Linnea Hartsuyker Books In Order

Publication Order of The Half-Drowned King/ The Golden Wolf Saga Books

Linnea Hartsuyker is a popular American writer of fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction novels. She is particularly famous for writing the Half-Drowned King book series. Hartsuyker’s books have achieved success throughout the world and are famous for their wonderful characters, excellent settings, and unique storylines. The ancestry of Hartsuyker can be traced back to Norway’s first king named Harald Fairhair. She was born in Los Angeles and was brought up in the woods near Ithaca, New York. Hartsuyker has studied engineering at the University of Cornell. After spending ten years in the field of writing and working for various startups, she joined the University of New York to obtain an MFA in the subject of creative writing. As of now, Hartsuyker works as a full-time writer and spends most of her time writing historical fiction stories. She is happily married and has homes located in New York and New Hampshire.

In addition to being an excellent author, Hartsuyker is also an avid traveler, cook, knitter, reader, and Crossfitter. She likes to read all genres of nonfiction and fiction stories. When Hartsuyker was in her teens, her family took to researching its history and ancestry. When the lineage was successfully traced back to King Fairhair of Norway from the ninth century, Hartsuyker became intrigued to find more information. She wanted to more about King Fairhair and his reign than what was available in Icelandic sagas and history books. This intrigue and desire led her to develop and write her debut book and its sequel novels. Hartsuyker’s advice to the aspiring writers is that they should keep writing as long as they can. She also advises them to find a reason and an urge to write rather than looking for validation from others.

Hartsuyker’s believes that a writer should write not to please others, but to satisfy themselves first and develop a story that they want to read. The best way to complete a story, according to her, is to explore a character, a world, an idea. Author Hartsuyker likes to interact with her fans and take input from them about her books and her writing style. She blogs regularly and looks forward to interacting with many more readers in regards to her future novels. Hartsuyker is quite content with the amount of success she has received in her writing career so far. She hopes to achieve more popularity by writing many more novels in the years to come.

The Half-Drowned King series written by author Linnea Hartsuyker began in 2017. It is an exhilarating historical fiction series filled with a rich history, political intrigue, and romantic adventure. Many critics have compared this series with the likes of the Game of Thrones series, Outlander series, and the Norse Mythology series. The essential characters created by author Hartsuyker in this series include Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Svanhild, Solvi Hunthiofsson, Freydis, Einar, Ivar, Rolli, etc. Ragnvald Eysteinsson is depicted as King Harald’s right-hand man. Following his father’s death battle, Ragnvald inherits the family land and takes up the responsibility of keeping his sister Svanhild safe.

As the series progresses further, Ragnvald Eysteinsson is seen rising higher and along with him, Svanhild too sees an increase in her worth in the political scenario of King Harald’s rule. This Viking saga depicts a world full of violence and shows how honor faces challenges with shifting alliances and vengeance keeps peace threatened all the time. Author Hartsuyker has recreated Viking-Age Scandinavia quite well with all its passion, glory, danger, power, brutality, loyalty, betrayal, and myth.

The debut book of the series is entitled ‘The Half-Drowned King’. It was released by the Harper publication in 2017. The book opens by depicting that Ragnvald Eysteinsson has worked very hard to ensure the safety of his sister since the day his father died in battle. He intends to inherit the family property when he becomes capable. But, his stepfather tries to betray him by getting him killed at the hands of his ship’s captain while returning a raiding excursion. Ragnvald begins to find a way to confront his stepdad and obtain what belongs to him rightfully. He knows that this task is going to be very difficult because petty rulers are known to kill each other over small parcels of land. When Ragnvald is set to get killed while safeguarding his honor, his sister Svanhild is expected to get married and settle down. She doesn’t relish this fate. She looks to free herself from the cruelty of her stepfather. But, when the chance comes at the hand of the arch-rival of her brother, she is forced to choose between freedom and family.

The second volume of this series is known as ‘The Sea Queen’. It was also published by Harper publication in 2018. This book opens six years after the previous book came to an end. Ragnvald Eysteinsson becomes Sogn’s kings and continues to fight battles for Harald Farihair. His war duties keep him away from his home and force him to confront treachery. He navigates a dangerous political landscape that keeps growing more dangerous the more Ragnvald rises higher. On the other hand, Svanhild is happy to find the adventure and freedom that she has been craving all her life. She has sided with a rebel explorer named Solvi Hunthiofsson, but not without paying a heavy cost. Svanhild wishes to move to a place where her son would grow strong. But, Solvi’s ambition forces Svanhild to head back to the battles in Norway and keeps her from uniting with her brother.

The enemies of King Harald get united because of a rising rebellion. Ragnvald Eysteinsson suspects that a few Norse nobles are plotting against Harald’s dream of uniting Norway. When her rebels grow stronger, Ragnvald hatches a plan to defeat the enemies and help his sister come out of her dilemma. Svanhild begins to feel that no choices and no decisions are ever going to set her completely free. In the end, Ragnvald and Svanhild realize that they are set on a course where their actions will bring irrevocable repercussions for all those they love with all their heart as well as for Norway. This novel continues to depict the violent world of Viking-Age Scandinavia and the political atmosphere that does not let Norway attain peace and stability.

One Response to “Linnea Hartsuyker”

1. Mary: 11 months ago

   Loved reading all three books books
   Hope there are more to come

   Reply