"Anyone read the Arn books by Jan Guillou?" Topic

Has anyone read these? link
Originally in Danish I think – I was wondering if anyone could give a view on them?

I started the first one. I was 50+ pages in and the main character was still a boy and had just been sent to the monastery. With the limits on my time these days, I just don't have patience with long, drawn-out novels so I gave up on it. It seemed like a good story, if you have the time for it.

They are Swedish actually.
I have only read them in Swedish so I don't know how the english translation is, but they are very popular here in Sweden. For those that want some war action can jump the first book. The first book is about Arn being a boy, the second him being a crusader knight and in the third he takes all the knowledge from the Middle east (arab and european) and make Sweden a high tech country (water mills, charging knights, long bows and stuff like that).

I have read the Swedish version. Even if it starts a bit slow it builds up to a great story. The books have now also become 2 movies. I guess they are only available with Nordic subs so far. Since the Arn story is tied to the Swedish history of 1160-1210 there is a small tourist industry built around the story. Last week I visited some of the histrical sites and battlefields included in the story. Even if the author have taken a few shortcuts, reading the books is a good way to be introduced to Swedish history of the middle ages.