Review: Well written, good research, highly recommended
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2012
I really enjoyed this book, both as a history major and someone whose idea of fun is dressing up as a Viking and using a drop spindle.  I could tell right away the author knew her stuff and was probably a spinner herself with at least some experience with warp-weighted looms.  But the book wasn't all about crafts and background, although that was very well done-it also has a gripping story that stays totally in context, having assisted my husband writing historical novels I know this can be one of the hardest things to do when writing about another time.  This book also avoids what I call "Her Viking Hunk" syndrome and while I might personally have been cheering for a different suitor for the heroine, that's just personal preference and the story reads well.  It also, while part of a trilogy (I got this book free but plan to purchase the others) it does not leave you hanging in mid-plot, forcing you to either buy the next book or forever wonder what happened.  You can see where things are probably going, but the book stands on its own, another thing I really appreciate and consider good writing technique.Finally, I only had to mention a few place names and plot issues for my husband "Dr. P.h.d. in Old Norse/Anglo Saxon studies from Cambridge UK, for him to say "Ah, its the Great Army and she's using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as source material"...which when you read the notes at the back of the book is in fact the case.  Husband had a few questions about a few things (but he hasn't read the book and they were very technical) I pointed out it was a novel not an academic work - he did think using the Saxon forms of the Viking names made sense, since the point of view speaker is a Saxon herself.There were just a couple of times I had to suspend belief just a little bit, such as when the heroine sets on her own - but people in all ages do things like that and sometimes get away with them.  Saxon women had fewer rights than Viking ones of the period but were a lot freer than their Norman cousins; a pass-down from their own pre-Viking, Germanic ancestors that came in during the 4th/5th/6th centuries.I did ask my husband also about the total lack of women and the terrible state of the Viking stronghold (in England) because in general Northman (what they actually called themselves) usually traveled with women (slaves, concubines and wives) and tended to be farmers, and so understand the importance of farm animals, flax, fields etc.  But husband pointed out the early stages of the Great Army were really rough guys, probably were younger sons out to win glory, reported to have been very destructive and may have brought the women over later (something the book hints is going to happen). So the plot actually is quite believable, given that is what the historical record suggests.Husband also said that historians simply don't know how long Heathen practices (as in Germanic religion) continued in Saxon England as an official minority (slightly underground) religion.  But he suggested that folk traditions would have been all over the places and poetry and customs about the old Gods certainly were everywhere and the Vikings and Saxons would have recognized the Viking pantheon as familiar.Anyway, if you like Anglo-Saxon England and/or you like real Vikings - you will like this book.  Five Stars Indeed!I look forward to seeing other authors combine their historical and historical romances with good research and interesting people in them that are appropriate for their time and place.