Wholesale Valhalla Burning by Michael Pogach

[Diversion Publishing] For fans of The Witcher and the novels of Joe Abercrombie and John Gwynne, comes a bloody Norse tale of grief, vengeance, fear, and fate from emerging SFF writer Michael Pogach. It’s 9th century Norway and Rúnr Njalson has been gifted supernatural warrior abilities as Odin’s chosen Berserkr. Enemies and allies quake in fear at his approach. But when the unbeatable hero cannot save his own daughter Yrsa during a rival clan’s raid, his only choice is to seek vengeance to gain her entry into Valhalla. Plagued with horrific visions and grappling with the loss of his precious child, whose ghost torments his nights, Rúnr seeks the direction of a seeress’s prophecy, and is told he must find a mysterious red temple and there face Yrsa’s killer to save her soul from a fate with Hel. He abandons his homeland on a hunt spanning the dark forests of the Slavs and the Rus to the fabled city of Constantinople, along the way throwing in with a motley band of Viking raiders: Captain Garmr’s ferocity fits the namesake of Hel’s hound; the nervous merchant Erasmus hides secrets he’ll never tell; the warrior Ingimar whose quick temper is going to get them all into trouble; and the fierce shieldmaiden Ingirid who may be the only one able to break through Rúnr’s tough exterior. While Rúnr’s love for Ingirid grows, his Berserkr rage become more volatile, testing the crew’s bonds and leading him to face an impossible sacrifice. Lift a horn of ale and taste sweat and blood in this rich and brutal dark Viking adventure.