5/29/2023 0 Comments The half drowned king series![]() ![]() While Hartsuyker’s prose is straightforward, the plot is as deliciously complex as Game of Thrones. The contours of Ragnvald and Svanhild’s reality are equally dangerous, and Hartsuyker doesn’t shy away from depicting the slaughter, rape, and deception that marked the raids and battles of the Viking age. In the gaps of recorded history, Hartsuyker weaves a tale of myth, magic, and superstition, where “the chilly fingers of Ran’s handmaidens” can pull a sailor to his death or an undead draugr can terrorize a village. ![]() The historic figure of Ragnvald rose to prominence as one of Harald’s fiercest warriors during the unification of Norway in the ninth century. Hartsuyker bases Ragnvald’s tale on the epic of King Harald Fairhair, one of her possible ancestors. Meanwhile, his sister, Svanhild, abandons the protections of family and friends to escape an arranged marriage-only to find herself at the mercy of her brother’s betrayer, Solvi. After he’s nearly killed in a plot orchestrated by his stepfather, Ragnvald swears allegiance first to King Hakon, then to King Harald, hoping to win enough power to take back the land that’s rightfully his. ![]() ![]() Steeped in legend and myth, Hartsuyker’s debut is a swashbuckling epic of family, love, and betrayal that reimagines the Norse sagas.Īt 20, hotheaded Ragnvald is old enough to be a warrior “and counted a man”-but not old enough to see betrayal coming. ![]()
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