Time travel AND Vikings?! I was so in for this one when I read the summary. The allusions to Outlander were spot on.
Maddie is the youngest daughter of a family who are obsessed with the Viking era. They do reenactments and attend courses in the Viking ways. So when Maddie finds an artifact that allows her to travel back in time she is well capable, somewhat like our Claire Fraser. She’s considerably younger though, which made her aptitude a little less believable but I digress…
In the past she encounters some rough Viking folk and is saved from ravishing and slavery by a dashing man named Geir. He takes her on his boat so that she can recover and she finds out they are bound for Iceland to start a settlement there. We are immersed in the day to day life of starting a Viking settlement from scratch. We learn about how they eat, how they travelled and lived and the dangers they faced. Maddie of course is quite precociously trying to teach these people about her modern ways of sanitation, climate preservation and human rights. At times it is humorous and frustrating how naïve and yet forceful in her view that her ways are best. But it is interesting to see her learn to love these people and their way of life.
I loved the natural Iceland setting which was atmospheric. The romance aspect was a slow burn which suited me just fine and it got a little steamy at times but not graphically so. Overall this was a fun historical fiction read with a time travel aspect, if you liked Outlander you will enjoy this one as well. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for access to this novel. All opinions are my own.
If you could spend a week in any other time, what time would you choose?
openmypages 