The I Index

River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road

Top of the pile

80

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

55/100

Critics

91/100

Scholars

93/100

Author:

Cat Jarman

Publisher:

William Collins

Date:

February 1, 2022

The story of the Viking Age that traces the historical trail of an ancient piece of jewelry found in a Viking grave in England to its origins thousands of miles east in India.

What The Reviewers Say

William Dalrymple,
The Financial Times (UK)
... brilliant and unusually wide-ranging.
Gerard DeGroot,
The Times (UK)
... a mystery and an adventure.
Judith Jesch,
The Times Literary Supplement (UK)
Vikings, both fictional and historical, seem to be everywhere at the moment, and as a result there are more books being published on the topic than even the most ardent aficionado could be expected to read, many of them having little new to say. It is thus quite an achievement for Cat Jarman to have written a book which not only has new things to say to those who have read many other books about Vikings, but also provides an engaging introduction to the study of the Vikings for those who are new to the subject.
Christopher Hart,
Daily Mail (UK)
A brilliant detective story deep into the past — and across half the world.