--- product_id: 421114885 title: "Njal's Saga" price: "255 Lei" currency: RON in_stock: true reviews_count: 5 url: https://www.desertcart.ro/products/421114885-njals-saga store_origin: RO region: Romania --- # Penguin Classics edition 13th-century classic Epic 50-year blood feud Njal's Saga **Price:** 255 Lei **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > ⚔️ Unlock the Viking saga everyone’s talking about — don’t miss the legend! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Njal's Saga - **How much does it cost?** 255 Lei with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ro](https://www.desertcart.ro/products/421114885-njals-saga) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Timeless Viking Drama:** Dive into a gripping 13th-century saga of loyalty, law, and legacy. - • **Rich Historical Context:** Experience Iceland’s transition from pagan warriors to settled farmers with vivid maps and notes. - • **Expertly Curated Edition:** Includes introduction, chronology, glossary, and family trees for immersive understanding. - • **Critically Acclaimed Bestseller:** Join thousands of readers captivated by this 4.7-star Penguin Classics gem. - • **Complex Characters & Legal Intrigue:** Follow unforgettable figures navigating brutal battles and evolving medieval justice. ## Overview Njal's Saga, a cornerstone of medieval Icelandic literature, chronicles a brutal 50-year blood feud set against a society shifting from paganism to Christianity. This Penguin Classics edition offers a compelling narrative enriched with historical notes, maps, and character indexes, making it essential for readers fascinated by Viking-era culture, law, and human drama. ## Description Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal's Saga tells the compelling story of a fifty-year blood feud that, despite its distance from us in time and place, is driven by passions familiar to us all. This Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction, chronology, index of characters, plot summary, explanatory notes, maps, and suggestions for further reading. Review: Cutthroats and courtroom dramas - Last year I read the Penguin Classics edition of The Orkneya Saga and this year I’m back for more. Njal’s saga is said to be the best of a large body of Icelandic sagas. The very helpful introduction and notes place it in Iceland in about 1000CE. We are told that some of it is historic, in that there are references to historic events, such as the Battle of Clontarf between the Irish and Vikings in 1014. It is also historic in that the culture and events generally reflect what is known of Icelandic culture and society at the time. Thus, although some characters seem to have a mild version of a gift of prophecy, there are no superheroes or mythical creatures or miraculous events. Even that gift of prophecy seems more like an ability to predict a future event based on past behaviour and other rational criteria. Njal is a farmer, a good man who gives good advice and is held in high esteem in his community. However, he finds himself mixed up in a feud that lasts for several decades. It’s no plot spoiler to say that his death by burning in his own farmhouse is shocking and avoidable. Njal is a product of a society in a state of profound transition – from pagan to Christian, from nomadic to settled, from marauding warriors hungry for plunder to farmers counting their sheep. There is a lot of violence, mainly due to the feud involving Njal’s family that lasts for years and involves an ever-widening network of blood relatives, in-laws and foster-children. The descriptions of fights are often shocking and very different from the kind of Viking battles you see on the streaming channels. Armed encounters are short and vicious and often result in a lopped off limb or head. One feature that surprises, though, is the sense of an evolving legalistic culture where clever words and a knowledge of legal precedents and statutes are at least as valuable as skills with sword and spear. For example, A can murder B but, given that murder is not automatically a capital offence, A can go to court and offer compensation to B’s family in the form of farm animals or bolts of cloth. Even better, if A finds the right clever clogs, he can get the latter to argue that the court hearing the case has no jurisdiction because it has the wrong number of jurors. Case closed. On that point, a big event in the saga, amidst the catalogue of slayings and burnings, is the founding of some kind of national court of appeal in Iceland in the early 11th century. I’ve watched several dramas set in this era in recent years (Vikings, Saxons, etc.). They generally give women a range of roles from servants and concubines to warriors and leaders. There are no female warriors or leaders in this saga. Here women can be influential in the domestic sphere, and indeed the feud in this saga is largely stoked by a malevolent woman, but they take no part in the battles, the law courts or the annual assemblies. That is all men’s work. The translation in this edition dates from 1997 and is a compulsive read. As with most Penguin Classics editions, there is a very useful introduction and notes, some maps and family tress and a glossary. I