Another fabulous adventure for Einar and the Wolf Coats.
Tim Hodkinson weaves a wonderful story of adventure and intrigue, slotting it into the histories of England, Norway, Scotland and Iceland in the time of King Athelstan.
An injured hand has made life more difficult for Einar, and he has to learn to fight again, even as he battles wits against the forces of Erik Bloody Axe, ensconced in the domains of Einar's father on Orkney.
The action is intense. The book races along, leaving the reader breathless but keeping them gripped to the very end.

Book Five in the Whale Road Series ... and it doesn't disappoint.

Wounded from a dual with his father, and unable to defeat his rival and nemesis, Einar realises that the ".. powers of chaos are loose ...". Separated from the Wolf Coats, Einar must heal and adapt in the face of Viking onslaughts that gives rise to a new terror - The Bear!.

Einar soon realises that this mighty warrior wields a sword more powerful than the Wolf Coats own Ulfberht sword - and to discover the secret of this powerful weapon, Einar must become a cuckoo in the nest of the Bear! Meanwhile, Eirik Bloodaxe is still a thorn in the side of the Wolf Coats - and vice versa. Eirik's queen Gunnhild will stop at nothing to see her husband secure on the throne of Orkney even if this means performing a sacred ritual and sacrifice.

Once again, the tension mounts with the increase in action, as our motley band of warriors hurtle towards their inevitable confrontation with Eirik - will they prevail, will Einar resume the path of the warrior? All we know for sure is that the Wolf Coats will live to fight another day .... afterall, it's hard to keep a good band of warriors down!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and as I read it I thought of the previous books I have read by Bernard Cornwell. It was interesting to read a book from this period that was from a different perspective and to learn about the other side of the sea.

The story was realistically brutal but was carried by believable characters that you grew to love and hate depending on where they stood in relation to the events. It was reassuring to learn at the end of the book that Tim Hodkinson is a medievalist with a deep knowledge of the subject matter and that I hadn't been duped by the historical facts given in the book.

This book was a page-turner, one that I gave up my favourite television show to read.

A really enjoyable piece of historical adventure. It was well written with a gripping storyline set during a great era that was well describe with vivid imagery and well developed charcaters that were engaging. I really liked it.