The Viking King Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately, but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy. A prophecy that tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the Gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory.

But Authun discovers not one child, but twin baby boys. Ensuring that his faithful warriors, witnesses to what has happened, die during the raid, Authun takes the children and their mother home, back to the witches who live on the troll wall. And he places his destiny in their hands.

And so begins a stunning multi-volume fantasy epic that will take a werewolf from his beginnings as the heir to a brutal Viking king, down through the ages. It is a journey that will see him hunt for his lost love through centuries and lives, and see the endless battle between the wolf, Odin, and Loki – the eternal trickster – spill over into countless bloody conflicts from our history, and over into our lives.

This is the myth of the werewolf as it has never been told before and marks the beginning of an extraordinary new fantasy series from Gollancz.

Nora Hunt is the last of her kind from an aristocratic bloodline of Viking assassins. She is chosen by the Norse gods to carry the map of the nine Viking worlds, Yggdrasil, which is tattooed on her back.

Nora was blessed by the gods with rare gifts and will become powerful when she finds the assassin weapons. With her unique gifts, she must serve and protect the Goth Empire – the oldest standing Viking monarchy, from its enemy – the Verans.

Her mission as an assassin is to get to the City of Vikings, where her father is in exile, and discover the powerful Viking weapons before the enemy. The Goth Empire is in danger from the Verans, who hold possession of the artifacts that call for Yggdrasil and are getting closer to finding the cryptic symbols that will open the gates to the nine worlds.

The battle for Yggdrasil is about to begin. Who will rule the nine worlds of the Vikings? With a confined monarchy and weak senate trusting her to liberate them, and a heart devoted to her sworn enemy, which side will Nora choose? Will she discover the assassin weapons and win the perilous battle for the worlds of the Vikings?