Ahhhh, Bernard Cornwell, you are an absolute hero. There are some writers that never seem to put a foot wrong. And Mr Cornwell is one of them ... at least in my eyes anyway. I have just finished Death of Kings, which I read in print. It is part of his Saxon series, which has Uhtred of Bebbanberg as it's main character. Uhtred is Saxon, but was brought up by Vikings and is still very much a Viking warrior at heart, despite him becoming embroiled in Alfred the Great's attempts to unite all the people of England under one Saxon kingdom. In this book, we are at the end of Alfred's life - a man who Uhtred dislikes, but admires in equal measure - and the fear is that the Danes are going to exploit this event and take over Wessex and Mercia in the anticipated void that his death will leave. Uhtred is known and feared by the Danes, and hated by many of the men who Alfred had surrounded himself with - particularly the clergy. Uhtred readies himself for battle, but it doesn't come, despite the Danes not hiding the fact that they are amassing their forces around Chester. After surviving an ambush, and fighting for his place in the new King's court, the inevitable happens. Will Uhtred prevent disaster to the fledgling kingdom and be able to keep the hordes at bay? Fantastic writing brings the dirty, smelly and dangerous world of Uhtred and his contemporaries to life. I laughed and winced, and my heart rate went up in the heat of the battles. It's visceral stuff, and I simply can't get enough of it. I raced through this book and am gutted to have finished it so quickly. Come on Bernard, writing one book a year is just not enough!
My STAR rating: FIVE
Length: 335 print pages.
Price I paid: Free - borrowed from my local library.
Other formats available: Ebook; audio CD; audio download.
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