Jarl Dragon Heart has taken to the seas. With his wolf warriors he raids further afield than ever before as he seeks his destiny. He has to fight new enemies as well as treacherous former allies. The Norns weave their webs and the Vikings discover the Middle Sea and Africa before they find themselves at the court of Nikephoros 1, the Emperor of Byzantium. A vast moving novel filled with battles both at sea and on land as the Viking Wolf unleashes his pack on the world.
I was born in 1950 in Lancashire and attended a boy’s grammar school. After qualifying as an English and Drama teacher in 1972, I worked in the North East of England for the next 35 years. During that time I did write, mainly plays, pantos and musicals for the students at the three schools in which I worked.
When I stopped teaching I set up my own consultancy firm and worked as an adviser in schools and colleges in the North East of England. The new Conservative Government ended that avenue of work and in 2010 I found that I had time on my hands; having started work at the age of 15 I found the lack of work not to my liking and used the time to research the Roman invasion of Britain and begin to create a novel. The result was The Sword of Cartimandua.
My decision to begin writing was one of the best I have ever taken.
As always, Hosker spins a cracking yarn. The action ever stops and the characters are well drawn, if a little over heroic at times. The sense of time and place is good and sets the background well. My only criticism is,as always with Hosker's books, his lack of editing. As an ex teacher of English, as I am, he should know that spell and grammar check in Word are nowhere near good enough for "proper" writing. There are far too many repititions, oddly worded sentences- and in one case a completely duplicated paragraph. This is a shame as I am a huge fan of Hosker's work in all other aspects and love the way that he fleshed out such a wide spectrum of history.
5th book in Hosker’s addictive series, written in the first person through the eyes of the main protagonist, well-narrated by Marston York that I’ve listened on the trot.
Smooth, consistent writing and action on almost every turn of the page. Heads severed, stomachs disembowelled, limbs hacked off by mystic non-Viking Viking Garth Dragonheart and his band wolf-spirited infused mates.
Sense of a time that would have been significantly different from our own is usually preserved, but I found it deteriorated somewhat as the series progressed. A little enlightened modern POV creeps in now and then which assumably might have seemed at the time a little alien within the context of the time frame involved.
Does it have deep, literary value? Most likely not.
Is it an breezy, enjoyable action oriented read that has few down sides. Most certainly, but ensure you have a good chunk of your time available to spend on it.
This series is really enjoyable “Beach reading”. It is fast acting and you even get a bit of history and geography . I can’t wait to get into the next book in the series.
This one is my favorite so far. A new adventure. Got bored of the saxons and raiding. This one goes further south and its more interesting. New people new adventure
Jarl Dragon Heart literally fights his way to Constantinople and his fates become entwined with a faction attempting to gain control or retain rule of the Byzantine Empire. does he choose the winning side ? A hint: there are another ten books in the series.
I love historical fiction. This series was action packed fast paced with a great main character. It has some historical knowledge but it doesn't read like a history book. If you like Bernard Cornwall and his Saxon series you will enjoy this