The Outlaw Viking by Sandra Hill is part of the Timeswept series and is the sequel to The Reluctant Viking.

This novel is the story of Selik, (the young viking who bedded all the women and when facing death asked only that the executioner not damage his hair) and Dr Rain Jordan, (the daughter of Ruby and Thork).

The novel opens at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, England.  (A great place to visit BTW - I have been twice and, with the exception of the castle, I found it the best attraction in York.  A link to the Viking Centre's Website is at the end of this review).

Dr Thoraine Jordan has the tall height of her ancestors but never truly believed that her father was a real Viking.  That is until she stands before a painting of Selik and an accident transports her back in time to the battlefield of Brunanburh and face to face with the Outlaw Viking himself.

After saving his life she is taken by Selik, as a prisoner, to his camp.  Slowly she manages to convince him that she is the daughter of  Ruby and Thork, despite the fact that time seems to have passed at different speeds.  For while only about 12 years have passed since her mother first travelled in time Rain is 30 years old and as such is older than her half brothers, Tykir and Eirik.

While at the camp Rain also becomes acquainted with her brother Tykir whom she is required to perform her medical skills on, to save his leg.

Travelling with the party to Jorvik (York) Rain soon discovers that Selik is no longer the frivolous youth her mother recalls.  Events have added scars to his soul as surely at battles have added scars to his body.

Selik had married since the return of her mother to the future and had lost his wife and child in a violent attack on his home and is tortured by the memories of when he found their bodies.  He has sworn to avenge their deaths and plans on taking as many Saxons with him as he can until he can until the day he finds and kills their murderer.

Unable to look at children because of the constant reminder of his own lost son he is seen by many as an ugly, uncaring, berserker and is feared by even his own people.

Rain however remembers the youth her mother told her about and is determined to follow the advice of an inner voice that urges her to save him.

Searching below the hurt and scars Rain slowly breaks through the barriers Selik has built around himself.  But can she succeed in getting him to give up his quest for vengeance before he is killed.  For even if he manages to kill the murderer of his family, the killer is a high-born Saxon and Selik will find himself executed if he kills Steven of Gravely.

From Ravenshire to Jorvik and the Winchester jail cells, Rain follows Selik and continues in her mission, meeting with her other half brother Eirik and the evil Steven of Gravely in the process.

Rain also gathers together a collection of orphaned children and starts her own orphanage in Selik's barn and helps at the hospital in Jorvik while disguised as a man.

But her greatest task will be to win not Selik's love, but his trust, something he finds impossible to give to her and as his stubborn nature drives them further apart it seems that they will never be able to build a life together and that maybe Rain's best option is to use the portal at the site of the Jorvik Viking Centre to find her way home again.

As humorous as Sandra Hill's other books this time travel romance ties up some of the loose ends that Ruby's departure left. When Rain discovers that everyone who met her mother remembers her under garments it is especially humorous as Rain realises just what she has to live up to.

A wonderfully written novel of the high standard we have come to expect from Sandra Hill.  With The Tarnished Lady and The Reluctant Viking this is a great set of books.  I feel that Tykir could do with his own novel too and look forward to reading one should it be written.

RATING : 
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Links to  online stores

Also by Sandra Hill:  Frankly, My Dear..., The Reluctant Viking,  Sweeter Savage Love,  Desperado,  The Last Viking, The Bewitched Viking, Truly, Madly Viking, The Very Virile Viking, The Tarnished Lady (the story of Eirik), 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.

For more information on the Jorvik Viking Centre you can visit their website.