Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed
him. "It seems that things are stirring across the water," the Bard had
warned. "Ships are being built, swords are being forged."
"Is that bad?" Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before
seen berserkers.
"Of course. People don't make ships and swords unless they intend to use
them."
The year is A.D. 793. In the next months, Jack and his little sister,
Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate,
Thorgil. With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are
swept up into an adventure-quest in the spirit of The Lord of the
Rings.
Award-winner Nancy Farmer has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor
offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than "Just say no
to pillaging."