The Last Viking by Sandra Hill, although similarly titled to several of her other novels, is in no way connected to the other titles, other than the obvious fact that there are written by the same author.

The Last Viking is the story of Geirolf 'Rolf' Ericsson, a shipwrecked Viking who finds himself in the United States of America and the twentieth century.
 

With a mission in the past he knows he cannot stay in the future and offers his services to Professor Meredith Foster who is reconstructing a Viking ship with the help of her college students.  Intending to rebuild the ship and set sail for the past Rolf's mission seems to have suffered only a minor set back.

Meredith Foster is a professor at a college who is completing the last request of her grandfather by reconstructing a Viking ship.  Suffering from set backs and a lack of enthusiasm from her students she is only to grateful for any help that is offered.   But should she be accepting the help of the strange man who has appeared in her house claiming to be from a time of 1000 years ago?

Not entirely believing his story of time travel Meredith nevertheless finds herself with an unexpected houseguest with a forceful personality and a bossy manner that matches her own.  Added to this an unequalled skill at shipbuilding and how could she resist him for long.  Especially since he insists from the first night that she is to be his 'bedmate' for the duration of his stay.  Before too long she finds that it no longer matters where Rolf has come from and she slowly begins to believe his tales of the past and hope for a future together in whatever time they have.

With the help of a talisman Rolf finds he has no difficulty in understanding the language of the future, although some words confuse him even more than the woman whose house he is now residing in.

Rolf cannot comprehend why Meredith would want the ship to be built in the same way the Vikings would have completed the job.  In the future with power tools and machinery beyond his imagination it seems rather a waste of time to continue with the old fashioned ways.  The Vikings worked best by taking advantage of every skill they had, now that power tools are available he is content to use those too.

The longer Rolf remains in the future the more he realises that it is in the land of power tools and television that he wants to remain.  But his mission requires that he return to the past in order to save his people from a famine by restoring a religious relic to the place it was taken from years before.

Rolf sets out in his mission to rebuild the ship by bringing the whole community into the project and soon the ship is nearing completion.  But can he bear to be parted from Meredith and his new friends, not to mention his new hero Tim "The Toolman" Taylor - despite the objections of Meredith to his choice of hero.  (Meredith by the way has my deepest sympathy in this matter.  I too find Tim Allen rather annoying but have been forced to sit through several episodes of Home Improvement.)

Another insightful novel into the life of the Vikings from an author who has obviously researched this era with great care.

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Also by Sandra Hill:  Frankly, My Dear..., The Reluctant Viking,  Sweeter Savage Love,  Desperado,  The Outlaw Viking, The Bewitched Viking, Truly, Madly Viking, The Very Virile Viking, The Tarnished Lady, The Blue Viking, Tall, Dark & Cajun and The Love Potion

Read an interview with Sandra Hill.

Read more about Sandra Hill's books at her  web page.

The hero of The Last Viking is said to be based on Kevin Sorbo, the star of tv's Hercules series.  For those who like to put a face to the heros in the novels and are not content with the covers here is a link to the Universal Studio's Hercules Site - personally I don't think that the cover picture looks a great deal like Sorbo but since when does the cover art portray anything like the character described in the novel ;-) ?