Title: A Thing of Vikings
Author: athingofvikings
Rating: M
Genre: Drama/Romance
Status: WIP; ~830,000 words of story. About 1/3 through planned story as author just started book 3/6(?) of the series
Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon
Pairings: Hiccup/Astrid, Hiccup/OC
Summary: Take History. Add Dragons. Stir until something explodes. Add more Kings, Emperors, Romans, Vikings, Conquerors, Spies, Warriors, Thieves, Knights, Nobles, and one Genius, to taste. Let simmer and take cover. A HTTYD Alt-History fic with a premise of: Take the first HTTYD film as canon, and then set that, gently, in the historical 1040s. And then stand back and watch the fireworks.
Link:
A3O: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408971/chapters/22985466
FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12639117/1/A-Thing-Of-Vikings

I finished reading this monster of a story over the past week and really enjoyed it. As the main summary says, the story's premise is that the first How to Train Your Dragon movie was set in a realistic environment during the mid-1000's. Berk was placed in the Scottish Hebrides so plenty of the early action involves major historical figures of the time from England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, and Norway. As the story continues, the scope of the world vastly expands. The author is at the very least an amateur history buff with a solid understanding of the time period. Expect to read about plenty of contemporary locations, languages, and people.

Each chapter begins with an excerpt of some type from the future of the world the author has created, generally from a few hundred years after the events of the story. Mostly come from fictional history books which relate to the chapter's topic in some ways. Some actually have really interesting tidbits about how certain actions cascade over time or foreshadow upcoming events.

Despite being over 800,000 words in, only a year or 2 have passed since the events of the first movie. Considering some of the events mentioned in the excerpts which are clearly being built up to, I don't see how this story could be finished before 2-3 millions words.

Updates each Sunday with 10-20K word chapters. Three 1-month long hiatuses happen each year for author to recover and catch back up on writing load.

Pros:

• Solid writing
• Expansive world building (helped by the fact that its a quasi-historical fic). Major plus if you're a history buff like I am.
• Many POV's throughout each chapter which show world building in other areas of the world which haven't affected the crew of Berk yet. Takes a bit to really takeoff, but
  Spoiler

  Snotlout's story becomes incredibly interesting once he makes it to the Roman Empire (Byzantine Era).
• Major focus on Hiccup's innovations. His use of dragons basically revolutionizes every aspect of society beyond the obvious warfare examples. Almost a Mary Sue sometimes, but he really is this intelligent in parts of cannon and lots of points from expanded HTTYD material show up with a focus on what it would mean for the real world. i.e. Gronckle Iron (from TV series) is basically a way to mass produce steel 800 years early.
• Author has a clear plan for the full story built up. Plenty of foreshadowing and expansive political machinations. While some major confrontations happen in a timely manner, other shadowy villains seen in some POV's from early on are still around plotting in the background 800,000 words later.

Cons:

• As you sometimes see in these massive fics, there is a section from around 200,000-300,000 in that I thought dragged a lot and was a chore to get through in order to move on to the good stuff. Mainly due to the next point.
• I had no interest or investments in some of the side character POV's. Considering some play a major role, this is a pretty big issue.
  Spoiler

  Heather and Fishlegs' story in particular was extremely boring in my opinion. Heather has a ridiculous amount of screentime throughout the story.
• Berk has a much too modern, progressive culture which becomes a major theme throughout the story. Author justifies it as a result of living in constant danger of extinction by dragon for hundreds of years revolutionizing Norse culture which was already progressive in some ways, but Berk is basically an abolitionist, LGBTQ-friendly, multicultural Socialist-Democracy in a world of conservative, religious radicals. Basically, all 'good' people who see Berk aren't just amazed by their dragons, but by their amazing society. Again, seems a bit Mary-Sueish as a society.

4/5

 

I started this, and it is well written but Hiccup's pacifism just seemed ridiculous. I've never seen the movies so I don't know if it's in character but it's hard to see how he could be so utterly different from his society. I was reading it in an airport though, so I checked out a shortly after Snotlout left for Rome and haven't felt compelled to pick it up again.

A polite 3/5 for competence and ambition.

 

I blitzed though all that had been posted a little while back and enjoyed it for what it was, but after setting it to notify me of updates I just couldn't muster the will to keep reading.

2.5/5