Voyaging Vikings venture into an Unknown World

Between historical research and fictional account, Halsted explores the Viking world from a fresh, new perspective.

Tearing past the course stereotypes that Vikings are condemned to, Legend of the Last Vikings: Taklamakan represents a flourishing world of unity, justice and a rich thriving community. Halsted challenges each and every tradition creating a united world of Christians, Muslims and Jews struggling together as one against a common evil in a time before the devastation of the Crusades. Taklamakan pushes boundaries, refusing to believe the world to be divided; this brave and bold narrative dares to confront accepted views.

Battling against the swelling seas, the torturous currents, and the sweltering heat of the deserts, Ulf Uspakson scours the land for  Ingvar Vittefarne, a lost Viking. Not only does Mother Nature prove to be an obtrusive obstacle, but the menacing and sinister Black Scorpions ruthlessly pursue Uspakson and his men across the edges of the world determined to end their adventures, permanently.

Our Viking explorers, with their long flowing blond hair, knee high boots and pale skin, a guise that would hardly go unnoticed under the beating sun of the East, find themselves making new comrades, and discovering perfectly preserved hidden worlds. Despite attempting to blend in to the backdrop they find themselves unable to escape the blood thirsty Black Scorpions, who remain firmly on their trail.

Educated in South Africa but currently based in England, John Halsted started writing for pure passion. After completing his studies and working in different fields and travelling around the world, he commenced an in-depth personal study of Viking history (from which his family are allegedly descended), whose result is this promising novel.

Emotionally engaging, tugging on heart strings, full of spectacle and painted with such fine detail, Halsted’s entire canvas is a haunting display of Viking culture, eleventh century history and forgotten people. The author unearths a past that lays hidden behind continuously shifting political systems and boundaries. On a whirlwind of adventures we are whisked off to meet Zoroastrians, Hephthalites, and lost Buddhist relics, on an incomparable and unforgettable journey for forgotten truths.

A finalist in the ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Competition