[Viking Era 03] • Lord of Raven's Peak

From Publishers WeeklyMerrik Haraldsson, younger brother of Rorik, the hero of Coulter's first Viking novel, Lord of Hawkfell Island , buys a young slave boy, Taby, in a Kiev slave market. He also rescues the boy's dirty, half-starved older brother, who proves to be an older sister, Laren. Taby and Laren are both nobles who were kidnapped two years earlier; beneath her dirt, Laren is a beautiful young woman. She is also a gifted skald who uses her skills to unravel the mystery behind the murder of Merrik's brutish brother, Erik, and her own earlier kidnapping. Unfortunately, these stories, which are told at some length, tend to slow the action, and one is tempted to skim over them to get to the larger plot. The characters are also stereotypical: the evil brother, the beautiful heroine too liberated to be believable. Still, Coulter has obviously done her research and gives the reader myriad details of Viking life in Norway in A.D. 916, including a Viking wedding and funeral, methods of cooking, dress and travel. Though bestselling author Coulter glosses over unsavory facts, such as Merrik's own slave trading, and there are occasional lapses (Laren calls another woman "an insufferable twit"), readers interested in the period have a treat in store. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From BooklistCoulter has written another spry Viking romance. Merrik Haraldsson, a Norse trader unencumbered by wife or property, except for his longboat, suddenly finds himself the owner of three slaves after a plaintive child in the Kiev slave market begs to be reunited with his sibling. When Merrik sets out to steal the sibling from the vicious new owner, he finds the young person in the midst of an escape, pursued by another slave. Their escape is only the start of a grand adventure, for the sibling turns out to be a young woman, disguised as a boy. Of course Merrik falls in love, not knowing she is the niece of King Rollo of Normandy, and her brother the probable heir. Family rivalries set both lovers at risk until events are finally suspensefully unraveled at story's end. Denise Perry Donavin

Merrik Haraldsson, the younger brother of Rorik, the Lord of Hawkfell Island, embarks on a journey that begins in Kiev where he comes away with two slaves Laren and her younger brother. Laren wants to tell stories to earn enough silver and gold to buy her and her little brother from Merik, only he refuses to sell her. And now that she's his, he must protect her when she's accused of murder, then save her yet again when he discovers her secrets.