GoodRead - WayLand

This book came as a complete surprise. Jasmine from David Fickling Books/Random House emailed me one day and asked if I would be interested in reading Wayland. This book is very much outside my normal reading. Some people will read this as poetry and others as a retelling of a Viking legend. But I said yes because of Philip Pullman. He called this tale "enthralling" and as I was thinking of rereading one of Philip's novels, I said yes and read this book with a mic of excitement and wariness.

Based on a little-known legend, this tells the tale of Wayland, a blacksmith whose skills have made him know across the land. But also onto the ears of a greedy king who take Wayland into slavery. In an attempt to return to his swan-bride, Wayland must rely on his skills, courage and hope to survive.

You need to read this out loud. I feel like that I need to make this clear. It is written in verse and, while reading in your head is alright, reading it out loud helps a lot to get the heartbeat (as I call it) of the story and Tony's writing. Because of reading it out loud, you fall under he story's spell.

And as for John Lawrence's illustrations, they fit the story perfectly. It has the feel of hand-carved block press and this fits with the story as it gives a feel of the time when this story takes place.

And for those of you thinking "This sounds a bit like a Disney tale", it isn't. There is a few moment of violence and one grown-up moment so... yeah... moving on!

But I really enjoyed reading this. And if you are a fan of proses and/or Viking tales, I think you all love this!