much so that she weaves the history and the mythology together that you actual just want to keep reading it page after page .

I can’t wait any longer to review this book. Nancy Marie Brown is that rarest of scholarly authors:: she has the ability to combine scholarship with imagination and storytelling. If this book doesn’t instantly become a bestseller, I’ll be very surprised.
I’m Scandinavian, so I have heard some of these tales throughout my life, but never the way Dr. Brown tells them. She has taken saga material from Snorri and other sources, and chosen from within them, a child, Hervor, to follow on her life’s journey. So each chapter opens with a bit of her story, Then she proceeds to add evidence that indeed women as well as men were Viking warriors.
She is not the first to suppose this. But, I believe, she has done perhaps the best job. Through her book, you can learn a great deal about Viking culture, as well as her premise that women were equal to men, There are many books about Vikings coming out in this present era. But when all is said and done, I believe The Real Valkyrie will stand the test of time and go on to be a classic for the ages.

That the writer was able to craft a story that was part myth, part history and part complete speculation and make it as engaging and absorbing as she did is quite a testament to both her talent and the fascinating subject. There's a lot of artistic license here, but considering how much of the history may have been distorted simply due to gender norms of later dates, I think that's to be expected.

I was so intrigued when I saw the subject of this book and my read did not disappoint. I learned so much about Viking culture and so much about women in that culture. This book is a mix of history, analysis, and speculation that keeps the individual found at the burial site in sharp focus. The author is detailed with regards to historical resources but also very upfront when it comes to her own speculation and theories. It was easy to keep those sorted in my reading. It does shine a light on how much of history is translated and filtered though the male gaze.

The writing is engaging. The portions that are speculative read like a novel and are riveting. The historical context is interesting and the analysis of it kept my attention.

There is so much we don't know about this culture. So many unanswered questions. I think anyone with an interest in Vikings, women in history, warrior culture will find this a great read.

I highly recommend it. Five stars for the writing. I gave it a 4.5 overall as the speculative viewpoint somewhat dilutes the historical foundation. It greatly enlivened the story however, so I would not change a thing about it. The discoveries are eye-opening and fascinating in their own right. This book gives them the intense scrutiny and attention they so well deserve and brings to the forefront the place of a woman in this culture., It leaves me with answers and even more questions.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and this is my honest review.

This book is a combination of history, archeology and fiction that, together, give a fresh perspective on the lives of female Vikings. It was occasionally repetitive, but always informative and interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in return for my unbiased review.

Part history, part criticism, and mostly speculation (which she is entirely upfront about). She makes a good case about re-examining burials people automatically assumed were male and assumptions people have about Vikings. I went in expecting it to be a straightforward history book but it leans more towards a bit of historical fiction. But overall enjoyable.

I received this book for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I chose this book to request because I found the subject of The Valkyrie so interesting. And this book definitely did not disappoint. The history of it is just so gripping.

This book is an absolutely thrilling read. I am of Swedish descent, and have always been interested in Viking history. I find history in general fascinating. Especially the fun that comes from realizing that almost everything we know was painted over by the Victorians. Why should the Viking history be any different? 

The text of this work is engaging. It draws you into the history in surprising ways. The entire story of the Viking women is completely rewritten here by science and data. We learn that Vikings did not keep their women stuck at home to tend the children, but rather that Viking women were heroes and adventurers just as the men. It is an absolutely riveting read. I highly recommend it.