Customer Reviews

Viking Unchained (Viking Time-Travel)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After this book was plugged in one of my favorite webcomics, Questionable Content, I looked it up, and lo and behold, there really is a series of romance novels about a time traveling Viking who becomes a Navy Seal. I put it on my Amazon wishlist (along with over 80 other books) and promptly forgot it. I was thrilled when I got it for Christmas, and promptly opened it to a random page. The Viking was having angry sex with a modern woman. Or rather, he was "swiving" her "womans channel"

After my sister in law and I kept this up for most of a day, I decided to read it from the beginning. The sex, with all its brilliantly awful euphemisms, starts in the second paragraph. This book as many delightful things wrong with it, among the author's habit of shoving a page's worth of exposition (much of it irrelevant to the story) into a single, run-on, paragraph all by itself, tell-don't-show sentence. I'm having tons of fun reading it, but I don't think the novelty will extend through the series into other books. I doubt I will have any desire to read a book for the lols again anytime soon.

Thorfinn, a Viking warrior, is grieving for his lost son, Miklof. Thorfinn is sent forward in time one thousand years where he meets Lydia. Lydia is mourning the loss of her Navy SEAL husband and raising her son, Mike by herself.

Perhaps fate has brought Thorfinn and Lydia together?

I have read every book in Sandra Hill's Viking series. I have loved them all. Viking Unchained is my favorite. At books end you will have sobbed, laughed hysterically and loved with all your heart. Thorfinn and Lydia are not to be missed!

Sandra Hill's books are romantic, funny and sinfully delicious.

Annmarie
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Sandra Hills name should be synonymous with wild, beleivable story telling. Her Vikings are not only gorgeous and smart beyond their time but so much fun to see get into the trouble they bring on themselves. At times you want to slap them up the side of their head if you could reach that far, although there are more pleasant things to do if you get that close. These books are the best to take to the beach on a lazy summer afternoon, but not if you are watching small children, as you might tend to forget where you are.

Lydia Denton is madly in love with her husband Dave a Navy SEAL based in Coranodo, California. Each mission has taken its toll on both of them. It shows in the deep groves in Dave's face. Killing, no matter how justified, did that to a man. Lydia lives in fear that each mission might be the one to take him away from her forever. She greets him with passion when he arrives home on leave, and once again brings up her desire for a child. Dave however, knows of the danger of terrorist retaliation that might result from any one of his missions and does not want to be responsible for putting their child in the line of fire. Unfortunately Dave's next mission is his last. He'd been among the victims of an explosion. Still as Lydia soon discovers, a part of him lives on, despite all odds she finds herself pregnant after all.

Bagdad, four years later (more or less)......

Medieval Viking Thorfinn Haraldsson's faithless wife Luta had abandoned him four years ago taking his infant son Miklof with her and her lover. Though their ship had capsized and they were all presumed drowned, Thorfinn had not given up hope that his son had somehow survived. There had been recent reports of a woman and child that resembled his family in the Arab lands and he had no choice but to investigate. Each lead had turned out to be false and Thorfinn had finally accepted the heartbreaking truth and decided to return home to the Norselands. Unfortunately before he is able to return to his boat he is accosted by six irate Arabs, brothers of the man whose wife Finn had examined to determine whether or not she was Luta. Arab men apparently took exception to having their wives faces being looked upon by other men. Though Finn is a warrior through and through there is no way he could dispatch so many.

Navy Seals on a mission to take out a group of tangos happen on Thorfinn in the midst of battling who they believe are their marks with .... a broadsword! Finn is sadly out numbered and the men covertly begin to move in on all sides to aid him.
With the enemy dispatched, the men need to make a quick escape taking Thorfinn with them. Only their mode of transportation gives him pause. No way is he boarding that large bird. The next thing he knows he is in the belly of the beast (a helicopter) winging his way to where God only knows.

Fortunately his cousin Torolf Magnusson is among the 21st century Seals who affected his rescue. While he tries to get his cousin acclimated to a new place in time, Finn drives his female relatives crazy with his uncouth behavior. Finn decides he is not fit for anything besides battle and Torolf, known as Max among the Seals enlists their help to prepare his cousin for the rigorous training and tests. He also introduces him to the Wet and Wild, a bar where Seals and Weals let of steam and the singles hooked up with each other.

Finn isn't averse to "hooking up" painful as it sounded, as long as nothing permanent was expected. He was certain that God had a plan in bringing him to this place. Mayhap his son had time traveled as well. This doesn't seem so far fetched when Lydia Denton enters the bar along with several of his female relations. There's something familiar about her. Her coloring is wrong and Luta never had such large breasts but still the resemblance was uncanny. Was this why she was staring at him?

Finn has a similar build and the exact same unusual gray eyes that both David and her son Michael had. All these years Lydia had never stopped hoping that a mistake had been made, that her husband was merely a prisoner and not dead. Was it really him? The hair was all wrong but it had been five years. Not waiting to ask questions she throws herself into Thorfinn's arms and kisses him madly.

Next thing anyone knows she's taken him home and what happens next is inevitable. But when Finn discovers that Lydia has a four year old son named Michael who is currently visiting his grandparents in Minnesota he wants to see pictures. Oh my, the boy has his unique gray eyes and the same dark hair as his beloved Miklof. He insists he must see the boy and determine for himself whether the child is his long lost son, and he isn't going to take no for an answer.

It isn't long before Lydia is head over heels in love with Finn for his own self, but when she discovers that he's planning to sign up for Seals it's a deal breaker. Never would she put herself in that situation ever again Loving and losing that way had simply been too painful. But she hadn't realized how painful life without Finn would be.

