Dane is a Viking; his father is the leader of, and most respected man in his village. Dane isn't quite grown up enough to understand the responsibilities that a grown man has and this irks his father.
When the dastardly Prince Thidrek the Terrible steals the Shield of Odin from Dane (who only took it to impress Astrid- his true love), Dane has a battle on his hands and is presented the opportunity to save his village, avenge his father and get the girl.
The premise is great and the characters are humorous. Bledwell has really capitalised on the Norse/Viking method of naming their children and readers have 'Dane the Defiant', 'Jarl the Fair' and 'Lut the Bent'.
The book is basically a quest; they have to get the Shield of Odin, rescue Astrid (Mistress of Blades) and then prevent the Hammer of Thor falling into the wrong hands. There are some fantastical beasts; the ice rat, an ice giant and doom fish. Once the story gets going there are some great adventure sequences. The plot begins to move really quickly about half way through and it's a romp of a read to the end.
The beginning takes time to get on track, but once the motley crew start off on their adventure it becomes an exciting read. At times it felt a little like school, in the sense that much of the Viking history was being explained separately to the story being told. This slowed the book down at the beginning. There are also attempts at humorous comparisons to the modern age we live in, however, these felt like obvious attempts at being funny and weren't needed; they didn't help the plot or characters.
It was a great read because of the adventurous shenanigans that Dane and his friends get up to. There's loads of humour and silliness which softened the nastier bits of the book. Children who love adventure stories (or watch Robin Hood) should read this book.