Manga Review: Vinland Saga Volume Ten by Makoto Yukimura
Warning: This review will contain spoilers for previous volumes, so you may want to read the reviews for those first.
It is still the age of Vikings. Thorfinn’s voyage to Greece to sell narwhal tusks so he can finance an expedition to Vinland has been interrupted by war in the Baltic Sea. He’d rather skip involvement altogether, but as it happens, Thorfinn has a claim on the throne of the Jomsvikings, the most powerful raiders in the area. Thus the forces of Floki want to kill Thorfinn to advance the cause of Baldr, Floki’s grandson, while the forces of Vagn have essentially abducted Thorfinn to be the figurehead of their own political movement.
Much of the focus this time is on new character Garm. Garm’s a prodigy at spear fighting, and has a special spear that allows him to pull off some amazing feats. Unfortunately, he’s rather kill-happy, and always looking for a decent fight. This leads Garm to some bad decisions while serving Floki.
Garm’s determination to fight Thorfinn clashes badly with Thorfinn’s determination to not use violence to solve his problems. In frustration, Garm abducts several of Thorfinn’s crew to use as hostages to force Thorfinn into a confrontation. Garm doesn’t realize he’s made that much more difficult by sparking open battle between Vagn’s forces (now led by Thorkell the Tall, who switched sides) and Floki’s forces.
Meanwhile, Sigurd, Gudrid’s legal husband, bonds with Thorkell, who he sees as a hero, even though right now Sigurd is his slave.
As always, the art is top-notch, with fascinating characters. There’s dark humor and well-drawn violence. Garm’s throwdown with Thorkell is itself worth the price of admission.
Content note: In addition to the gory violence, there’s off-page rape. Thorfinn and Hild respond by helping the survivors escape. (This is huge character development for Thorfinn, who in the earliest chapters just shrugged and left the area.)
There’s a cliffhanger ending, so I’m eagerly looking forward to the next volume.
Recommended to people who liked the earlier volumes; new readers are likely to be confused and should start at the beginning.
