Serving as member of the Varangian Guard, Harald Hardrada, last and greatest of Vikings, battles for his life in a world of intrigue, corruption and murder.
This is the first in a multi-volume series, following the extraordinary life of Harlad Hardrada, last and greatest of all Vikings.
In the mid-eleventh century, Hardrada serves in the Varangian Guard but with the accesion of the mad emperor, Michael V, everything changes and Hardrada is soon the target for a violent change in power in the great city of Constantinople.
Managing to escape from the clutches of the jealous Empress Zoe, Hardrada embarks on a series of adventures which will see him pitted against some of the most dangerous individuals in the whole of the Byzantine Empire. If he survives, fame and fortune awaits.
If he fails ... death will be the victor.
Professional Reviews
You should read this 'Varangian' and again!
In my search for more good historical fiction, I started to think about different time periods and people/places that I haven’t read about. Oddly, I saw a commercial one day for a show called “Vikings”, and I immediately thought “Oh yeah! PIRATES! I should get a book about that!” But I accidentally searched for viking historical fiction, for some reason (subliminal messaging, perhaps?), and came across this book.
The plot is so complicated and intricate (in a good way), that the easiest way for me to describe it would be “It’s like Game of Thrones, but with Vikings!” (Technically, those books are “The Songs of Ice and Fire, but everyone knows it as Game of Thrones now. Thanks HBO!). There is political intrigue, violence, sex, ridiculous and crazy names to keep track of: Pretty much identical in every way.
But I don’t want to give the wrong impression: I really enjoyed this book. It might be influenced by those other works, but there is something different about the way that it is told in this context that is very intriguing. It might be the fact that it is considered to be “Historical Fiction”, and that it is rooted in reality somewhat, that makes it all the more exciting. In this book, you won’t see the line “And then the dragon came down, and totally killed all of the Vikings, and it was super rad.”, because A) The writing is much better than that, and B) this is based in reality.
All in all, I really enjoyed it. If you do enjoy Game of Thrones, and want something that might not be QUITE as complicated as those books have become (only medical textbooks are more complicated, nowadays), I highly recommend it.
Great story from an insightful author
This was one of my favorite historical-based books that I've read in ages, mainly because it blended reality and fiction so perfectly. Fictional characters mixed with actual figures from this time period, and i found myself flipping back and forth between search engines and my reader to try and decipher which parts were based on fact and which were just the creations of Yates' imagination. It was a seamless and well-thought out story that had everything someone who loves 300, Rome, Game of Thrones, and dozens of other historical/fantasy/intrigue sources of entertainment. There was violence and sex and betrayal and power-hungry madmen who would stop at nothing to retain their control.
The writing also wasn't "cheap", and I didn't find Yates to be falling into any easy-way-out plots or generic styles of writing/character creation. Hardrada supplied a fascinating perspective as a foreigner seeing all of this and becoming so enmeshed, while he had plenty of his own ambitions and motives for his actions. I loved the interplay between Michael, Zoe, and Hardrada; anytime an author can make me uncomfortable, or wince at his words, as though they were being said right to me....that's just good literature. I could go on and on about this book, but if you like political intrigue, a decent dose of violence, and unpredictable plot turns in a meticulously crafted historical setting, than you should already be reading this book....
Vividly descriptive
Political conspiracies, characters who’ll stop at nothing in their quest to grab power, and ample doses of sex, betrayal and violence make this historical fiction an interesting read. The author does a decent enough job of blending fact with fiction to keep readers turning the pages.
Set in and around the city of Byzantium in the eleventh-century, which is now modern-day Istanbul in Turkey, the novel narrates the tale of Harald Sigurdsson, a real-life warrior who fought for the Byzantines and was rumoured to be having an affair with the ruling Empress of that time.
The story focuses on the futility of war which ravages kingdoms and countries and often leads to more misery and brutality. The characters are well-fleshed out, it’s hard not to either love them or hate them completely, and the plot is full of twists and turns.
Recommended only if you’ve the stomach for a vividly descriptive story full of deceit, depravity and death. I can’t wait for the second instalment in the series!
