Raiders From The Sea {Book 1 in the Viking Quest Series}
By Lois Walfrid Johnson
{Review by Bethany}
When I first heard about The Viking Quest series, it was in a book review in a magazine I was subscribed to. The reviewer seems to have really enjoyed the series, but I didn't know if I would like them or not being that my first interest isn't exactly focused on water, the sea, vikings, etc. :D {I am for on the feminine type ;D} But when my sweet friend, and faithful pen-pal Haley told me that I HAD to read them, and said she had read the series 5 times, well I then knew they were must reads. So that following Friday I got the series at our local library. I was very surprised to find that the first book wasn't at all boring like I though it would be. I read it in a only a day and really enjoyed it! It would be great for all ages, as well as both girls and boys and would be a great read aloud book! It was very suspenseful and kept you interested and I would highly recommend them! All the books are very spiritually grounded and show the importance of prayer and trust in the Lord.
The story is about Briana and her brother Devin who are captured by Vikings when they came to raid their Ireland community. The books are set in the 900th century, and makes reference to monks re-writing the Bible in their language. The story starts on Briana's 13th birthday. As she is out in the woods she comes to the spring were she sees a young boy whom she at first though to be their family friend, Tully. Remembering her fathers warning against the strength and danger of the quickly rushing water, she calls out to the lad who is crossing on the rocks. When the boy turned around, Briana finds that it sin't Tully, and that she doesn't recognize this new boy. The boy, in a rush to get away, fell and hit his head against the rock and had it not been for Briana's strong swimming strength, the boy would have died. After the boy is conscious again, he questions Briana and she feels uneasy with him, knowing that they was something not right. She goes home to get food and water for the boy, but when she returns he had left and practically disappeared. A few days later Vikings came and raided the land, and Briana and Devin are captured. To Briana's disbelief she finds that the leader of the Vikings is none other than the boy whom she saved from drowning! As Briana and Devin are lead away to the Vikings land to be slaves or sold, Briana and Devin look for a way to escape and go home to their family. Will Briana and Devin ever get to go home, or will they become slaves to Mikkel, the boy whom Briana saved, the leader of the Vikings? Find out in this interesting read! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
Mystery of the Silver Coins {Book 2 in the Viking Quest Series}
By Lois Walfrid Johnson
{Review by Bethany}
I really enjoyed the second book in this series, again reading it in one day. In the second book they start were they left you last at the end of the first book. The Viking ship stopped for a night on their way to the Viking home and while they did, all the prisoners were allowed to get off the boat and stay on the sand, with several guards watching their every move. Devin was set free in the last book, but Briana is still captured and Mikkel has no thought of setting her free since his mother is in need of a "spirited" slave. Finally Briana sees her moment were she is able to escape with Lil, a 8 year old who was also captured. Now Briana and Lil have to learn how to stay hidden during the day, and run in the night to keep out of sight for Mikkel's men who have been order to find the girls no matter what. Briana must learn of a way to keep herself and Lil fed as well as warm and safe from all others who seek them. As Briana gets closer to the place were she will get a safe vessel to take her home, Lil becomes sick. In the mean time a bag of silver coins turns to be missing from Mikkel's belongings and Briana and Lil are accused of being the ones who took them when they ran for their life. Will Mikkel find them before it's too late? Will Lil get better? Will they get to finally be home? And who really stole the silver, and will the truth come forth? Find out in this book! I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
This was probably my most favorite book in this series. In this volume, the writer takes us to the last part of this series were Bree, Mikkel and Devin are on their last voyage together. Mikkel has promised to take Bree and Devin home after one voyage, and due to his stretching "one voyage" out to a long drawn out process, Bree wonders if he will ever keep this promise. But as times goes on and Mikkel proves himself by keeping that promise...and going far beyond that to be honest and forgiving, she sees that Mikkel has changed only by the grace of God. She realized he isn't the man who captured her 5 years ago and she realized how much she, herself has changed. Once they finally arrive home, Mikkel's deep secret only known by three people starts to unfold and this secret of a long since stolen item is returned with extra to make up for the loss. Through this Bree and Devin realize that through this hard act of obedience to God, Mikkel is being formed into the man God has called him to be. Once arriving home, Bree eagerly awaits Tully, for he had been said to desired to marry her once she comes home. Once Bree and Tully meet, Bree realized that Tully no longer loves her and that he instead loves her sister who came home in her place: Keely. Though deeply hurt by this, Bree trusts in God and ends up marrying another man...one whom she never though she would ever want to look at again, much less befriend or respect...much less marry! This book had a most wonderful ending and was so exciting...at times I couldn't put it down! Overall I really enjoyed this book and would whole heartily recommend the series to you! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
In Overview of the Series ::
