Supremely disappointed in myself and the book. It seemed to drag at the beginning for no reason, with pages upon pages of conversion. There was little world-building, aside from some clichéd character and location description. Whilst I am finding I enjoy historical fiction a great deal, and the Saxon period is intriguing, I found this to be a run-of-the-mill fantasyesque story about forbidden love and political intrigue. Perhaps for another time. ( )

When Mary Ann emailed me about this book I was interested obviously because it was historical fiction, but also because she made mention of her love for novels like Ivanhoe. I love sweeping epics with tons of characters and story arcs, and that is what Briton and the Dane offers.

There are so many characters and story lines to draw readers in right from the beginning. I wish I could go into a lot of detail and gush about my favorite characters, but the list in lengthy and it would give away so many things. I can say that I loved the characters of David and Gwyn immediately. Their stories I loved; couldn’t get enough scenes with them. While each character has their own unique story, they’re interspersed and somehow connected with all the others, which I really liked.

I don’t want to say that the book overall seems condensed, but you do get a lot of information in what seems like a short amount of time. I wasn’t left wanting, other than the obvious cliffhangers. The chapters are rather short, which I liked. The pacing is great. It’s slow enough that none of the story seems rushed and fast enough that nothing seems drawn out or overdone.

I think that this novel will have wide appeal, not just to those who like historical fiction. I didn’t know much about Viking history when I started this novel, but it had definitely prompted me to get into it a bit more.

I am looking forward to reading the next installment.