How much this book will suit you depends on what you want. There are lots of color pictures drawn from a variety of sources, of varying degrees of authenticity, and it covers a fair amount of material, written for a juvenile audience. Never underestimate juvenile and young adult books, especially the nonfiction. I recommend reading both to get a basic grounding in a subject in a short amount of time. And they have better illustrations than most adult books. The focus is on the Vikings, that is the warriors who spread out from Scandinavian, often settling in other countries or continents, not Scandinavian society at the time. Which is fair enough, since the word Viking refers to far-traveling warriors, not the people home tending the farms.

My one problem is that it doesn't seem particularly organized. It roughly moves chronologically, but sometimes it seems that we are hopping around, and referring back to things that were covered earlier. The author often gives helpful page references, which makes the connections easier. The author, or course, was trying to discuss the many and varied travels of Vikings during this era, which made it difficult. Try to do in chronologically and end up continent hopping, or try to cover a particular place, and then go back in time to cover what was happening elsewhere at the same time. I got a lot of information, but I would have difficulty putting it in order. My mind is a little aswirl.

I would have liked to have seen the reproductions of the Jelli runestones that are brightly painted as the originals were. You can find them online. Interestingly, some are reproduced in two colorways, presumably two different guesses as how they might have looked. ( )

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