Sword of Kings - Bernard Cornwell

What? A three star rating for a book involving my favorite boyfriend Uhtred? I know, I know. But hear me out. I know what this series is doing, where it's leading. And unfortunately to get from where it started to where it's going, Uhtred has to be like... 70 in this book. And he's fighting in a shield wall? I mean FFS. The man has swagger, but he should very well be dead by decades by now. But in Sword of Kings, here he is, just riding horses and fighting way way younger men.

And there's an odd meandering to this book that the others didn't have. Uhtred doesn't seem to know what he's doing. And that, partly, is likely because no one really knows what happened in the 5-6 weeks during which this book is set. King Edward dies. But then so does Aelfweard. But no one knows how, and eventually Aethelstan is king. But again, those bare bones of dates and events are all that history has left us. So to put Uhtred into the action, he's sailing a ship up and down England, saving women.

And then some side things happen that felt, well just sad and unnecessary. So, yeah. The book is overlong for really only covering a few weeks of time and a lot of back and forth for Uhtred. Listen, the man has swagger, but has outlived the local life expectancy by 100% at this point. I am absolutely going to read the last book in the series and I have high hopes for the events of that one because I'm pretty sure I know what is going to happen, but Uhtred always figures out a way to keep things spicy, just a little bit of a miss in this one.

3/5 Stars. 

The Flame Bearer - Bernard Cornwell

Cornwell continues to deliver with this series. Somehow Uhtred keeps surviving and each story feels fresh despite this being the 10th in the series so far. In The Flame Bearer, we get a very Uhtred-centric story. For most of the previous books, Uhtred is caught up in political and literal battles beyond his control and he's serving on behalf of one king or another. But in this one, Uhtred is working for himself. He's finally, finally going to take back Bebbanburg.

But of course there is a little wrinkle. Uhtred has continued to make enemies. His championing of Edwards first son Aethelstan has rankled the Ealdorman Aethelham the grandfather of the other possible heir to the throne. Uhtred is unfailingly loyal to those people who have earned his regard and Aethelstan is one of them. So when Aethelham sees an opportunity to cut the knees out from under Uhtred, he goes for it.

I, like Finan, was not quite sure how Uhtred was going to get himself out of this one. He decided to take on a larger enemy in an impenetrable fortress. Classic Uhtred. When will this man ever lose his swagger? Hopefully never. But I'm very interested to see what is going to happen in the next book. Because as everyone knows, North Umbria did NOT remain an independent kingdom. So I'm certain that clash is coming. How will Uhtred thread that future needle?

3.5 Stars

The Pale Horseman - Bernard Cornwell

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.