The events of The Lord of Vik-Lo left Thorgrim Night Wolf in possession of a small longphort (a fortified port) along the eastern coast of Ireland, just south of Dubh-Linn. He doesn't want to be there -- truly, all he really wants is to go home to Norway -- but circumstances keep preventing him, his teenage son Harald and his surviving men from making the voyage. They have passed an uneventful winter eating, drinking and building a handful of sleek longships but, now that spring is upon them, an opportunity arises to raid the prosperous fair at Glendalough, a town known for its large monastery and little else.

The fact that an Irish lord proposes the raid on Irish priests and merchants gives Thorgrim pause, as does the dissent among some factions of his viking followers. Still, it seems like a profitable venture, and he agrees. Then, another party of Norsemen joins them en route to Glendalough, and these new men are brutal to an extent that even Thorgrim finds disquieting.

Meanwhile, disenfranchised Frankish lord Louis de Roumois is cooling his heels as an unwilling monk, banished to the monastery and a life of holy sacraments by his jealous older brother. When the monastery receives word of an imminent raid, Louis -- who, lets face it, is not a very good monk but is a very good soldier -- is given the task of training and leading a few hundred tradesmen into battle against the invaders.

He is, it must be noted, under the nominal command of a wealthy local merchant whose wife Louis has been ... enjoying, and not very discreetly.

Glendalough Fair follows the stories of both Thorgrim and Louis, which only intersect occasionally, as events move both men toward a clash at the fair. It's honestly hard to know who to root for in this book; let's face it, Thorgrim is kind of the villain here, although not quite as villainous as the brutish viking Ottar Thorolfson or the two-faced Irish lord Kevin mac Lugaed, or for that matter the cuckolded Irish merchant Colman mac Breandan. Heck, even Louis isn't entirely a saint, as Colman's wife Failend -- who proves to be something of an amazon in her own right -- can attest.

The novel unfolds as Thorgrim and his men advance slowly upriver toward Glendalough, and Louis and his men dog their heels and try to hinder them without taking too many losses of their own. Matters grow more complicated when an assassin enters the fray, intent on removing Louis from the action.

Glendalough Fair has many moving parts, and it might just be my favorite book in the series so far. I believe author James L. Nelson -- better known to many readers as the writer of nautical fiction from 18th- and 19th-century America -- is still churning out books in the ongoing Norsemen Saga. I am eager to begin the next in the series!

[ visit James Nelson''s website ]