What comes before volume seven can be seen as a prologue. Constant warring, pillaging and posturing fill up many of the pages of Makoto Yukimura's (Planetes) epic viking saga. Though Yukimura doesn't have the mindset to continue going on like this for too long; until volume six, there's not much of an emotional center to counter the sheer awesomeness of the fights. This changes with an expected character, Prince Canute, though in an unexpected way.
With this development, the scope enlargens and alliances are forged. Volume sevens sees politicking and assasinations coming to the forefront, along with the Askeladd's continuing humanization.
I have no idea why Del Rey has not pounced on Vinland Saga yet, other than Kodansha holding off and wanting to release it themselves -- that is, before the economy reared its head and they had to shelve those plans for the time being.
I've been meaning to read Vinland Saga. Downloaded some of it around the same time I started reading Historie, but haven't gotten around to diving into VS just yet. From the sounds of things, it's pretty good stuff.
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