The Whale Road

May 28, 2007
British journalist Low’s debut novel is a rousing, sprawling saga of Viking warriors and the quest for hidden treasure. The adventure begins in A.D. 965, when 15-year-old Orm Ruriksson—aka Orm the Bear Slayer—joins the Oathsworn, a band of raiders that includes his father, Rurik, and is led by the ruthless Einar the Black. After hearing a tale about “a mountain of silver” that once belonged to Attila the Hun, the band sets out to find it, accompanied by a madwoman who claims to know the treasure’s location. The daunting journey becomes more treacherous as competitors also race for the prize. Bluetooth, the King of the Danes and the Norwegians, covets the treasure for himself, and an unscrupulous Catholic monk joins the chase, not for the silver but for the “Spear of Destiny”—the spear that pierced Christ’s side on the cross and was later forged into Attila’s sword. Low mixes history, archeology, mythology and nonstop, often-sanguinary action into a fast-moving adventure tale.