God Of Vengeance (Book 1 Of Rise Of Sigurd, The)

Description: Norway 785 AD. It began with the betrayal of a lord by a king . . . King Gorm puts Jarl Harald's family to the sword, but makes one fatal mistake - he fails to kill Harald's youngest son, Sigurd. His kin slain, his village seized and its people taken as slaves, Sigurd wonders if the gods have forsaken him. Hunted by powerful men, he is unsure who to trust and yet he has a small band of loyal followers at his side. With them - and with the help of the All-Father, Odin - he determines to make a king pay in blood for his treachery. Using cunning and war-craft, Sigurd gathers together a fellowship of warriors - including his father's right-hand man Olaf, Bram (who men call Bear), Black Floki who wields death with a blade, and the shield maiden Valgerd, who fears no man - and convinces them to follow him. For, whether Odin is with him or not, Sigurd will have vengeance. And neither men nor gods had best stand in his way . . . God of Vengeance is a must-read for all who enjoy thrilling, action-packed fiction - from Bernard Cornwell to George R R Martin's Game of Thrones.

Review: "Action-packed storytelling which stirs the blood and thrills the soul" * WILBUR SMITH * "What elevates Kristian above the many pretenders to Cornwell's crown is the style and swagger of the prose. He is a modern skald, borrowing the old rhythms to create a brutal, absorbing tale" -- Antonia Senior * THE TIMES 'Books of the Year' * "Unrelenting pace, brilliant action and characters. A masterwork." * CONN IGGULDEN * "A glorious, bloody, perfect Viking saga, rich with the poetry of the skald, ripe with blood and glory, vengeance and heartbreak. The characters stride from the page, alive, hungry, real . . . this is Viking writing at its very best" * MANDA SCOTT * "This is the best kind of storytelling - a saga full of blood and thunder that grabs you and doesn't let go until long after the final page is turned" * STEVEN PRESSFIELD * "A pulse-pounding tale of blood, betrayal and honour. Hereward and his spear-brothers would definitely feel at home here" * JAMES WILDE * "A great success . . . His knowledge of the period, and imaginative immersion in it, mean that God of Vengeance conjures up Sigurd's bloody, violent world, with all its alien beliefs and strange customs, in vivid and compelling detail" -- Nick Rennison * BBC HISTORY * "Epic in character, atmosphere and deed . . . Kristian is a terrific storyteller . . . the writing and language are wonderfully rich, and you want to savour every bone-shattering, blood-curdling, sentence" * TOBY CLEMENTS * "A revenger's tale writ large . . . Kristian's latest Viking-era saga won't disappoint" * DAILY MAIL * "A pulsating saga delivered with the sweep and power of a Norse war axe" -- TIM SEVERIN

Author Biography: Family history (he is half Norwegian) and his storytelling hero, Bernard Cornwell, inspired Giles Kristian to write his first historical novels, the bestselling Raven Viking trilogy - Blood Eye, Sons of Thunder and Odin's Wolves. For his next series, he turned to the English Civil War.The Bleeding Land and Brothers' Fury follow the fortunes of a divided family against the complex and brutal backcloth of that conflict. In God of Vengeance he had returned to the Vikings to tell of the origins of Sigurd and his celebrated fictional fellowship. Giles lives in Leicestershire. His website is www.gileskristian.com