God of Vengeance

The author of the bestselling Raven saga returns to recount the early days of Sigurd and his Fellowship in a thrilling Viking tale of honour, courage, bloodfeud and revenge.
Norway AD785. A land of petty kingdoms and ambitious men...
When King Gorm betrays Jarl Harald and puts his family to the sword, he makes a terrible mistake. He fails to kill Harald’'s youngest son, Sigurd. Hunted by powerful men and hiding in a sacred fen, Sigurd believes the gods have turned their backs on his family. His kin are dead or captured. His village is attacked and its people taken as slaves. Honour is lost. Yet all men know that Odin, whose name means frenzy, is drawn to chaos and bloodshed as a raven is to the slaughtered dead -- and Sigurd means to spill blood.
Alone but for a small band of loyal men including his red-bearded friend Svein, his father’s right-hand man Olaf, and Asgot the godi, Sigurd hungers to avenge the murder of his family. In an attempt to catch Odin’'s eye, the young man sacrifices himself -- as the god once did -- and it is during this ritual ordeal that Sigurd is shown a vision. The Wolf. The Bear. The Serpent. The Eagle. Sigurd will need all these and more if he is to become a man whom others will follow... and if he is to make kings pay in blood for their treachery.
But the gods have spoken and Sigurd’s quest begins. Using cunning and war-craft he must gather the fiercest warriors of the north -- warriors such as Bram who men call Bear, Black Floki who is death with a blade, and the shield Maiden Valgerd, who brave men fear -- and convince them to follow him. For whether or not Odin is with him, Sigurd will have his vengeance and neither men nor the gods can stand in his way. Be assured that when the blood is flowing, the gods are watching.

Family history (he is half Norwegian) and his storytelling hero, Bernard Cornwell, inspired GILES KRISTIAN to write his first historical novels, the acclaimed and bestselling Raven Viking trilogy -- Blood Eye, Sons of Thunder and Odin's Wolves. For his next historical novels, he drew on a long-held fascination with the English Civil War. The Bleeding Land and Brothers' Fury follow the fortunes of a divided family against the complex and brutal backcloth of the conflict that tore this country apart and ended with the killing of a king. For this new novel, Giles returns to the world of the Vikings to tell of the origins of Sigurd and his celebrated fictional fellowship. Giles lives in Leicestershire.