Dublin Crossing: Romance and Adventure in the Viking Era

Heroes of the Misty Isles #1

by Sandy Dengler

First in the Heroes of the Misty Isle Series. A.D. 793: After her family is slain and her village burned by invading Danes, Shawna is torn from her island home off the coast of Ireland. In a gallant gesture, she is adopted by Doyle Dalaiin, whose son, a scholar and a man of God, grows to love the fiercely independent Shawna.

Genres: Christian Fiction

342 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shawna of the Behr lives on an idyllic island - Lambay - off the eastern coast of Ireland. Her life tumbles around her when a Viking raid leaves her home in ruins, her kin killed and her friends carried off as slaves. Shawna only just manages to escape with her two terrified young nephews, Padraic and Paul. They are rowing to the mainland when they are spotted by Ulf Arildson, left behind to guard the longboats. The Wolf comes to grief when, after capturing Shawna and the boys, they slip over the side into the sea and he hits rough water.

Captured by Connleigh Dalainn's men, he is put to work as a slave for Connleigh's father. Doyle Dalainn has his eye on becoming the most powerful man in all Ireland - the royal seat at Tara would suit him nicely. And a captured Northman - well, that might just be the spur needed for the petty local kings to come to the realisation that a strong man like Doyle is needed to unite the Irish lords against a common foe.

Doyle is full of duplicity. The Viking raid enables him to hide some of his own killing and treachery. His son, Connleigh, is nothing like him. What Connleigh wants more than anything else is to become a monk and go to Rome. Though he's attracted to Shawna, who shares his passion for learning and love of God. And, with Doyle having adopted Padraic and Paul, she'll likely be around much more. So perhaps he's got time.

Shawna, however, begins to feel warmly towards Ulf Arildson, the Norse slave - the slayer of her kin. He becomes indebted to her, first for teaching him the language and second for creating a special built-up boot for him. Although his father is a powerful landowner, Ulf has always felt he was the disappointment of the family - simply because one of his legs is shorter than the other, hampering his ability to do many things.

Despite the special bond between him and Shawna, he takes the first real opportunity to escape and head home. And there he finds that plans are afoot for a serious invasion of Ireland.

I found the names in the story sufficiently disorienting that I would have liked the story to follow one thread. There are two main components to it - one set in Ireland and the other in Norway. Although these two are stitched together by Wolf's return home, I felt it gave an unnecessary fragmentary feel to the story. That said, when I know ahead that the story is going to be fragmentary (as I assumed it would for the next book in this series, The Emerald Sea: The Quest Of Brendan The Navigator), I found the technique much more satisfying.

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 3 out of 5]

My biggest problem with this book is the number of characters, and all the diversity of characters, and it's really hard to keep track of who is who, and who belongs where, etc. The story itself is kind of fun and fascinating, although I still love Irish romance a LOT more than Irish history. I do love that this book (and series) combine the Irish world, Celtic world, Viking world, Norse world, druids, monks, seers, plus a whole lot of various fighters ... just an awfully lot to wrap my mind around.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thinkthe author went a little too far with the druid stuff and it made me uncomfortable enough to skip those parts. But the overall story was good and engaging.