The Holmgang

"Holmgang."

A holmgang was a single combat on a small island. This one is between Bo and Lundgard on a small asteroid. For once, I do not care for Poul Anderson's narrative sequence. He begins with the two men stalking each other on the asteroid, then repeatedly flashes back to the preceding circumstances, which makes for disjointed reading. As in the earlier stories of this future history series, I am more interested in the philosophical disagreements than in the physical conflict by which one of the disputants overcomes the other. However, as always, there are many interesting details in the narration.