The Saga of Ref the Sly

My initial response after reading this saga was that it was incredibly entertaining. The storyline was very easy to follow since there were few tangents and it flowed at a relatively fast pace forward throughout. I agree that this saga seems to have more of an influence from continental European literature, mainly in the sense that it included a character which was very strongly portrayed as the protagonist, which contrasts with other Icelandic sagas. I found Ref very easy to relate to and I found myself hoping for his wellbeing throughout the saga. While he may have been rather harsh about compensating for losses and wrongdoings against him, I felt like he behaved very rationally and never acted unprovoked. Whenever Ref planned his vengeance, he made sure he had accommodate for his family's safe keeping first, which I found very admirable.
Also, I did think that this saga seemed a lot more romantic than other sagas which are much more cut-and-dry. There was certainly an element of fantasy in the great feats that Ref achieves as well as in his sort of Cinderella story where he transforms from a useless lump to a heroic and talented individual. Also, the happy ending for the protagonist seemed rather romantic and more similar to other European works than Icelandic/Viking sagas to me.
I did think it a little strange that the King seemed to have a good deal of respect for Ref but after he was influenced by Bard, he immediately lost that respect and even gave Bard advice on how to potentially defeat Ref, despite the fact that he thought Ref was innocent. The King seemed like such an intelligent man, one who would appreciate Ref's cleverness and ingenious instead of making him a target and enemy of the state.