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Published Aug 2018
464 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
An exhilarating Viking saga filled with the rich history, romantic adventure and political intrigue.
Six years after The Half-Drowned King, Ragnvald Eysteinsson is now king of Sogn, but fighting battles for King Harald keeps him away from home, as he confronts treachery and navigates a political landscape that grows more dangerous the higher he rises.
Ragnvald's sister Svanhild has found the freedom and adventure she craves at the side of the rebel explorer Solvi Hunthiofsson, though not without a cost. She longs for a home where her quiet son can grow strong, and a place where she can put down roots, even as Solvi's ambition draws him back to Norway's battles again and keeps her divided from her brother.
As a growing rebellion unites King Harald's enemies, Ragnvald suspects that some Norse nobles are not loyal to Harald's dream of a unified Norway. He sets a plan in motion to defeat all of his enemies, and bring his sister back to his side, while Svanhild finds herself with no easy decisions, and no choices that will leave her truly free. Their actions will hold irrevocable repercussions for the fates of those they love and for Norway itself.
The Sea Queen returns to the fjords and halls of Viking-Age Scandinavia, a world of violence and prophecy, where honor is challenged by shifting alliances, and vengeance is always a threat to peace.
"This is an ambitious tale of Norwegian medieval warfare told in richly colorful and accurate historical detail. Hartsuyker's novel reveals just how tenuous life is when disputes are settled with sword and battle-axe." - Publishers Weekly
"Hartsuyker is a wonderfully descriptive writer equally adept at penning truly horrifying battle scenes as depicting life in ninth-century Norway. Fans of History Channel's Vikings should find this novel equally compelling." - Library Journal
"A seafaring epic with bloodcurdling raids and political intrigue to spare… Svanhild emerges as a complicated, talented, and shrewd warrior in her own right… Hartsuyker is a skilled storyteller, and the moral battles her characters wrestle with on and off the battlefield add compelling psychological depth to an old and epic tale." - Kirkus
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Linnea Hartsuyker can trace her ancestry back to Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and a major character in The Half-Drowned King, her first novel. She grew up in the middle of the woods outside Ithaca, New York, and studied Engineering at Cornell University. After a decade of working at internet startups, and writing in her spare time, she attended NYU and received an MFA in Creative Writing. She lives in New York City with her husband.
Link to Linnea Hartsuyker's Website
Name Pronunciation
Linnea Hartsuyker: lin-AY-uh HART-syk-er
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