Oke, mungkin covernya “agak” bikin shock, tapi never ever judge a book by its cover :)) (walapun setelah re-release covernya jadi agak mendingan, tapi tetep prefer yang ini =)) )Īlkisah seorang viking bernama Geirolf Ericsson, harus menerima kenyataan pahit bahwa kapalnya Fierce Dragon tenggelam, misinya untuk mengembalikan relic suci ke Britain gagal dan dia menyadari bahwa dirinya akan mati, namun ketika melihat sebuah perahu panjang yang setengah jadi, semangat Geirolf langsung bangkit dan segera berenang menuju perahu tersebut, dengan berpegangan pada figur kayunya, Inggrid. The romance genre is so easy to ridicule and books such as this do it a disservice.

I could write an essay about why this book didn't work for me, but you get the drift. And don't even get me started on the chapter break titles (that's right - every chapter BREAK had a title - usually involving an awful pun). The awful dialogue, the unbelievable 'motivations' and the horrendously paper-thin supporting cast all succeeded in infuriating me, yanking me out of the story because I couldn't suspend my disbelief and invest in these characters as living creations. Meredith and Geirolf are perfectly suited for one another, in that they are both remarkably idiotic throughout this book. I can even cope with magical elements/destinies/soulmates, etc. I can cope with plot contrivances that would never happen in real life. I can forgive a lot of crimes in fluffy romance books. I bought her a copy of The Last Viking all for herself and she gamely embraced her first ever romance novel and insisted I read it too. My cynical flatmate frequently delights in laughing at the books I read and a few months back, she stumbled across Sandra Hill's works and became fixated. I came very close to awarding The Last Viking two whole stars, because to be fair to the book, it brought a lot of joy to my life, just not in the way the author probably intended.

The Last Viking by Sandra Hill