Description
Book SynopsisSix years after The Half-Drowned King, Ragnvald Eysteinsson is now king of Sogn, but fighting battles for King Harald keeps him away from home, as he confronts treachery and navigates a political landscape that grows more dangerous the higher he rises.
Ragnvald''s sister Svanhild has found the freedom and adventure she craves at the side of the rebel explorer Solvi Hunthiofsson, though not without a cost. She longs for a home where her quiet son can grow strong, and a place where she can put down roots, even as Solvi''s ambition draws him back to Norway''s battles again and keeps her divided from her brother.
As a growing rebellion unites King Harald''s enemies, Ragnvald suspects that some Norse nobles are not loyal to Harald''s dream of a unified Norway. He sets a plan in motion to defeat all of his enemies, and bring his sister back to his side, while Svanhild finds herself with no easy decisions, and no choices that will leave her truly free. Their actions wi
Trade Review
A seafaring epic with bloodcurdling raids and political intrigue to spare... Svanhild emerges as a complicated, talented, and shrewd warrior in her own right... Hartsuyker is a skilled storyteller, and the moral battles her characters wrestle with on and off the battlefield add compelling psychological depth to an old and epic tale - Kirkus Reviews
Hartsuyker's second volume in her trilogy (after
The Half-Drowned King) continues the saga of Ragnvald Eysteinsson... but
Svanhild proves that Norse women can be just as vicious and cunning as Norse men.... this is an ambitious tale of Norwegian medieval warfare told in richly colorful and accurate historical detail. Hartsuyker's novel reveals just how tenuous life is when disputes are settled with sword and battle-axe - Publishers Weekly
Through her multifaceted characters, Hartsuyker adeptly evokes female alliances, the complications of love and passion, and vengeance both terrible and triumphant as she effectively juggles many subplots and settings, from Norway's harsh, picturesque coast to sulfurous Iceland and Dublin's muddy harbor - Booklist
This is historical fiction at its best and shouldn't be missed...Hartsuyker adds a rich, Shakespearean approach to characters and politics...All three main characters, Svanhild particularly, are so beautifully realized in their intelligence and emotional development that the descriptions of sea voyages, battles, and mead hall law-wrangling mesh seamlessly with the more personal stories - Editors Choice, Historical Novels Review
