Please note, A Savage Moon is the fourth book in The Wanderer Chronicles. If you haven’t read books one, two and three then what follows may contains minor spoilers. Byzantium, 718AD The great siege is over. Crippled warrior, Erlan Aurvandil, is weary of war. But he must rally his strength to lead a band of misfit adventurers back to the North, to reclaim the stolen kingdom of his lover, Lilla Sviggarsdottir. For this, they need an army. To raise an army, they need gold. Together they plot a daring heist to steal the Emperor’s tribute to his ally. Barely escaping with their lives, they voyage north, ready for the fight. But when fate strands them in a foreign land already riven by war, Erlan and Lilla are drawn inexorably into the web of a dark and gruesome cult. As blades fall and shadows close in, only one thing for them is a savage moon is rising. And it demands an ocean of blood. What with global pandemics and what have you, it’s been a few years since the last instalment of The Wanderer Chronicles. A Burning Sea, book three in the series, was released way back in September 2020. Fortunately,…

Please note, A Burning Sea is book three in The Wanderer Chronicles. It is highly likely that the following review will contain minor spoilers if you have not read books one and two. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Erlan Aurvandil has turned his back on the past and his native Northern lands, taking a perilous journey to the greatest city in the world, Constantinople. But as his voyage ends, Erlan is brutally betrayed, captured and enslaved by a powerful Byzantine general. Meanwhile, Lilla Sviggarsdottir, Queen of Svealand, has lost her husband and with him, her father’s kingdom. Her life in danger, Lilla escapes to find Erlan, the one man who can save her, following his trail to the very gates of Constantinople. But corruption infests the city, and a dark tide is rising against the Emperor from within his own court. As the shadows darken and whispers of war begin to strengthen, Erlan’s fate becomes intertwined with that of the city. Are they both doomed to fall, or can freedom be won in the blood of battle? The first two books of The Wanderer Chronicles, A Mighty Dawn and A Sacred Storm are two of my favourite historical fiction…

Please note A Sacred Storm is a direct sequel to A Mighty Dawn. Consider this your one and only spoiler warning. If you haven’t read the first book you may wish to turn back now… Still here? Ok, onwards… Forged in fire. Bound by honour. Haunted by loss. 8th Century Sweden: Erlan Aurvandil, a Viking outlander, has pledged his sword to Sviggar Ivarsson, King of the Sveärs, and sworn enemy of the Danish king Harald Wartooth. But Wartooth, hungry for power, is stirring violence in the borderlands. As the fires of this ancient feud are reignited Erlan is bound by honour and oath to stand with King Sviggar. But, unbeknownst to the old King his daughter, Princess Lilla, has fallen under Erlan’s spell. As the armies gather Erlan and Lilla must choose between their duty to Sviggar and their love for each other. Blooded young, betrayed often, Erlan is no stranger to battle. And hidden in the shadows, there are always those determined to bring about the maelstrom of war… By the end of A Mighty Dawn, it appeared that Erlan Aurvandil had finally found a place he could potentially settle down and call home. Sadly, the peace he discovered…

One of my favourite novels of 2017 was the historic fiction debut A Mighty Dawn by Theodore Brun. The paperback edition has just been released, and the author has very kindly agreed to provide a guest post exploring one of the novel’s central themes. The Ragnarök as an idea has made something of a comeback in popular culture in recent years. Marvel comic books, blockbuster Hollywood movies, Viking TV shows and of course plenty of Viking novels have all used it to great effect. Like the idea of Armageddon – or indeed any foretelling of the end of the world – it has a powerful grip on the imagination. And if it’s got Tom Hiddleston anywhere near it, you know it’s hit the mainstream. In fact, Ragnarök was a concept central to the early Viking mind. They believed that fate was unfolding inexorably towards this cataclysmic event, when the whole cosmos would be torn by chaos and conflict, and fall into eventual destruction – the so-called “doom of the gods”. Our knowledge about these Old Norse beliefs comes from two sources. The Völuspá or Vala’s Prophecy, the oldest known poem in Scandinavian literature, parts of which date from the 6th century;…

Welcome to The Eloquent Page’s annual awards/review of the year (2017 Edition). Ten awards created at random for your delectation and delight. The rules remain deliciously simple. I make up a series of categories and I choose a winner. Eligibility is also easy, if I’ve read it this year, it’s eligible. First some stats (I apologise, I’m a stat whore and so I’m often compelled to start throwing numbers around). I’ve read sixty-one books this year. There were an additional fifteen I started but didn’t finish. Fantasy fiction featured most heavily with twenty-two books, while Horror came a close second with seventeen. My longest review was one thousand two hundred and thirty-four words long, my shortest was four hundred and twenty-eight. The total number of review words written in 2017? A suitably satisfying fifty-two thousand and sixty-six words. “Enough of this statistical folderol”, I hear you cry. Alrighty then. Please take your seats and direct your attention towards the stage. Without further ado on with the show… The “They’re Good Dogs Brent” Award for Canines in Fiction – For some inexplicable reason, 2017 seemed to feature more dogs in fiction than in previous years. Adrian Tchaikovsky brought us Dogs of…

Hakan, son of Haldan, chosen son of the Lord of the Northern Jutes, swears loyalty to his father in fire, in iron, and in blood. But there are always shadows that roam. When a terrible tragedy befalls Hakan’s household he is forced to leave his world behind. He must seek to pledge his sword to a new king. Nameless and alone, he embarks on a journey to escape the bonds of his past and fulfil his destiny as a great warrior. Whispers of sinister forces in the north pull Hakan onwards to a kingdom plagued by mysterious and gruesome deaths. But does he have the strength to do battle with such dark foes? Or is death the only sane thing to seek in this world of blood and broken oaths? When we first meet Hakan he is the same as many young men; self centered, self-important and entirely wrapped up in his own existence, he thinks the entire world revolves around him. He is about to go through the rite of passage that marks his transition to adulthood. Once he is a full blooded warrior he will be accepted as an equal and start his life as a member of…