Thank you to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the Advanced Listening Copy! As always, all thoughts are my own.

I'll start with two quick notes for context. This is the first book I've read of this series so I can't really compare it to the other entries. Also, I am a newbie to everything Viking. I didn't know much about the civilization beyond what pop culture exposes one to, so I was approaching this audiobook with a clean slate.

To me, this was an interesting introduction to medieval Viking world. It quickly dispelled a lot of the misconceptions, as well. The stories and the details are clearly well-researched.

While I was expecting more 'slice of life' or day-to-day stories (probably because of the title), we did get some of those, but most others were more dramatic stories from the era. Blood feuds, vengeful ex-wives, houses on fire, etc. The last story was especially dark! Still, they were very intriguing and do introduce the reader/listener to aspects of the culture and laws of the time, so I enjoyed them. 

I just was hoping for more day-to-day stories as these were my favourites. Some of the stories describing home decor, clothes, food and social neighbourly visits were especially fun. They made me feel as if I was actually there with them.

The writing can be a bit dramatic at times, but I adored every minute. It never dragged and the storytelling style was fun and engaging which works especially well for the audiobook format. 

The narrator did a good job capturing the tone of the text. I listened mostly at 1x and 1.25x speeds and never needed to speed things up for my brain to engage. But with the narrator's voice and enunciation, I think the book would still be very easy to understand at faster speeds.

Overall, I really enjoyed this audiobook and will be checking out the other entries in the series as well as other books by the author!