The Dark Return
by Neil Langholm (Kenneth Bulmer and/or Laurence James)
1975 Sphere
When we left Erik Ragnarsson and his merry band they were stranded in Northern Canada, having forged a fragile peace with the locals. Relations have improved, and Erik and Raga go on an expedition for food during a brutal winter. Raga's tribe is having their own troubles, and fights off a raiding party with the Viking's help.
Jorund Crookback stays behind with the struggling colony while Erik and Raga return to Iceland, having to carry their boat over the frozen ice. They return to find that Erik's father has been kidnapped by the Irish and mount a rescue mission.
Solid wilderness survival with more action and brutality than the last installment. This is historical exploitation, one of the defining features being all the characters are miserable failures of humanity. In the first installment Eric had some heroic qualities that set him above the cruelty of his rival Jorund, but if anything Jorund is more heroic here. Probably part of a character arc, but hard to cheer on a guy who christens a boat by rolling it over a captive woman's spread legs and rapes his father's slave.
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