4 Stars
This book was lended to me through Lendle and I am really glad I requested this book. It is only 180 pages long so it is a quick read, but the writing is good and the story line is awesome. It is about Vikings! I love Vikings! But only to read about, I don’t think I would have liked to run into any in a dark alley. So the Malice Striker a.k.a. Jarl Brokk steals a group of ladies for an Abbey because he has been ordered by King Harold Bluetooth and some other emperor guy to marry King Kenneth’s illegitimate child. He doesn’t know what she looks like so he just takes the whole lot of women with him back to his holdings in Norway. He eventually figures out which one is Skatha and marries her. The rest of the story follows this relationship through the dangers presented. Others have been searching for Scatha as well because it is rumored that he is the child of King Kenneth and the jotunn goddess. The reader is left wondering for much of the book whether this book is going to take a dip into paranormal realms or if it is just playing up on superstitions of the day. That is indeed answered much later. Other dangers are that Bita Veor (Brokk’s holding) has its own peril that is still hiding in the shadows. Brokk and his brother Konall do not know from where the danger is coming. Their sister was taken and they are working to bring her back, but don’t quite know why she was taken. I really enjoyed every moment of this book. The hero wasn't a big fat jerk, the heroine wasn't stupid or annoying.
My biggest complaint is that the end of the book didn’t really bring any answers as to what Scatha is capable of. Perhaps the second book will expound on this, but I am guessing that “Death Blow” will be about Konall and not Brokk and Scatha.
This cover isn't the one on Amazon or Goodreads, but I like it better so it is the one I am using.
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