Book Review: The Yngling

Book Review: 'The Yngling' by John Dalmas

2 / 5 Stars

'The Yngling' first appeared as a novelette in the October and November 1969 issues of Analog. Author Dalmas expanded the novelette into a 224-page novel, published by Pyramid Books in August, 1971. The cover art is by Jeff Jones.

'John Dalmas' was the pen name of the U.S. writer John Robert Jones, 1926 - 2017. 'The Yngling' was his first novel; during the next 40 years, he went on to published a large body of novels, mainly in the genres of space opera and military sci-fi. 

'The Yngling' is set in a post-apocalyptic Europe, some one thousand years into the future. Civilization has reverted to a medieval level, recapitulating the era of duchies, principalities, earldoms, and kingdoms. A quasi-clandestine network of telepaths (or 'psis'), known as the Inner Circle, provide counsel to the lords and serve as communications hubs.

While the nation-states of Western Europe are busy quarreling with one another, the psis have gained knowledge of an alarming development in Asia Minor. A tyrant known as Kazi the Undying has used a mixture of charisma and brutality to bring nomadic horsemen and Turkic soldiery under his rule. Kazi's army of thirty thousand well-trained and ruthless fighters is heading West, bring fear and destruction in its wake.  

Fortunately for the peoples of Western Europe, a hero, or 'Yngling' in Scandinavian society, has arisen. A physical specimen of a man named Nils Hammarson. Despite his youth, Nils has a stoic quality that, teamed with a quick intelligence, allows him to defeat all comers.

As Kazi's army draws closer to the territory of Ukraine, responsibility for leading the combined armies of Western Europe against Kazi falls on the immense shoulders of Nils Hammarson. Outnumbered, and unused to working cooperatively, the Europeans are at a distinct disadvantage. But Nils has a genius for tactics, and Kazi is going to learn that it is costly to tangle with the barbaric men from the North.....

'The Yngling' is a mediocre novel, even by the standards of sci-fi and fantasy writing of the late 1960s. This mediocrity is due mostly to the narrative, which is crammed with ad hoc plot developments. These have a perfunctory, tossed-off quality that is worsened by the fact that Nils is a superman, able to defeat anyone in armed combat; gifted with psi abilities that give him forewarning of enemy intentions; and able to heal grievous wounds simply by going into a lengthy trance state (?!). There's little suspense or tension in the narrative, when Nils can win every encounter.

The novel somewhat redeems itself in its final third, when the armies of Nils and Kazi clash in the steppes and marshes of Ukraine; these segments are well-rendered accounts of medieval warfare and the value of using good strategy to counter numerical superiority. 

'Yngling' ends in such a way as to hint at a sequel. However, Dalmas did not publish this until 1984, and 'The Homecoming.'  In 1992 Baen Books issued 'The Yngling' and 'Homecoming' as a two-volume omnibus, titled 'The Orc Wars'.

Further books in the series include 'The Yngling and the Circle of Power' (1994), and 'The Yngling in Yamato.' 

The fact that the series features four novels suggests that some must find the Yngling saga entertaining. What can I say ? I'll end with the observation that in a 2016 review posted at his blog, M. Porcius found 'The Yngling' to be just as underwhelming (if not more so) than I did. Let our critiques aid you, in any decision you make to sit down with something from the Yngling saga........