My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With a recent obsession with the Vikings tv series, when this book came up I thought the story blurb sounded interesting. This is novel tells the story of Stefan, a young Viking on his first raid with his father. When the raid goes wrong Stefan finds himself stranded in Scotland and at the mercy of a young female, Kannak, who has hidden him from her clan. Kannak has a lot going on too, her father has deserted her and her mother and clan tradition is that one of them must marry, but her mother has a secret that Kannak can never know that could threaten their way of life. With Kannak alone knowing the truth about Stefan, can she protect him from the clan at risk as a suspect of betrayal? Will her refusal to marriage endanger her and her mother’s way of life?
The story had an interesting premise, and it gripped me very quickly. The author seems to have researched a lot of details making it very realistic. The split between Kannak and Stefan worked very well and the blossoming relationship between was lovely! Suspense, drama, passion, history, and innocence all add to this dramatic story.
The settings are well written and you can feel the isolated village come to life, I really enjoyed the opening scenes on the boat too, an exciting start to the story which was brilliantly described. These are wonderful details that certainly added to the story and plot.
This book captures your interest in a beautiful historic setting, giving a fairly well known story a refreshing view. These books will appeal to most historical fiction fans especially those of Philippa Gregory. I will certainly keep an eye out for more from this author. This novel is part of a series so I look forward to reading more in the future.
New2Writing 