The saga upon which this book is based, like the other great Icelandic sagas, is told in simple yet vivid language. Treece reproduces the saga style remarkably well, capturing the sense of doom pervasive in the original. As in a Greek tragedy, the progress of fate seems inexorable; once a feud has begun, over no matter how trivial an insult, the retributions are bound to escalate until finally even the good and innocent—such as Old Njal, his wife, and Karl's little son—are caught up and killed.

Some readers will enjoy the grim humor in Treece's book, also carefully preserved from the original saga. Characters often display great wit, even when faced with death. When, for example, one of Gunnar's forty adversaries returns from battle with a split skull, his companions ask him whether or not Gunnar is at home. "That is for...