The Sea-King and the Sorceress: Life and Death in the Viking Age

From the acclaimed author of Children of Ash and Elm, an intimate, continent-spanning human journey through the Viking world. 

For centuries, Vikings have been stereotyped as brutish and violent pillagers. New archaeological findings reveal the Viking Age’s diversity. This is according to Neil Price.

Price traces a diverse Norse world, from an arctic hunter to a woman of Persian ancestry. From a Sámi nomad to a bear endowed with person-hood, he shows broad variety. From Viking raiders to Rus’ river traders, Price reconstructs Norse lives in personal detail. As we meet these and many more, Price presents a new and complex image of the Viking Age. Taking the reader from Greenland to Greece and across three centuries, Price demonstrates that Viking all of their heterogeneity is both surprisingly similar to us today and also thrillingly strange.

Densely peopled, beautifully rendered, and impressively wide-reaching, The Sea-King and the Sorceress illuminates the realities of life in the Viking diaspora.