This book was a no for me on several levels.. I'll give you three. 1. From a writing point of view. This was supposed to be Vikings, Danes era but the author kept throwing in words, both in their thoughts and speech from the 2000's! It was very distracting! 2. Sex, according to this author you would expect the Vikings to be the most powerful force on earth, with the greatest population of any by now! Sick, Bleeding, Every guy with whomever, whenever and the same with the girls... Young teens up to old, it didn't matter...take if you want then both just walk away.
3. This was the clincher for me. They kept mentioning the White God vs their demon Gods. So I kept reading thinking "Maybe she is just showing us how low they had to get before they realized their need for God."
It was obvious there was Devil/Demon worship and even human sacrifices going on. But when it came to the two that she actually wrote about "turning to God" they were NOTHING about prayer,
REPENTANCE OF SIN,
ASKING GOD'S FORGIVENESS
BEING FORGIVEN & WASHED IN JESUS BLOOD
TURNING FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS
John 3:16 For GOD so loved the world (YOU) that He gave His only begotten (BORN) Son, that whosoever (YOU) believeth in Him (JESUS) shalt (WILL) have everlasting (FOREVER) life.

INSTEAD, the author has a bright light hugging one gal and teleporting her "part" way-out of trouble???
Then the second one the King "Pretends" to pray thinking that he can still serve the "Old Gods" when the battle is over but if everyone wants him to kneel and pray and ACT like he is serving God then he will....And what do you know, with the two monks praying, when the battle is all but lost a huge light in the shape of a cross shows up over where they are fighting. The monk takes advantage of it tells him to jump up under it so both sides can see him, when he does the old monk gets up with him and announces that God has chosen sides and is with THIS king, put down your weapons and go home! And they do.
These are NOT SALVATION TESTIMONIALS!
I CAN NOT recommend this book. I really wanted to like it. I love a good viking story but am finding them harder and harder to find. Just because they were fierce warriors and some, yes, were savage, not all of them were monsters who lived in filth & squalor. They were a strong, resourceful, resilient, vibrant, artistic, talented people.
I received this eBook from Net Galley to read and review, giving only my honest opinion of the book in my own words. That is what I have written above.

I've read Johanne Hildebrandt's other book in English, "The Unbroken Line of the Moon" and thought that it was a good read, but this book,"Estrid", was by far a better read. It was a love story that also had murder, witches, and old time gods like Thor. Sigrid was in love with Sweyn as a first love, and had twins by him but was given to Erik of Svealand as wife. He gave her the Scylfing lands to keep for there son Olaf. Her daughter, Estrid, was kidnapped by Agnatyr, a chieftain and made to marry him. While this was happening Sweyn was raiding England because he was kicked out of Denmark as king b his two brothers and Erik of Svealand. Sigrid had her maid kill her husband as he was making love to her. The story goes on to tell of the escape from kidnapping, being hounded by suitors, and battles that kept him away. Each of these things was solved through working with God. The lovers were brought back together and were told of the twins being Sweyn's children. It ends with the step mother of Estrid's child being scared by the child laughing at having a door opened by the childs mind.. I highly recommend this book to read.