[cmbs]

I saw that he called it a historical novel, but that could be true of it based on his description - written a few hundred years after the events took place, and having elements that were obviously fiction.

Personally I think if no deceit is intended, he should make clear it's a modern novel written by him somewhere in the book. At the end if he likes. He calls himself a translator, not an author. He says it's been translated before, and gives a name and date.

The example given of someone pretending to be Sherlock Holmes' wife is obviously false, since Sherlock Holmes is a character, not a human. And I'd have to see that book to even compare. Is the charade carried all the way through like it is in this Viking Saga? The Viking Saga could be truly a translation of an old document, there's nothing obviously fictitious about that possibility, like Sherlock Holmes' wife.

Not that I am defending any of it. I think what you're reading should be made clear in the book.