King's Man: The Heroes of the North Live On (Viking Trilogy) [Paperback]

Tim Severin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005 | Series: Viking Trilogy (Book 3)

It is Constantinople in 1035, and Thorgils has become a member of the Varangian lifeguard, where he witnesses the glories of the richest city on earth. He embarks on a campaign launched to recover Sicily from the Saracens. After years of traveling, Thorgils retreats to Sweden, but is eventually summoned again to assist in coordinating William the Conqueror’s invasion of England. In September 1066, a Norse fleet of three hundred ships sails towards England and the battle begins. It is a prophetic dream that makes Thorgils warn the troops of the impending disaster at Stamford Bridge, but even he cannot turn aside what fate has decreed—the end of the Viking world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tim Severin, explorer, traveller, author, film-maker and lecturer has made many expeditions, most recently in search of Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe, and has written books about all of them. 'Viking' is his first historical fiction trilogy. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 319 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan UK (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140504117X
• ISBN-13: 978-1405041171
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,188,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astounding Grand Finale to Viking Trilogy, October 29, 2006

By 

Pat W Jusuf "Book Fanatic" (Jakarta, Indonesia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: viking: king's man (Paperback)

King's Man is the last series of the Viking trilogy, which told the story of Thorgils Leifsson. Viking series was Mr. Severin's first foray into the fiction realm. He used to write exclusively non-fiction history books, which I learned from the list of books he had written (not less than ten books, excluding this novel). The first and second (previous) of the trilogy: Odinn's Child and Sworn Brother, respectively. For reviews of the other two novels, please find my separate reviews.

Thorgils Leifsson was now 35 years old (born in late 999 AD). He had landed a job in Constantinople. A reader might be intrigued, that there were actual many Vikings working for the Byzantine Empire, known as the imperial bodyguards: Varangians. Vikings actually found the city of Kiev and they were known as Rus in eastern Europe/central Asian region. Thus, the name Russians actually emerged from it. I was also confounded when Normandy in France was the other word for Norsemen Land. Well, if you are a well informed reader, William the Duke of Normandy during 1060s was actually the descendant of Norsemen (Vikings) too!

I think I have leaked out too much of Severin's plot of this last novel in the trilogy. For short, Thorgils did have a chance to return to the vast northern wasteland in between Norway and Sweden (or the netherland). Eventually, he went to France. And for the remaining of the story, I would highly recommend you reading this book.

It would be best if a reader can start reading in sequence:

1. Odinn's Child (999-1020s AD)

2. Sworn Brother (1020s-1035 AD)

3. King's Man (1035-1070s AD)

Though, if you prefer, you can read only this last book. But Thorgils character would seem shallow. For me, the best of the Viking series were actually the first and last (third) novels.

My final tally for King's Man and Viking trilogy in general:

Book 3: King's Man: 5-star read

Viking trilogy: 5-star overall

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great History, Poor Storytelling, September 16, 2007

By 

Peter Schaub (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: viking: king's man (Paperback)

I really wanted to like this book. I have read the first two in the trilogy, and I am an avid reader of the old Norse and Icelandic Sagas. I am fascinated with this period in history, and with Norse culture in general. That being said, I had a really tough time getting into this book. There were two reasons for it.

First, the author expounds on history and the culture of the time to the detriment of the flow of the story. There are many times during the course of the book that a character will extemporize for several paragraphs instead of holding a normal conversation. While it is interesting from an academic perspective, it brings a complete stop to the narrative. While the author spends a great deal of time describing the life and politics of 11th century Europe, he spends next to no time describing his character's motives. To sum it up, by the end of the book I had a relatively thorough understanding of Norse life at the time, but no real idea as to why Thorgils did much of anything.

The second problem I had with this book is the author's clear disdain of Christianity. I'm not a Christian myself, but I had a hard time believing that every Christian character Thorgil's came into contact with was either bigoted, shallow, hypocritical, or overzealous. All pagans, of course, were portrayed as noble and openminded. At first it was interesting, as I myself lean more towards a nature-worshiping direction. But I've met plenty of nice Christians in my life, and plenty of pagan and atheist jerks. Christianity does not have a monopoly on boorishness.

These two points aside, the book (and series overall) is a fascinating, well-researched look at life at the turn of the first millenium in Northern Europe. Credit is due the author for not only showing how brutal and harsh life was back then, but also hwo fascinating and colorful it was. After reading this series, I am even more convinced that I was born too late. Oh, to be a Viking!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Way to learn History, January 8, 2006

By 

Kerryah (Port Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King's Man: The Heroes of the North Live On (Viking Trilogy) (Hardcover)

Reading the Viking series is a great way to get a 'behind the scenes' experience of historic events - in this instance the death of a Byzantine Emperor (by murder or natural causes?) the reconstruction of the church of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem, the Siege of Syracruse and the Norman invasion of England.

Thorgils is a Norseman who has trained as a monk, but longs for the return of the old Norse gods. His travels put him in the midst of some of the most significant events of the 11th Century.

The characters are boldly sketched, the action is well paced, the detail rings with authenticity, and the book is down-right fun to read!