Blurb
1067.
Northumbria.
King Harold lies dead on the battlefield, and William of Normandy has been crowned King of the English in Westminster Abbey.
Far to the north, however, Oslac, thegn of the village of Acum, has only one thought on his mind. Revenge. Descended from the ancient line of the Kings of Bernicia, Oslac is a man of honour for whom debts must always be repaid.
The embers of the centuries old feud with Gundulf’s Danes from Hexham have once again ignited, resulting in the death of Oslac’s young brother, Osberht.
Obsessed with the desire to defeat Gundulf, Oslac seeks help from his cousin, Oswulf, who rules as Earl of Northumbria from the ancient fortress of Bebbanburh. To his dismay, however, Oslac is forced to set aside his own needs to join his cousin’s warband; for a fresh threat is fast approaching.
King William is determined to bring every corner of England under his dominion. For this purpose, he has appointed a new earl, Copsig, a man despised throughout Northumbria for his rapacious past.
Oslac, who has never been beholden to any King of England before, foreign or otherwise, has no choice but to fight his cousin’s war before he can return home to end the feud.
The path to avenge his brother will take Oslac from the brink of defeat and death against Copsig to a final battle with his Danish enemy.
My Review
In the months after the Battle of Hastings, the Northerners carried on as usual, hoping to be left alone. Our protagonist, Oslac, had serious problems with a local troublemaker named Gundulf, and rode with his hearth-warriors to Bebbanburh to ask his cousin, the Earl Oswulf for aid. He was surprised to discover that Oswulf was gathering forces for a major fight and requested his help instead. They were determined to stop the hated Copsig who was on his way to Northumbria to rule over the earldom in Oswulf’s place. Oslac was clueless. What was this all about? The earl explained patiently:
“Everyone is talking about it, even us this far to the north. There’s a new king in the south.”
“What? Who? What has become of Harold? Is it not but four months since he was at York to defeat the Norsemen.”
“Aye, it is. But now he has been killed by this new fellow: William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy… It’s on the northern coast of France, lad.” Oswulf had seen the confused expression on Oslac’s face.
“Seems that this Bastard reckoned that old King Edward had promised him the throne and that Harold was a usurper. Decided to back his claim to the tune of eight thousand warriors – horsemen mainly – sailing across the channel in autumn of all things.”
Up until now, the northerners had assumed they were too far from the South to be bothered with. But something was different this time. The new king was not like the others. He wanted to control all of England. And his choice of Copsig was as alarming as it was unwarranted. Copsig was an upstart—malicious, evil-minded, and rapacious. He had to be stopped. Of course Oslac and his men joined the fight, and once he discovered that Gundulf was in Copsig’s army, the vicious combat became personal. Talk about an uphill battle! Plenty of warfare for even the bloodthirstiest reader.
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Feud-Rebellion-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CW17TK4G
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