Taken captive by Agnarr the Viking, Charis must find her way back to her home on Éire's Eastern coast. She has vowed vengeance on the man who took her captive, just as she has committed herself to return to the children she left behind. But will her feelings for Agnarr, or fellow captive, Cowan, interfere?
let me first say this My entire post is under a HUGE
This is not a book for everyone.
This is the story of a woman that is captured by an invading Viking clan and held captive by the man who captured her. This is not a story about love but one of survival and a strong woman dealing with a changing world.
The main character in this story is basically a medicine woman. One in touch with the "magic" that is natural to the earth. She does not believe in gods and godesses. She believes in the things that are practical to her world. She has faith in tangible things like the healing properties of the plants that she uses in her medicines.
She is a strong woman in her own right who, through the violent acts of the viking clan, is forced into using her skills as a healer to help them. She, like many other captives, has no choice but to deal with the situation. She is dealt
her very life depends on listening to her captors. There is nothing sexy or romantic about that and what I love is that the author follows this historically.
So if you are looking for a story about a captive woman that falls in love with her captor this is not the book for you. HOWEVER if you are looking for a historical book about an amazing woman then this story is a great read.
Things I had problems with in this story are:
The Norse words made it confusing for me remember. I read with a group of kids making noise in the background and talking to me while I try to get through every sentence. For some reason my brain could not latch onto the definitions and keep them there. Since I was reading this via a PDF that the author graciously gave me I found it hard to refer back to the glossary that in the printed book itself would be right at my fingertips. So I recommend making sure that if you are a reader like me who is reading amidst the chaos of your home get the hardcopy of the book LOL
- I adore the lead character, Chariss. She is a strong, no nonsense, woman that has a gift that fits the time period of the story.
- I liked watching her interactions with the varying people of different faiths
- I liked that she was intelligent enough to not fight back against her captors right away. She bides her time in this story and waits for the perfect moment to exact her revenge
- She finds beauty and hope even in her circumstances but never gives up on her dream.
- I liked how the viking that captured her was in his way enamored with her. He felt that he could possess this woman just based on what he knew in his world
- I like how she proves him wrong
Now why do I think you should read this story? Because what you think is romance may not be there and like many women she finds it where she least expects it to be. I like the main characters connection to the people. It seems every life she touches is altered, many for the better. She earns the respect of those around her, not by forcing it on them, but because of her skill in her craft and the way she handles herself. Of course there are some characters that no matter who good she is will forever be too narrow minded to see the goodness.
So all in all I say give this book a shot. It is written by one of our Twi fandom authors and she weaves us a lovely story that I look forward to getting a hardcopy of to add to my shelves.
My special Thanks to Sandi for giving me a chance to read this in PDF form.
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