Epic Continent

Epic Continent by Nicholas Jubber is a fascinating journey through Europe exploring Europe's epic poems, from the Odyssey to Beowulf, and their impact on the European identity. It is hard to classify this book into a particular genre because it’s much more than a travelogue. Epic Continent is a part history book, part travelogue and a part literary critique and it also has a lot of commentary on the current socio-political environment.

The author travels to real-life places. from Greece to Iceland, where the epics happened (or supposed to have happened). He explores the impact of the epics on both European and national identity, how relevant they still are in today's times, what they once meant, how they were shaped by their times, and how they are impacting the European society even today. Epic Continent explores how ideas of nationhood, class, and politics have been shaped for the people of Europe and the deep impact of these epics on European identity, and their resonance in our turbulent times.

The Odyssey tells of the aftermath of the Trojan War. The Song of the Nibelungentracks the collapse of a Germanic kingdom on the edge of the Roman Empire. Both the French Song of Roland and the Serbian Kosovo Cycle cover the Christian-Muslim conflict. Beowulf, the only surviving Old English epic, and the great Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njal are also covered.


The book is a mix of travel, history and literary criticism of the Epics. At the same time, there is a lot of focus on modern Europe, on the refugee crisis and unity; Jubber meets a lot of refugees on his journey and the refugee crisis and social unrest are reflected in these tales.

The mix of travel with literature and history is an interesting one but the mixing of too many topics did make the book cluttered. The constant shifting of focus from the epics to modern issues didn’t really work for me. In the end, it seemed like the book had too many things to focus on and got distracted from the more interesting things like traveling and history.

Epic Continent is a travelogue with a focus on literature and it will appeal more to people interested in literature, but the interesting way of presenting the locations and their history is what makes the book truly unique.

Many thanks to the publishers Nicholas Brealey Publishing, author Nicholas Jubber and Netgalley for the ARC.

Epic Continent by Nicholas Jubber is a very well written and fascinating journey through Europe on the footsteps of six European epics. But it is so much more than a travelogue - from Greece to Iceland the author weaves a common thread through the epics and the places connected to them. He explores the impact of the epics on both European and national identity, how through the decades politics has used and abused them, and how relevant they still are in today's turbulent political and social climate.

Perfect for readers who love mythology and suffer from travel lust. After reading I realized that I really need to re-read the classics.

Absolutely fascinating look into the stories that make Europe. clearly written and easy to read this is a must for anyone who has an interest in ancient history and literature.

What a lovely hybrid genre this is -- part-travel memoir, part-history, part-literary criticism. Jubber does a lovely job of diving into various epics and peeling back the narrative and language layers to show us how they've shaped society and culture throughout the ages and to the present day. A beautiful treasure of a book and I wish there were more such exploring different regions of the world similarly.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the various epic tales it beautifully narrates. Highly recommend.

The idea is if you can’t travel, read a travelogue. Isn’t that one of the best things about reading? The ways it can sort of supplement the real life, providing whatever excitement isn’t there. So the main appeal of this book to me was all the traveling. And thematically it was attractive too, I’m all about stories and the author chose to follow the trails of some of the world’s oldest, epics and sagas. And so, he does, story after story, epic after epic, he traverses Europe, from popular to fairly remote destinations, all done on a realistically low budget, so his travels are accessible, even repeatable by the readers, if one so chooses. And then there are serious literary analyses of these epics too, in fact a significant percentage of this book is literary criticism, so you can simultaneously appease your wanderlust and your inner book nerd. And it’s all very well presented, from the initial summary of the chosen epic as a section starter to the individual selections for each chapter. I was familiar with some of the more famous ones and delighted to discover the somewhat lesser known ones. It did take the spotlight off of the travels, which wasn’t ideal, but manageable. What didn’t really work for me though is the fact that the author chose to also utilize this book as a platform to speak about the immigration crisis in Europe. Everywhere he went he encountered migrants and refugees in various states of legality and a considerable amount of pages dedicated to pondering the situation. It is all tied in thematically, after all so many epic sagas tell tales of people going on quests from one place to another, but…but…it seemed like too much for one book, at least for the book I wanted to read. One theme is good, two is great, but three just seemed like a company. It detracted from the more interesting (to me anyway) things like traveling and sagas. After all, the book is titled Epic Continent as in the continent of epics, not epic immigration crisis. And yes, I absolutely understand the appeal of using a given platform to espouse personal views, frankly I’ve done it myself in my reviews, things just slip out. But then again this wasn’t some random review read by a few (and thank you the few the awesome who do read mine), this is a book with a specific description that produces certain specific expectations and so the subsequent heavy seasoning of author’s political agenda served as a detractor to having those expectations met. Irrespective of where you stand on immigration crisis, actually. I just wanted a vicarious literary travel adventure. At any rate, this was the author’s personal Odyssey (that’s also the first epic of the book), his chosen direction, I salute his efforts and his journey. It produced an interesting if imperfect book that has many enjoyable aspects to it. Just wished it had different concentrations of ingredients as in heavy on travel, medium to light heavy on epics, light on politics. But then again that’s a completely personal preference. User mileage may vary. Thanks Netgalley.