A boy is drawn into the violent past of his grandfather and Viking ancestors. Sky’s not looking forward to a summer with his estranged cousin Kristin, until they find Grandfather Sigurd’s runes in an old chest in the attic. Runecasting leads Sky to animal shapeshifting, dangerous haunts and visions of going a-Viking with his berserker forefather, Bjorn. Sky and Kristin run off to Norway on a mysterious quest, where they discover that Sigurd is neither so dead, nor so benevolent, as they’d originally suspected. Sky’s lessons in unexpectedly potent violence lead him to some hard decisions. The cousins slog through overwritten prose (though some historical Viking scenes are brought beautifully to life with language reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon alliterative rhythms). Despite pacing, a compelling adventure that asks hard questions of its characters. (Fantasy. 10-13)
