RaveThe Times Literary Supplement (UK)Vikings, both fictional and historical, seem to be everywhere at the moment, and as a result there are more books being published on the topic than even the most ardent aficionado could be expected to read, many of them having little new to say. It is thus quite an achievement for Cat Jarman to have written a book which not only has new things to say to those who have read many other books about Vikings, but also provides an engaging introduction to the study of the Vikings for those who are new to the subject ... While opening up the eastern Viking Age to a general audience, Jarman also inducts the reader into the range and wealth of evidence with which Viking scholars grapple. As well as bones and beads, sagas, chronicles and runic inscriptions play their part alongside Thor’s hammers and clinker-built ships in this rich tale of discovery.
