Child of Loki

The Northern Crown #2

by Richard Denning

The Northern Crown Series Book Two Child of Loki A divided land ... a divided family. The Battle of Catraeth has been won and Cerdic's homeland is safe ... but for how long? The Northern British were crushed but yet more enemies have risen to replace them. Soon Cerdic and his friends must go to war again - against the Scots and Picts north of Hadrian's wall. He goes to help his country's allies - the Bernicians - under their great warlord, Aethelfrith. But what is Aethelfrith's true design? How ambitious is he and how far will he go to fulfil his dreams? And what is Cerdic's treacherous half brother, Hussa up to in these fierce wild lands? All Cerdic wants is to be left to live out his life in peace. But Loki, it seems, has other ideas.

Genres: Historical Fiction

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

I was born in Ilkeston in Derbyshire and live in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands.
I worked as a General Practitioner with a North Birmingham practice until April 2017 when I retired from NHS practice to focus on my other work. I am married with two children.

I am a historical fiction, historical fantasy and Young adult sci-fi, writer. I also write online articles on historical, publishing and gaming related topics. I have my own Blog 'Richard's Ramblings' where discuss these and other subjects.

I visit Historical Associations, Schools, Libraries, Clubs and Societies. Topics covered include the Anglo-Saxon Era, The Great Fire of London, Time Travel and Creative Writing.

A keen player of board games and other games I am one of the directors of UK Games Expo
(the UK's largest hobby games convention and one of the largest in the world).

I am a board game designer and my first Board Game 'The Great Fire on London 1666' was published by Medusa Games and Prime Games in October 2010. Since then I have published several other games.

Reviews

[Phil Moseley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Really good with some nice and unexpected twists, reading through this series of books by this very good author. Bring on the next book.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with no dull moments. The characters are well-written and you can really feel Cerdic's hesitancy in becoming the warrior and leader that his people need. His brother, Hussa, is the type of character you can truly hate for all his treachery, but he isn't the only one manipulating events.

This book could have benefitted from a fresh pair of eyes during the editing process. There were numerous instances of misplaced quotation marks during dialogue which disrupted the flow of the story. The following are only two examples, but there were several more.
"Perhaps not, but he will help me, Lilla said." (Quotation mark should have been after the word 'me,' not at the end of the sentence.)
"And these loyal warriors," I added, indicating those of my company who were with us still." (why is there a random quotation mark here?)

There were also places where incorrect words were used, such as 'then' instead of 'than'. Even the names/titles of main characters were sometimes in error: Hereic instead of Hereric and Prance Edwin instead of Prince Edwin.

These should have been caught during a careful edit, which makes me think that the author rushed this book to publishing.

Beyond these errors, the story kept me interested enough that I plan to continue the series.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating . . Cerdic is my kind of hero. Overall he is a wonderfully flawed warrior who can lead his people like no other. I get why people follow him and I understand their loyalty to him.

There was non-stop action in this book and I was intrigued and awed by the manipulating and treachery going around. HUSSA - I fairly hiss when I see his name - is a horrible person and seriously needs to be killed - by Cerdic!

I found a couple of typos or misplaced words that caught my attention and I was a little irked by some of the repetitiveness going on in the story. But while I took note of these things it did not hamper my enjoyment of the book.

[Tim Schiraldi · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good story built around what little information there is about the English and Britons in the Dark Ages. A fun, fast read.

[Judith A Blaise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying the Series

I love history base novels. It isn't hard to imagine this era by the way this author wrote. He pulls you into the story.
I just bought the third in this series.