Oh Uhtred. What am I going to do with this irascible hunk of man? He's supposed to be 60 in this latest book (he'll always be 28 to me) but I digress, because no way a 60 year old man is riding his horse for days and then hopping off to swing a big sword around to kill Saxons. Just, not, happening. But he does it with such swagger that I'm willing to forgive him.In the last book, Aethelflaed died and her brother Edward swept in to to snatch Mercia, because somehow this line of kings has it in their head that all of England is to be a English speaking, one God worshiping paradise. They have a very frank surprise coming in 1066 (pun intended). But for now, there are some Mercian's who are not satisfied with the idea of being ruled by Edward and in War of the Wolf, they show their displeasure by trying to overtake Caester in the name of Aethelflaed's daughter.Uhtred, who is always stupidly giving oaths, promised Aethelflaed he would protect Aethelstan, the bastard/not-bastard eldest son of King Edward. So when he gets notice that Aethelstan may be in danger he rushes to Mercia to help. Surprise, Aethelstan is fine and Uhtred's love for people has been used against him to lure him out of Northumbria just as a new threat from the Norse threatens the last independent kingdom. (The TV show is called The Last Kingdom for a reason).A Norse leader, thrown out of Ireland by the fierce Irish fighters, has taken refuge in Cumbraland, a lawless area to the west of Northumbria and North of Mercia, marginally held to be part of Northumbria. The leaders, Skoll, a warrior at the helm of a group of berserkers called the ulfhednar (wolf head), seeks to make Cumbraland and all of Northumbria his own. Well c'mon. He has to fight Uhtred first. And my man is not going to let some Norse dickhead roll over Northumbria unchecked.True to Uhtred form, he underestimates at some point and overestimates at another and then gets a little lucky and... VICTORY. I'll leave the details to you. I will be DEVESTATED when Uhtred finally dies. We've had this thing going for a couple years now and I don't want to give him up. But all good things must come to an end. And a 60 year old man living in the 900s is not long for this world. Wyrd bid ful araed.
4/5 Stars.
A mere 22 days ago, I finished The Pagan Lord and wondered how my main squeeze Uhtred was going to continue his dominance of the Mercian and Saxon fighters. You see, his chest, like mine, was pierced by a sword at the end of the last book and I wasn't sure he was going to make it. Cornwell, obviously being aware of Uhtred's appeal (I was going to write charm, but that's not quite it), decided to toy with my heart and have the opening chapter of The Empty Throne penned by the younger Uhtred. I was saddened that Uhtred had been put out to pasture so unceremoniously, although I doubted he had died. And I was slightly warming to the idea that Uhtred2 (his son) would carry on the legacy of irreverent humor and calling people turds. But, alas the second chapter picks up with our trusted narrator and although he's not doing well (he's got a weeping infected wound) he still manages a few barbs now and then. And as always he's 1/4 to 1/2 a step in front of everyone else. So when King Edward's father in law decides to flex his muscles in Mercia, threatening Aethelstan's life and Aethelflaed's daughter with marriage, Uhtred knows he's got to set some things right. In the meantime, he needs to find the sword that pierced him in order to be healed. He's sure that someone is using witchcraft to continue to torture him. And who better to tell him than a lady who is having a change of allegiances after her brother turns out to be a whimpering rat turd. In the end, Uhtred is intimately involved in making Aethelflaed the Lady of Mercia and protecting the kingdom of Mercia from marauding Norsemen. It will be interesting to see if Uhtred2 has more narrative involvement in the next installment. You know I'll be reading it.
4/5 Stars.
Death of Kings represents a huge change in the plot for Uhtred and The Saxon Stories. Alfred, the West Saxon king who Uhtred reluctantly attached to himself in desperation for protection from his uncle, is really and truly dying. While still young by today's standards, Alfred has always been ill and now it appears stomach cancer will end his reign. His dream of a unified "England" however, will not die with him, as his children, Athelflaed and Edward, are committed to continuing progress to this dream. And finally, Uhtred willingly throws his support behind this idea and abandons the ideas of a Danish ruled England. This comes about not just through assimilation by Uhtred, but by his final understanding of the superiority of Alfred's vision and war craft. While the Danes continue to unsuccessfully throw themselves upon the walls of Alfred's fortresses, the wealth of the West Saxons is safe behind the walls. And Uhtred knows a winner when he sees one. So he throws his support behind Edward, pledging his sword to Edward (and his heart to Aethelflaed, hubba hubba). In any case, Uhtred braces the country for an inevitable invasion following the death of Alfred and the divided loyalties and leadership of the Danes prevents this from happening for a full three years. This is also the first time we see Uhtred recognize that he's not quite the spritely 20 year old who killed Ubba by the sea. He's now 43, and is taunted by a Dane who deems Uhtred, "too old to kill." Ouch. Uhtred is still Uhtred however. Disgusted with the piety and sometimes hypocrisy shown by the Church in England. He's becoming outnumbered in his faith and he doesn't like it. He's still good with a sword, but Uhtred's strength has also lain with his ability to understand and plan for an enemy's motivations and tactics. And FINALLY he gets the respect he deserves from Alfred. It felt like a nice closure on that story line. We'll see what Uhtred does in his old age. But it will probably involve more sword swinging and lady loving. (Thank God :))
4/5 Stars.
