The penultimate book in James L. Nelson's 12-book Norsemen Saga, The Narrow Seas, finds Thorgrim Ulfsson, aka Night Wolf, still ashore on the coast of Engla-land, where a misguided scheme to raid Winchester in The Midgard Serpent drew Thorgrim and his men into conflict with a vast fleet of Saxons under the command of the Wessex King Aethulwulf, who was preparing for a voyage across the channel to visit King Charles the Bald of West Frankia before making a pilgrimage to Rome. Stuck at something of an impasse -- and with a body of Saxon nobles held hostage in the Viking camp -- the Saxons strike a series of bargains, trading silver for their nobles, then more silver for an escort across the channel. The Saxons also extract a promise from the Norsemen not to attack them along the way.

That last part doesn't sit well with Bergthor, who commands about half of the Norsemen in the Viking fleet. he sees the English as easy pickings, and he plans to take the silver, then attack the English in the channel anyway -- but Thorgrim doesn't break his word. That pits Norsemen against Norsemen, which -- to be honest -- doesn't displease the Saxons.

And anyway, the Saxons don't plan to keep their part of the bargain, either.

The journey to Frankia is particularly appealing to Louis de Roumois, the lone Frank in Thorgrim's party who was exiled to an Irish monastery by his brother, a duke, for fear he might try to seize the family's title and inheritance. Louis has been in Thorgrim's party since the fourth book in the series, Glendalough Fair, when they met as foes in Ireland but became reluctant allies.

The question once they arrive is, will Franks fight Franks and, if so, which side will the Vikings take? Or will they simply seize what loot they can and sail away?

Harald, Thorgrim's younger son who has accompanied him thus far on this wayward voyage, finds himself briefly in Paris, of all places, where he is less interested in the silver owed to his father than he is a copy of an old Roman map that shows much of the known world. Think of the possibilities....

This, one way or another, puts an end to Louis's part of Thorgrim's story. And, whatever you might think of the resolution for Failend, Thorgrim's Irish lover, in The Midgard Serpent, this is a much more satisfying conclusion.

Meanwhile, in Norway, Thorgrim's older son Odd continues to hide from the forces of King Halfdan the Black, who tried to confiscate Thorgrim's lands in his absence and subsequently outlawed Odd for standing up to him. By now, many landowners in the region have stood up to Halfdan as well, and many have paid a heavy price for disloyalty to their king. But the men tracking Odd are getting closer, and soon Odd will have to decide where he will go to make a final stand.

I am somewhat distressed to realize there is just one book remaining in this series. Although I am eager to see Thorgrim finally get home -- something he has been trying to do since he first found himself in Ireland in Fin Gall -- and to see several long-running plot threads find their resolution, I hate to see Nelson's longest-running series come to an end.

[ visit James L. Nelson online ]