A misunderstanding keeps him away but he insists he will still accompany her to Minnesota to see "his" son. Meanwhile an Iraqi national who had lost his own spouse and child as collateral damage in the explosion that had also killed Dave, blames the Seal for their deaths and formulates an eye for an eye revenge. When Finn realizes the two people he cares most for are in danger, he accompanied by all his male relatives and most of Dave's teammates rush to the rescue. The FBI is loving that.... NOT!

Still the biggest problem between Lydia and Finn is the fact that the fool is completely out of touch with his feelings. His marriage had been arranged, he and his wife had never suited, and he had no idea what love was supposed to feel like. He knew he cared deeply for Lydia, but he also knew he didn't feel for her what he felt for his son. What was love anyway? Would a brush with dead finally bring his feelings to light or would it take something more drastic?

Did I mention that Lydia runs a dance studio and gets the wild idea to offer pole dancing as a class for women who want to turn on their men? Naturally the class is filled by Finn's female relations and none of them understand what she sees in their loutish cousin either. That doesn't mean they won't help her bring the fool to heel however.

This story brought to mind the first of Ms. Hill's historical Viking time travels, THE RELUCTANT VIKING but with a different twist. This story abounded with humor, but does not let us forget that there are still young heroes risking their lives for us every day in wars not of their making, and that here at home loved ones wait hoping to never hear that knock on that door that shattered Lydia Denton's world. Laughter and tears, love and family, and courage of both the heroic and romantic nature are the hallmarks of this tale. For a touching and funny time travel romance featuring those mad but lovable Vikings and equally unique military men you must read UNCHAINED VIKING. Is anyone besides me hoping Stephen Haraldsson will find a way to join his brother, after all who would enjoy that "tingling" ointment better than him? ~ Reviewed for PNR Reviews

Lydia Denton is a widow, having lost her Navy SEALS husband five years ago to terrorists. She is raising their son alone while trying to recover from the grief when Thorfinn Haraldsson enters her life. Thorfinn reminds her of her deceased husband, Dave. Can he be Dave reincarnated? There's just one little problem... Thorfinn keeps insisting that he's a Viking who has traveled through time and that Lydia's son is his! Will Lydia and Thorfinn get a second chance at love?

Sandra Hill has long been a favorite author of mine. I've faithfully followed her books for quite awhile but somehow the last two Viking/Navy SEAL books just haven't worked for me. The concept of Vikings meeting up with Navy SEALS almost borders on the absurd and yet Ms. Hill has made it work quite well for her for many previous novels. However, in VIKING UNCHAINED, it just seems ridiculous.

The chemistry between Lydia and Thorfinn seems forced. Both are still dealing with their past relationships and the comparisons between their somewhat parallel relationships pales fairly early on. How many times do we have to hear about how similar Thorfinn is to Dave before one starts to wonder about Lydia's mental stability? Just the fact she takes him home to begin with stretches the boundaries of believability based on her character but her continued insistence on referring to him as Dave reincarnated is grating.

Between the lack of a credible romance and the sheer ridiculousness of the plot, VIKING UNCHAINED falls short of the high expectations I have for a Sandra Hill novel on multiple levels.

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

After having read Edin's Embrace, another Sandra Hill book, and fallen inlove with her characters, I was deeply disappointed by this book. I can easily read a book in one sitting, but this one was agonizing and I couldn't even finish. It was cute at some points, but confusing, unbelievable and the characters lacked a depth that didn't allow me to connect. I will have to donate this one to the library and hope that someone else finds it entertaining. Too bad, since Edin's Embrace was a wonderful and touching story. No pun on the touching.

It was fabulous. Couldn't put it down, but then again that's how most of her books are.

I, who have become a fan of Sandra Hill's viking series books, could not wait for this book to come out. I read the beginning of it at the end of Down and Dirty and got really excited. I read it the first day it came out and....ended up really disappointed. The book starts out with a really hot sex scene...and the rest of them are really good too. The plot, however, was hokey. Sandra Hill just expects the reader to just accept she could fall in love with such a stupid, unfunny, guy. Seriously, the reader can't even fall in love with him. It's completly unbelievable. I think Sandra Hill has strayed away from her original intent with the series.

Navy SEAL Dave Denton dies while on a mission. His pregnant widow Linda is devastated when the mortuary officers visit her with the bad news. Soon after Dave's combat related death, Linda gives birth to their son.

Thorfinn Haraldsson has been searching for his missing son for five years when he is attacked and knocked out. When he awakens he finds himself inside the belly of a flying bird with other people; some he knows. His twenty-first century kin cocoon him as they mentor him on how to fit in an alien technological world. When he ventures outside, a woman rushes up to him crying and hugging him. Confused he cannot stop kissing her until they go off to make love. He meets Linda's five years old son who has his eyes, leaving him further bewildered, but in love.

Fast-paced and filled with humor, the latest eleventh century Viking- modern day American romance is a fun tale though in some ways it has a déjà vu feel to it; having a military widow and her son brings a freshness to the plot. With glossaries for SEAL and Viking vernacular to enhance the time travel tale, series fans will enjoy the romance between the widow who sees a second chance with her husband's "doppelganger" and the clueless Viking, who seems like a fish out of water (no SEAL pun intended).

Harriet Klausner

My goal was to find a book for a plane ride. I read about 3/4 of the book during the flight (LONG flight), then never felt compelled to pick it up again once my trip was over. I finally finished it during ANOTHER plane ride a month or two later. Really, I wouldn't have felt a loss if I had never finished it at all.

Don't get me wrong, I love the whole time-traveling Viking Navy SEAL premise. Heck, I could even relate to the whole Coronado/San Diego locale. That's why I bought the book. It was pretty funny, but at times I wasn't sure if I was laughing with the characters or at them. It really bothers me that a lot of the plot holes weren't filled in. Maybe once or twice my heart-strings were actually pulled at, but man...this book was a little ridiculous.