A GREAT READ FOR LATTER DAY VIKINGS! USPAKSON - THE INDIANA JONES OF THE 11TH CENTURY! A VIKING EPIC!
FINALIST FOREWORD MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
Action, adventure, betrayal, murder, lust and love - just what one would expect from a Viking!
Action and adventure across the frozen climes of the North, across Western Europe and into the burning deserts of Central Asia along the fabled Silk Route
Includes Historical Companion, Lexicon and Maps
Action, Adventure and Romance from Norway, across the Steppe and along the Silk Route into Chinas notorious Taklamakan desert! Experience friendship, dignity, honour, love, lust, betrayal and greed against the backdrop of a hostile environment which gives no quarter just what one expects from a Viking.
Synopsis: As the Viking age is brought to an end in 1066 with ignominious defeat at the battle of Stamford Bridge, a rag-tag group of Vikings conclude the quiet life is not for them and they decide to go-a-Viking one last time.
They retrace a journey of their youth across the European Steppe and down the mighty Dniepr River to Byzantium. However a chance discovery in a Kiev library leads them to venture even further afield - to Astrakhan, across the Caspian sea, up the mighty Oxus river, through Parthia and Bactria and along the ancient Silk Route into Asia and Tian Xia (China).
Engaged in a battle not of their choosing, they inflict fatalities on the sinister and evil Black Scorpions who want to exact their revenge. Pursued, they flee by night across the Roof of the World and meet the remnants of the "lost" European tribe of Asia, the Hepthalites, who offer them protection in their city, hidden in the Tien Shan - the Celestial Mountains. A place where romance is kindled and love unexpectedly blossoms.
At the eastern end of their journey they meet the Lang Ren, the Wolf people of Lou Lan, outcasts thieves and criminals living in an abandoned city in the desert. A city without water. A city about to die. A city in which the final clue to their quest is uncovered.
What fate awaits this rejected element of Asian society? Can this motley crew intercede on their behalf? Will the fundamental cultural differences between the Vikings, Jews and Moslems in the group cause them to self destruct, or will the adversities they face cause them to overcome these differences and become a unified fighting unit?