Winter'S Fire (Book 2 Of Rise Of Sigurd, The)

Norway, AD 785 - a vow of vengeance must be kept . . . Sigurd Haraldarson has proved himself a great warrior . . . and a dangerous enemy. He has gone a long way towards avenging the murder of his family. And yet the oath-breaker King Gorm, who betrayed Sigurd's father, still lives. And so long as he draws breath, the scales remain unbalanced. The sacred vow to avenge his family burns in Sigurd's veins, but he must be patient and bide his time. He knows that he and his band of warriors are not yet strong enough to confront the treacherous king. They need silver, they need more spear-brothers to rally to the young Viking's banner - but more than these, they need to win fame upon the battlefield. And so the fellowship venture west, to Sweden, to fight as mercenaries. And it is there - in the face of betrayal and bloodshed, on a journey that will take him all too close to the halls of Valhalla - that Sigurd's destiny will be forged. There, in the inferno of winter's fire . . . The Vikings return in this thrilling, thunderous sequel to Giles Kristian's bestselling God of Vengeance. Review: "Storm-blown, salt-flecked and gore-spattered, Winter's Fire is a belter of a novel. It's just what I have come to expect from the master storyteller, Giles Kristian, whose books throw the reader headlong into the Viking age . . . this is a stirring tale of comradeship, bloodshed and treachery. It's perfect for fans of historical fiction and fantasy alike, from Cornwell to Abercrombie." -- BEN KANE "Wild as the waves, savage as a wolf pack in full flight, this is Viking writing at its best. bloody and savage and glorious, this tale of courage and cunning, of vengeance and of lives touched by the Gods is all we could possibly ask for from a historical novel: perfect." -- MANDA SCOTT "Nobody writes this type of swaggering historical fiction better than Kristian. Big swords, bigger beards and lots of action, all delivered with real panache and poetry." -- ANTONIA SENIOR * The Times * "There are authors whose work I take the time to savour. Ben Kane for gritty, brutal history. Christian Cameron for the lyrical essence of men at war. Joe Abercrombie for grim, scarred characters with no choice except to fight and die. Giles Kristian's Winter's Fire combined all three, but blended with a panache that made the pages fly by in a single sitting. More!" -- ANTHONY RICHES "Simply stunning." * PARMENION BOOKS * Author Biography: Family history (he is half Norwegian) inspired GILES KRISTIAN to write his first historical novels: the acclaimed and bestselling Raven Viking trilogy - Blood Eye, Sons of Thunder and Odin's Wolves. A long-held fascination with the English Civil War then led him to chart the fortunes of a family divided by that brutal conflict in The Bleeding Land and Brothers' Fury before co-writing Wilbur Smith's No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In his recent novels - God of Vengeance (a Times Book of the Year), Winter's Fire and now Wings of the Storm - he returned to the Viking world to tell the story of the rise of Sigurd Haraldarson and his celebrated fictional fellowship. Giles Kristian lives in Leicestershire.