This series was such a blessing to read. I always found myself wanting to read more and was surprised that it only took 2 weeks to read the whole series. ;) Not only was it wonderfully written fiction, it was one with a meaning, a purpose behind just reading another story. It was such an encouragement and blessing to see how Bree, Devin and Mikkel changed for good through the hard trials they walked in their own way. Each character learned to rely on God and trust in Him even in the worst of circumstances. They learned to believe in God for everything...even when it didn't go their way. They acted positively despite their harsh condition's and because of it, they had grown in their faith by the time the series was finished. I would HIGHLY recommend this series to everyone-boy or girl, young or old! They are wonderful books that are very inspirational and interesting! Thanks to Haley for encouraging me to read these books! :D
The Invisible Friend
{Book 3 in The Viking Quest Series}
By Lois Walfrid Johnson
{Review by Bethany}
In this third book, the epic journey of Bree, Devin, Lil and Mikkel continues. At the beginning of the book, the Viking ship had just arrived to the Vikings home-the home of Mikkel but not that of Bree. Once they got to shore Mikkel starts to assign out the slaved captives to a home to be their slave. Bree is assigned to be Mikkel's mothers slave and when Lil goes to another home, they are separated, unsure of when they will see each other again. In this book, you will learn of Bree's troubles and triumphs with being a slave, how she deals with knowing a grave secret of Mikkel's which could hurt her, if she will get to see Devin again as well as Lil and more! Bree learns that even though she is a slave, she is really free in Jesus and that her owners are the true slaves to their foreign religion with many pagan gods. Bree learns that God had a plan in having her come to Mikkel which turned to be helping share Jesus' love with her owners. During the book, Bree finds out that Keely, her younger sister who was taken captive by Vikings six years ago, is here and she looks desperately for her when her owners are asleep. But when finding Keely requires breaking a promise with Mikkel, what will she do? Will she ever find her sister? And what about Devin and Lil? Will they ever return home as a complete family? Will Bree survive being a slave? Will Mikkel's family accept Christ? What about Mikkel's deep secret? Find out in this book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
Heart of Courage
{Book 4 in The Viking Quest Series}
By Lois Walfrid Johnson
{Review by Bethany}
In this fourth book, the journey continues with Bree, Devin and Mikkel. In this book, Mikkel promises that he will give Bree freedom if she and her brother accompany Mikkel on his next voyage to Iceland and beyond. In this book we see how that voyage turns out and whether Mikkel will really keep his promise or not. During the voyage both Bree and Mikkel learn to have a heart of courage and learn to ask God for it. In this book, during a hard time with sailing, fog, problems-when everything seems to go wrong and comes to the point of near-death, Mikkel's heard heart is softened toward the God of Bree and Devin and accepts Him to be his personal Savior. So now that Mikkel has a change of heart, will he keep his promise to Bree? Will he ever get the heart of courage he desires? And will Bree be able to continue being courageous during this hard time? Towards the end of the book, we learn more of Mikkels deep secret, and when Bree kinds out the details, what will she think of Mikkel's "change of heart"? Is it still genuine? Find out in this interesting read! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
The Raiders Promise
{Book 5 in The Viking Quest Series}
By Lois Walfrid Johnson
{Review by Bethany}
This was probably my most favorite book in this series. In this volume, the writer takes us to the last part of this series were Bree, Mikkel and Devin are on their last voyage together. Mikkel has promised to take Bree and Devin home after one voyage, and due to his stretching "one voyage" out to a long drawn out process, Bree wonders if he will ever keep this promise. But as times goes on and Mikkel proves himself by keeping that promise...and going far beyond that to be honest and forgiving, she sees that Mikkel has changed only by the grace of God. She realized he isn't the man who captured her 5 years ago and she realized how much she, herself has changed. Once they finally arrive home, Mikkel's deep secret only known by three people starts to unfold and this secret of a long since stolen item is returned with extra to make up for the loss. Through this Bree and Devin realize that through this hard act of obedience to God, Mikkel is being formed into the man God has called him to be. Once arriving home, Bree eagerly awaits Tully, for he had been said to desired to marry her once she comes home. Once Bree and Tully meet, Bree realized that Tully no longer loves her and that he instead loves her sister who came home in her place: Keely. Though deeply hurt by this, Bree trusts in God and ends up marrying another man...one whom she never though she would ever want to look at again, much less befriend or respect...much less marry! This book had a most wonderful ending and was so exciting...at times I couldn't put it down! Overall I really enjoyed this book and would whole heartily recommend the series to you! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
In Overview of the Series ::
This series was such a blessing to read. I always found myself wanting to read more and was surprised that it only took 2 weeks to read the whole series. ;) Not only was it wonderfully written fiction, it was one with a meaning, a purpose behind just reading another story. It was such an encouragement and blessing to see how Bree, Devin and Mikkel changed for good through the hard trials they walked in their own way. Each character learned to rely on God and trust in Him even in the worst of circumstances. They learned to believe in God for everything...even when it didn't go their way. They acted positively despite their harsh condition's and because of it, they had grown in their faith by the time the series was finished. I would HIGHLY recommend this series to everyone-boy or girl, young or old! They are wonderful books that are very inspirational and interesting! Thanks to Haley for encouraging me to read these books! :D
1 Words of Grace:
These books sound incredibly interesting! I will try to get them at the library or at a book store. The books sound like a real blessing and I can't wait to read them!
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