Advanced Review Copy

For lovers of Vikings, intrigue, and the ultimate soap opera on the high seas.

You ever crack open a book and feel like you just climbed aboard a longship? That’s exactly the vibe Hunting The Sun (1151 The Whale Road) gives. Jean Gill’s latest in the Midwinter Dragon series isn’t just historical fiction—it’s like binge-watching a prestige Viking drama, with a side of Sicilian spice and Byzantine brainpower. Drama? Oh, we’ve got drama. Rivalries? Check. Political scheming? Absolutely. Forbidden silk trade? You bet your sweet mulberry.

We’re back with Skarfr—warrior, skald, and reluctant foster dad—and Hlif, who honestly deserves her own spinoff as the sharpest trader and most badass wise woman on either side of the Middle Sea. Together with Sea-born (a kid who’s survived more than his share of trauma), they’re trying to make a life in exile under King Roger  of Sicily. And let me tell you, this ain’t some lazy island vacation.

Gill plunges us deep into a world where the Vikings are rubbing elbows with scholars, poets, and mercenaries from Byzantium, Constantinople, and beyond. Sicily, 1151, is a cultural mash-up: Muslim scientists inventing hourglasses, silk workers gossiping about passion behind palace walls, and Norsemen trying to figure out what in Odin’s name “Byzantine fire” is—and how not to get roasted by it.

And through it all, Skarfr is just trying to keep his family alive, his honor intact, and his enemies guessing. The man’s juggling battles, book-learning, and fatherhood, all while quietly wondering if he’s too soft on his foster son and too hard on himself. I mean, who can’t relate?

This book works because Gill doesn’t just nail the history (though she does that in spades)—she makes you feel the weight of exile, the tension of alliances, the longing for home that might not exist anymore. It’s raw, earthy, and poetic in all the right places.

A few favorite moments:

✨ Sea-born getting mouthy and earning himself a spot on a “training voyage” that turns into full-on war.
✨ Hlif schooling Sicilian seamstresses in the art of negotiation while low-key plotting to free a silk worker from royal bondage.
✨ Skarfr watching a scientific demonstration of an hourglass like it’s actual magic

And just when you think they’ve found some stability? Boom. We’re off to Constantinople, dodging assassins, battling Byzantine warships, and wondering who in this tangled web is about to stab us in the back.

Bottom line: If you want a book that feels like Vikings meets Marco Polo with a sprinkle of The Sopranos and a dash of poetry, Hunting The Sun is it. Come for the shield walls and silk secrets. Stay for the found family feels and the existential dread of whether you’ll ever belong in a world that keeps shifting under your feet.

I’m already sharpening my spear for book four. Well done!

Kat Christensen is a historical fiction author and reviewer who is passionate about good reads… Her latest novel, ‘A Profitable Wife,’ is now available on Amazon and other online book retailers.