Blood Eye (Raven: Book 1)

A Viking adventure, packed with battles, blood and gore, Raven is historical fiction at its very best, and marks the debut of an outstanding new talent.

For two years Osric has lived a simple life, apprenticed to the mute old carpenter who took him in when others spurned him. But when Norsemen from across the sea burn his village, Osric is taken prisoner by these warriors. Their chief, Sigurd the Lucky, believes the Norns have woven this strange boys fate together with his own, and Osric begins to sense glorious purpose among this fellowship of warriors.

Immersed in the Norsemens world and driven by their lust for adventure, Osric proves a natural warrior and forges a blood bond with Sigurd, who renames him Raven. But the Norsemens world is a savage one, where loyalty is often repaid in blood and where a young man must become a killer in order to survive. When the Fellowship faces annihilation from ealdorman Ealdred of Wessex, Raven chooses a bloody and dangerous path, accepting the mission of raiding deep into hostile lands to steal a holy book from Coenwolf, King of Mercia.

There he will find much more than the Holy Gospels of St Jerome. He will find Cynethryth, an English girl with a soul to match his own. And he will find betrayal at the hands of cruel men, some of whom he regards as friends.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

In a thrilling adventure of brotherhood, warfare, and treachery, Giles Kristian takes us into ninth-century England, a world of darkness, epic conflict, and an unforgiving God served by powerful priests. On ships shaped like dragons, bristling with oars and armor, Jarl Sigurd and his fierce Norsemen have come in search of riches. And riches they are promised, by an English ruler who sends Sigurd and his wolves to steal a holy manuscript from another kingdom. Osric, an orphan boy, sees beyond the terror of these warriors, and somehow knows the heathens’ tongue. Renamed Raven, rechristened in blood, he will join them. They are his people. And they will be his fate.

 

“Astonishing and riveting, a powerful, lightning-paced tale.”—New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell

 

“A gripping tale that splendidly conjures up the sounds, sights and smells of Dark Age Britain.”—Harry Sidebottom, author of the Warriors of Rome series

 

“[Kristian] compares favorably with writers like Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden.”—Historical Novels Review

 

“A rip-roaring Viking saga . . . fine, powerful, thrilling stuff.”—Manda Scott, author of The Crystal Skull

Giles Kristian was the lead singer in a successful boy band, and has been a model and an advertising copywriter. Raven is his debut novel.

From the Trade Paperback edition.