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Ever since seeing Tony Curtis fighting with Kirk Douglas at the top of a tower turret, I've been enamoured with the idea of Vikings. That romantic backdrop to a violent, raiding culture makes for a great story and with historical novels all the rage at the moment, what with Conn Iggulden's Emperor series bringing Julius Caesar's life and times alive and Bernard Cornwell continuing to thrill readers with his tales of pre-historic Britain as well as shaping the literary shenanigans of the swashbuckling Sharpe; the history genre has never had it so good. Having recently tried one of the Emperor series and enjoyed it, I was keen to try more from the historical fiction range so when I spied Paul Watkins's "Thunder God" and picked it up for a reasonable sum; I quickly became engrossed again in the world of Vikings and Norse mythology. Paul Watkins was a first time author for me. Born in 1964, he went to school in Wales before launching a career as an author. His previous novels include "Night Over Day Over Night", "Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn" and "In the Blue Light of African Dreams". "Thunder God" was first published in 2004 and has received critical acclaim from both The Times and Sunday Telegraph.

"Thunder God" is set in 975AD in Norway and follows the story of Hakon, a fisherman's son who is struck by lightening when pursuing the mythical Sasser Greycloak on his way to the Grimsvoss Mountains. Now considered to have special powers, Hakon finds himself inept when raiders loot his village, taking him and an old man called Tostig hostage when they leave. Intending to sell him into slavery, one of the ship's crew Halfdan - takes Hakon as a his own slave instead and when the boy once again shows no fear during a storm featuring thunder and lightening as Halfdan is praying to the Gods, the enigmatic captor learns to respect his charge whilst still treating him harshly. Following our hero's subsequent release from slavery following the death in battle of his captor, Hakon embarks on a search for home, together with his friend, Cabal who accompanies him on his travels. Traversing the known world, from Miklagard (Constantinople) as members of the Emperor Basil II's Vangarian Guard to a raid on a Welsh village and beyond, "Thunder God" tells the sweeping tale of Hakon and his adventures, set firmly within the Norse culture and a strong undercurrent of religious tension.

Told in the first person and from Hakon's perspective, the book works well on a number of fronts. First

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