Storm-blown, salt-flecked and gore-spattered, Winter’s Fire is a belter of a novel. It’s just what I have come to expect from the master storyteller, Giles Kristian, whose books throw the reader headlong into the Viking age . . . this is a stirring tale of comradeship, bloodshed and treachery. It’s perfect for fans of historical fiction and fantasy alike, from Cornwell to Abercrombie.

Wild as the waves, savage as a wolf pack in full flight, this is Viking writing at its best. bloody and savage and glorious, this tale of courage and cunning, of vengeance and of lives touched by the Gods is all we could possibly ask for from a historical novel: perfect.

Nobody writes this type of swaggering historical fiction better than Kristian. Big swords, bigger beards and lots of action, all delivered with real panache and poetry.

There are authors whose work I take the time to savour. Ben Kane for gritty, brutal history. Christian Cameron for the lyrical essence of men at war. Joe Abercrombie for grim, scarred characters with no choice except to fight and die. Giles Kristian’s Winter's Fire combined all three, but blended with a panache that made the pages fly by in a single sitting. More!

Simply stunning.

Wings of the Storm is the real Viking stuff. Giles Kristian is the best!

One hell of a dramatic thrilling conclusion . . . the ending is powerful and worth waiting for. Another contender for the book of the year.

‘Kristian eclipses the master of the genre, Bernard Cornwell, in the last set-piece battle, a vivid melee of sword and axe; one of the best battle scenes that I have read’

One of the modern world's great storytellers. To read him is to be reminded that life itself is a story. He writes fearlessly, like a hero

They Burn the Thistles is an epic story of a bitter war during the 1920s between the poor Turkish peasants of the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia and the greedy Aghas who covet their land... British critics said that Yashar Kemal had a feeling for the soil in literature that recalled Thomas Hardy and Ignazio Silone

Highly and deservedly praised...is a remarkable achievement.

Wonderfully readable

Translators give their wits and craft selflessly in service of others' work; this is a triumph of fidelity and unpretentiousness.