Needless to say, my romantic view of the Vikings has thoroughly been destroyed through reading Price of Blood. Their utter terrorzation and pillaging and raping throughout England for hundreds of years disgusted me. At the same time the poor leadership of haunted King Athelred did not do much to help fight the onslaughts over the years. His Queen Emma, the Norman foreigner and his firstborn son Athelstan are the true heroes of this novel. They urged fighting back with ships and trained warriors while Athelstan continually paid out hundreds of thousands of "gafol" to keep them away from their shoes. I'm a romanticist and the fierce but mostly chaste bond between Queen Emma and Athelstan kept me wishing that the mad king who had guilty memories of his silent consent in the murder of his half brother Edward would just die and have Queen Emma free to marry Athelstan and save Englalnd. I loved the book and recommend it to anyone who loves well written historical fiction. Many thanks to Net Galley, Patricia Bracewell and Penguin Group for allowing me this wonderful reading experience.