The new heroics  Kathryn Hughes is stunned by a fantasy set in a
solid world  Halli Sveinsson is hardly the stuff that heroes are
made of - his 14-year-old bad behaviour has long exhausted the
patience of both his community and his family. Resentful at
having to live in a time of peace, when the law rather than the
sword decides tribal disputes, Halli feasts himself silly on
stories of his warrior ancestors. Instead of busying himself
with the minutiae of estate life, the young nobleman picks
fights, plays vicious tricks and runs off on fools' errands in a
desperate attempt to recreate the grim glory of the olden days.
1. Heroes of the Valley   2. by Jonathan Stroud   3. Find this
on the Guardian bookshop  All this happens in a space which is
rigorously realised though entirely make-believe. The period
appears to be early medieval, the place Scandinavia. But from
these sketchy ground strokes Jonathan Stroud creates a world of
minute and solid detail, as unfantastic as fantasy can ever be.
The "valley" of t