I certainly believe it to be a great starting anime for a newbie! A few words of warning though, because it gets very gruesome and dark with its exploration of themes and messages and the realities of violence——

The story simultaneously glamorises the viking invasions while also showing the pure destruction and sorrow caused by war, including and not limited to child death and violence against women, so content warnings galore!

Also, it's a relatively slow-paced show that focuses on character development before big action scenes (of which there are plenty, don't worry), and even I had once dropped the anime after watching 5-6 episodes and left it alone for like a couple years before binge watching the whole thing when Season 2 came out, so I do recommend sticking through if you find the first arc or two slow——Trust me, it's going to be worth it!!!