would recommend it to anyone interested in medieval history who wants to know what the Vikings were really like. Review: Une des grandes sagas - À l’époque des sagas islandaises, il y avait un triangle de relations entre la Norvège, l’Angleterre et l’Islande elle-même. On faisait du commerce, on se battait les uns contre les autres et l’on partait en expéditions de razzias… où l’on devenait alors des Vikings. Ces guerriers revenaient chez eux et se remettaient gentiment à la pratique de l’agriculture et du commerce. Les Islandais s’étaient très tôt convertis au christianisme…dans l’espoir d’adoucir leurs mœurs! ## Features - Penguin classics ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #17,275 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #54 in History & Criticism of Regional & Cultural Literature #66 in Family Saga Fiction #134 in Literary Movements & Periods | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 185 Reviews | ## Images ![Njal's Saga - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81G-LdCGwqL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cutthroats and courtroom dramas *by I***S on 3 July 2025* Last year I read the Penguin Classics edition of The Orkneya Saga and this year I’m back for more. Njal’s saga is said to be the best of a large body of Icelandic sagas. The very helpful introduction and notes place it in Iceland in about 1000CE. We are told that some of it is historic, in that there are references to historic events, such as the Battle of Clontarf between the Irish and Vikings in 1014. It is also historic in that the culture and events generally reflect what is known of Icelandic culture and society at the time. Thus, although some characters seem to have a mild version of a gift of prophecy, there are no superheroes or mythical creatures or miraculous events. Even that gift of prophecy seems more like an ability to predict a future event based on past behaviour and other rational criteria. Njal is a farmer, a good man who gives good advice and is held in high esteem in his community. However, he finds himself mixed up in a feud that lasts for several decades. It’s no plot spoiler to say that his death by burning in his own farmhouse is shocking and avoidable. Njal is a product of a society in a state of profound transition – from pagan to Christian, from nomadic to settled, from marauding warriors hungry for plunder to farmers counting their sheep. There is a lot of violence, mainly due to the feud involving Njal’s family that lasts for years and involves an ever-widening network of blood relatives, in-laws and foster-children. The descriptions of fights are often shocking and very different from the kind of Viking battles you see on the streaming channels. Armed encounters are short and vicious and often result in a lopped off limb or head. One feature that surprises, though, is the sense of an evolving legalistic culture where clever words and a knowledge of legal precedents and statutes are at least as valuable as skills with sword and spear. For example, A can murder B but, given that murder is not automatically a capital offence, A can go to court and offer compensation to B’s family in the form of farm animals or bolts of cloth. Even better, if A finds the right clever clogs, he can get the latter to argue that the court hearing the case has no jurisdiction because it has the wrong number of jurors. Case closed. On that point, a big event in the saga, amidst the catalogue of slayings and burnings, is the founding of some kind of national court of appeal in Iceland in the early 11th century. I’ve watched several dramas set in this era in recent years (Vikings, Saxons, etc.). They generally give women a range of roles from servants and concubines to warriors and leaders. There are no female warriors or leaders in this saga. Here women can be influential in the domestic sphere, and indeed the feud in this saga is largely stoked by a malevolent woman, but they take no part in the battles, the law courts or the annual assemblies. That is all men’s work. The translation in this edition dates from 1997 and is a compulsive read. As with most Penguin Classics editions, there is a very useful introduction and notes, some maps and family tress and a glossary. I would recommend it to anyone interested in medieval history who wants to know what the Vikings were really like. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Une des grandes sagas *by L***L on 2 June 2024* À l’époque des sagas islandaises, il y avait un triangle de relations entre la Norvège, l’Angleterre et l’Islande elle-même. On faisait du commerce, on se battait les uns contre les autres et l’on partait en expéditions de razzias… où l’on devenait alors des Vikings. Ces guerriers revenaient chez eux et se remettaient gentiment à la pratique de l’agriculture et du commerce. Les Islandais s’étaient très tôt convertis au christianisme…dans l’espoir d’adoucir leurs mœurs! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sehr schönes Buch. *by A***E on 15 December 2016* Wer Island liebt, sollte auf jeden Fall auch mal einen Blick in die isländischen Sagen hineinwerfen. Diese Ausgabe ist sehr ausführlich. 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