The Whale Road - Hardcover

Low, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312361947 ISBN 13: 9780312361945

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007

Synopsis

A band of brothers, committed only to each other, rides the waves, fighting for the highest bidder, treading the whale road in search of legendary relics.
Life is savage aboard a Viking raiding ship. When Orm Rurikson is plucked from the snows of Norway to brave the seas on the Fjord Elk, he becomes an unlikely member of the notorious crew. Although young, Orm must quickly become a warrior if he is to survive.
His fellow crew are the Oathsworn---named after the spoken bond that ties them in brotherhood. They fight hard, they drink hard, and they always defend their own.
But times are changing. Loyalty to the old Norse Gods is fading, and the followers of the mysterious "White Christ" are gaining power across Europe. Hired as relic hunters, the Oathsworn are sent in search of a sword believed to have killed the White Christ. Their quest will lead them onto the deep and treacherous waters of the whale road, toward the cursed treasure of Attila the Hun and to a challenge that presents the ultimate threat.
Robert Low has written a stunning epic, a remarkable debut novel. Not only a compelling narrative, The Whale Road also brings a new Viking landscape stretching from Scotland through the Baltic and on to Istanbul.

 
International Praise for The Whale Road:
 
"A company of warriors, desperate battles, an enthralling read."
---Bernard Cornwell

"A fantastic book, one of the best I have read for years. There's a wonderful earthiness to the proceedings and he creates a tangible sense of being there. There's a sturdy, lyrical, and epic quality about the writing that makes it feel like the kind of saga a Viking would recount in his old age."
---Simon Scarrow

"A stirring Viking series of blockbuster battles and religious intrigue."
---Publishing News
 
"Action-packed and evocative."
---Herald (Glasgow)

 

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Low has been a journalist and writer since the age of seventeen in places as diverse as Vietnam, Sarajevo, Romania, and Kosovo until common sense and the concerns of his wife and daughter prevailed. 
To satisfy his craving for action, he took up reenactment, joining The Vikings. He now spends summers fighting furiously in helmet and mail in shieldwalls all over Britain and winters training hard. He lives in Largs, Scotland, where the Vikings were finally defeated and expelled from the UK.
This is his first novel. He is currently working on his second novel which continues the adventures of Orm and the Oathsworn.

From Publishers Weekly:

British journalist Low's debut novel is a rousing, sprawling saga of Viking warriors and the quest for hidden treasure. The adventure begins in A.D. 965, when 15-year-old Orm Ruriksson—aka Orm the Bear Slayer—joins the Oathsworn, a band of raiders that includes his father, Rurik, and is led by the ruthless Einar the Black. After hearing a tale about a mountain of silver that once belonged to Attila the Hun, the band sets out to find it, accompanied by a madwoman who claims to know the treasure's location. The daunting journey becomes more treacherous as competitors also race for the prize. Bluetooth, the King of the Danes and the Norwegians, covets the treasure for himself, and an unscrupulous Catholic monk joins the chase, not for the silver but for the Spear of Destiny—the spear that pierced Christ's side on the cross and was later forged into Attila's sword. Low mixes history, archeology, mythology and nonstop, often-sanguinary action into a fast-moving adventure tale. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0312361947
• ISBN 13: 9780312361945
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352