Blood of the Bear – the final Fire Born is out now
The last book in my Fire Born Viking series – Blood of the Bear – is now loose in the wild. This is the culmination of the adventures of Bjarki Bloodhand and Tor Hildarsdottir (although I am not ruling out further books set in their world) and, if I may say so, it is a blistering tale of blood, battle and bravery.
If you don’t know what the story is about, this is the gist of it from the blurb on the back of the book:
AD 781. Pagan Saxony groans under the Christian yoke. The invincible armies of Karolus, King of the Franks, occupy all this freedom-loving land and every Saxon must submit to baptism and pay tithes to the Church, or face death by beheading.
Duke Widukind, leader of the Saxon rebels, is sheltering in the North, beyond Karolus’s reach. He hopes to persuade Bjarki Bloodhand – once a famous berserker, but now a father and family man – and his fierce sister the shield-maiden Tor, to join his revolt against tyranny.
But Bjarki has eloped with Widukind’s sister Edith, who was betrothed to Abbio the Crow. In revenge, Abbio uses seithr to strike at Bjarki – a powerful spell to drive him insane. Can Bjarki resist the long slide into madness? And will Widukind finally liberate Saxony from the Franks?
Perfect for fans of Matthew Harrfy, Giles Kristian and, dare I say it, Angus Donald
It’s been a rollercoaster journey with Bjarki Bloodhand and Tor Hildarsdottir – and if you don’t know the series at all, you should start with The Last Berserker (Fire Born 1) – but now, after five gore-spattered novels, it’s time for me to move one to other writing projects. You can buy Blood of the Bear (Fire Born 5) here as a paperback, eBook or audio book. And next up for me is Templar Traitor: The Englishman who fought for Genghis Khan, the first book in a new adventure series, which will be out in April next year.