Once again I thoroughly enjoyed reading about 9th Century England and the various kingdoms. Lords of the North focuses, not surprisingly, on the Kingdom of Northumbria, to where Uhtred has been trying to return since the Saxon Stories began. Following his victory at the battle of Ethandun (Edington), Alfred has granted Uhtred a small holding, and Uhtred is, understandably, a bit miffed. But he takes Hild and his horse to bury his horde and then heads north to try to figure out a way to reclaim his lands. But the North is in disarray. Arriving in Eoferwic (York), Uhtred finds the Danes have been slaughtered based on the sermons of a priest. Fearing eventual retribution, Saxons are fleeing the town and Uhtred agrees to go with a wealthy merchant. In order to go where the merchant intends, Uhtred must past through Kjarten's lands, thus bringing him within sword distance of his enemies and satisfying a cliff hanger of a confrontation begun in the very first novel.This encounter was ultimately satisfying because it answered so many questions left from the first novel, principally, what happened to Thyra!? And it's always satisfying to finally see Uhtred get some of the respect he deserves for being such a great warrior (not until after he's been thoroughly humbled of course). This novel also brought forth a new love interest for Uhtred, Gisela is sister to Gothrid, the new King of Northumbria. And it was nice that she didn't die this time around. (Sorry Iseult). All and all this was a solid book in the series, although it did, at times, have a bit of padding that was evident. I continue to be thoroughly entertained by these, even if they do prompt my husband to ask which one of us went to engineering school (he thinks I'm a giant nerd).
4/5 Stars.
I'm so tickled by this series. The Pale Horsemen follows the story of Uhtred, who in the prior book (The Last Kingdom - you can read that review here) had defeated Ubbe Lofbrockson at the battle of Cynuit (sorry guys about the spelling here, I listened to the audio version of this book and my spelling is gobshite). Having killed Ubbe, Uhtred races home to his wife and child to ensure their safety and then travels to the king, only to find out that Odder (The Younger) had beaten him there and taken credit for the victory.
Nursing his ego, Uhtred is sent home by a displeased King Alfred. Bored and restless, Uhtred takes a ship of Saxons and raids up the coast of Cornwallum. This leads him to meet a Shadow Queen, Iseult, with whom he falls in love (in a very Uhtred way). When he returns to Alfred, he finds himself accused of burning the newly made monastery at Cynuit and killing the monks there. He elects to stand trial by combat against Steapa. In the middle of the trial, the Saxon town is overrun by Danes.
Uhtred finds Alfred retreating to the swamp lands and helps him regain his army and self-respect. Nothing works out quite as Uhtred planned (fate is inexorable - he reminds us constantly) and there are many turns to the ultimate battle at Ethandun.
The writing in these stories is engaging and Uhtred is a wonderful narrator for the events. He's realistic and has the right amount of cynicism for a soldier and story teller. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series (listening). Tom Sellwood as the narrator for the audio book is so amazing and funny (he did the original CD version that the library has, I have no idea how Jonathan Keeble is at narrating but I know I'll be disappointed when it comes time to switch narrators).
Apparently this is now a BBC series. If there's some way I can start watching this I will.
4/5 Stars.
What a delicious feeling it is to start a new series and thoroughly enjoy the first book. I recently took a long car trip and The Last Kingdom was my companion for ten hours of riveting driving through southern Illinois. The series begins with Otrid (I listened to this so be prepared for some completely inaccurate spellings) in Northumbria. He marches to war at 10 years old with his father and sees his father and most of the Northumbrian army slaughtered by the invading Danes. He's taken captive by a Dane named Ragnar and grows up learning to fight.
As the Danes move to take Mercia and East Agnlia, Ostrid is introduced to real battle and becomes torn between his love for Ragnar and the Danish way of life, and to his fealty to his homeland of England. When the Danes move to take Wessex, the last kingdom free from Danish rule, they are met by an unlikely English champion in the pious King Alfred.
The book is just really really well done and I have to give special props to the voice narrator for his inflections and changes between accents. Listening to this was really delightful. Cornwell was lucky in that not many source documents exist from this period of time to draw his facts from so he had a lot of room to invent and imagine, but he still kept everything in the realm of reality.
I was sad that I couldn't immediately start the next book in the series. I can't wait for it to show back up off my hold list at the library.
4/5 Stars.
