Rhetoric of the Reformation Book

Vikings! Warfare! Sounds exciting, doesn't it??!? That's what I thought. Alas, rather than following a particular campaign or character or even a tribe, the author skips around throwing out random Viking facts and speculations. These are presented in whatever order made sense to the author (and it certainly didn't to me). For instance, in chapter two, the author tells about a Viking "king" whose desired bride refused to marry him until he united all of Norway. It took him ten years, but he finally accomplished it (no mention of the marriage at this point, nor how he accomplished this feat). Then, there were dynastic wars and his brother was murdered. I "turned the page" expecting to read details about this upheaval, but the next sentence started telling me about the linguistic origins of Viking speech! Really?? I gave up.