My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
As a sixty six year old grumpy Yorkshireman I do not think I maybe target audience for this book but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well written and researched with a clever mix of fictional and real life historical characters this is an entertaining start to this series. A poignant touching coming of age forbidden love story. Atmospheric descriptive intelligent and engaging from first to last page. Not the amount of action I am used to in this genre but thoroughly recommended. ( )

Set in Orkney during the 12thC, this is the story of Skarfr, a skald, and Hlif, the Jarl’s ward and housekeeper. It’s a tale of forbidden love, hate, betrayal, and courage mixed in with adventures on the high seas and a little bit of magic.

It took me some time to get into this book. I’ve never read a story about the Vikings so thought I’d give this one a go. It’s well written, very vivid and atmospheric. I found the culture aspect surrounding the Vikings interesting, it’s not something I know a lot about. The research that has gone into writing this saga is admirable. I did get a little confused by all the different Jarls at first and wish the list of characters had been at the front of the book for ease of checking. I got a little lost on the timescales as it suddenly seemed to skip years. All in all, however, it’s a fascinating and impressive read. If you enjoy historical fiction combined with fact and are a fan of the Viking era, you should find this one very engaging. 3.5⭐️ ( )