"Set in the late ninth century AD, when England was divided into seven separate kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxon lands are attacked and, in many instances, ruled by Danes. The Kingdom of Wessex had been left standing alone. The protagonist Uhtred, the orphaned son of a Saxon nobleman, is captured by Viking Danesand reared as one of them. Forced to choose between a kingdom that shares his ancestry and the people of his upbringing, his loyalties are constantly tested"--Container.