Originally intended to be a trilogy, The Oathsworn has evolved into a series with The Prow Beast as the fourth entry. The author, Robert Low does extensive research for his writing and in this book he includes a few known-to-be real people to enhance the story. The Oathsworn are a loose band of warriors, Vikings who have banded together to take the whale road to riches and adventures.

The Prow Beast opens with Orm Bearslayer and his men being put on the defensive by an old enemy. To himself, Orm knows that this is well deserved revenge for the terrible acts he and his men did, but he also soon realizes that there is political motive here as well. King Erik of Sweden has entrusted him with his pregnant Queen Sigrith, and it appears some of the attackers are more interested in killing her and her unborn baby than in taking their revenge. During the course of the assault, Orm’s foster son, Koll, is captured and taken. As he is the son of a very important Jarl, Orm and the Oathsworn are soon back on their ship and following the kidnapper’s trail down the Oder River. This takes them into unknown lands, people by Wends, Pols, and Vislands who have one thing in common, they all view the Northmen as their enemies.

This author is a wonderful storyteller, and The Prow Beast is an action packed, gripping story that is rich in detail, decidedly violent and altogether a great reading adventure. ( )

An outstanding sequel to the other 'Oathsworn' sequels (the series is now up to number four).
It's a good, gripping story, rich in detail and with plenty going on, both outwardly and inwardly. Many of the characters, especially our hero, get their personalities developed very satisfyingly. We really sympathize with them, through the good times, the battles to survive and the inevitable bad times.
As number four in the series, you might expect the story to run a little short on steam, but that is not the case here. The area and distances of the Viking world covered (early 'European' Russia) is more compact, the story better for it and I for one, am looking forward to the next book.
With this 'Oathsworn' series and Giles Kristian's excellent 'Raven' series (only two in paperback, one in hardback as yet), there are now some serious challengers to Bernard Cornwell's place on my bookshelf. Can't say fairer than that. ( )

This was perhaps the best of the series. The battle scenes are not as vivid, but the story is a stark one: The Oathsworn have really done a dirty deed by destroying the homestead of Randr Sterki, raping and killing everyone there. Sterki naturally wants to pay them back in spades. So he is glad to hire out to Styrbjorn, who seeks the throne of Sweden by killing off the next in line, an unborn son of of the King, who has been entrusted to the care of Orm, the leader of the Oathsworn. The only reason I root for Orm is because he is the central character of the series, and at heart, is a good guy. But he is a viking after all. There is a grand chase along the Amber road, just as good as the one in The Whale Road, or the one in The Wolf Sea, or the one in The White Raven. I cannot get enough of this kind of book. ( )