"No one knew how to navigate. It hadn't even crossed their minds. All that mattered was that they had made their escape."
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Freedom of the Waves by Peter L. Ward Trafford Publishing
book review by Michael Radon
A collection of the author's Viking Journey series, this book collects the stories Vimp the Viking's Epic Voyage, Freya and the Fenris-Wolf, and Eric and the Mystical Bear into one volume. Following the magical and dangerous exploits of a band of Viking teenagers who wish to settle peacefully instead of looting and pillaging, these stories take the readers across Europe, as the characters deal with angry Norse and Saxon gods, furious villagers, and terrifying mythical beasts. The teenagers learn to handle homesickness, being cast as outsiders, surviving independently, and their own emotions as their adventures lead them to exotic locales rooted in the history of real-life Vikings. As they make new friends and learn more about their world and themselves, they seek to find a place they can truly call home.
With captivating full-page illustrations and dozens of chapters that all detail epic adventure, this book is ideal for imaginative readers who are young or young at heart. Fans of Norse mythology or those new to it will be delighted by the presence of deities and monsters from ancient times without feeling lost or overwhelmed. The author's pace and language is easy to understand for all readers, with more experienced readers hungrily devouring the texts and the younger audience enjoying every page of the journey. Each story of the trilogy leaves the reader ready to start the next immediately, and once the story has concluded, there is a strong resolution despite a chance for more adventures on the horizon. This trilogy deserves a spot among the other beloved young adult fantasy classics.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review