What's that Coming over the Hill...

I really have to stop reading about warlords and battles before bed.  After finishing 'Death of Kings' by Bernard Cornwell, I'm far too buzzy to sleep!

'Death of Kings' by Bernard Cornwell
(Harper Collins 2011)

'Death of Kings' is the sixth book in Cornwell's Saxon Stories series, which tell the story of the birth of England through the eyes of pagan warrior Uhtred of Bebbanburg.  Lord Uhtred's career as King Alfred the Great's most feared warlord has earned him reputation, but not wealth.  While he scratches a living from the poorest of Mercian estates, King Alfred himself is slowly dying.  But despite the continued threat of Danes from the north, the king is determined that his dream of a united country shouldn't die with him.  Eager to cement alliances before it's too late, he agrees to send Uhtred with a peace delegation to King Eohric of East Anglia to negotiate an alliance.  But all is not as it seems.  Politics and power struggles soon come into play and before long Uhtred finds himself once again in the thick of battle.

This book has a broader canvas than the previous novel, 'The Burning Land'.  'Death of Kings' takes in a wider political view, involving hungry rulers from across the borders of the Daneland, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex.  The last book focussed very much on Uhtred and his love/hate relationship with Alfred, but here we see the bigger picture and how, as our favourite warlord finally gets his just rewards, the machinations of others could see him and the West Saxons lose everything.

Despite the greater breadth of the plot, Cornwell, like the seasoned professional he is, manages to keep the reader up to speed with all the characters and backstories without overdoing it and becoming tedious.  As such, the book remains highly readable and doesn't get irritating bogged down or confusing.

An air of impending doom hangs over this story and the way it was managed made me keep reading.  From the title alone we know King Alfred isn't long for this world and with so many greedy eyes on Wessex, it's easy to see that there are those who see opportunity in his death.  This is a great source of suspense that is worked brilliantly from beginning to end.

Overall, Mr Cornwell has done it again.  'Death of Kings' is an atmospheric and suspenseful novel and yet another fantastic read.  Special mention has to go to the final battle scene.  In a series of books where battles are ten-a-penny, they could easily become uniform and predictable.  The last battle featured in this book really stood out for me, however.  This was possibly because it was so near the end and I was conscious that I was running out of pages, but in reality there is far more to it.  But I daren't say more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else!

Now, I'm off to try and get some sleep!

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Burn, Baby, Burn

Earlier this week, I finished 'The Burning Land' by Bernard Cornwell, the fifth book in the (currently) seven strong army of novels set during the reign of Alfred the Great.

'The Burning Land' by
Bernard Cornwell
(2009, HarperCollins)

It's the late 800s and the greedy eyes of the Vikings are still fixed on Alfred's flourishing kingdom of Wessex. Looking for gold, power and reputation, two notorious Norsemen, Jarl Haestan and Harald Bloodhair, land in the country.  While Haestan is content to wait for Alfred to buy him off, Harald ravages the land, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.  Before long, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the king's reluctant oathsworn warrior, finds himself once again doing the calculating king's dirty work, going into battle to defend a country not his own.  But this is an Uhtred whose success has made him confident to the point of arrogance, whose fury is fuelled by his enemies at court and who is made discontent by his burning ambition to retake the Northumbrian castle stolen from him by his uncle.  Will Uhtred's bitterness overwhelm his judgement? Will Wessex's greatest warlord be there in its hour of need? Or, after so many year's of service, will Uhtred finally burn out?

I bloody love Bernard Cornwell's books.  I wish I could say something more intelligent or analytical, but that really does sum it up.  They're not high literature and shouldn't be read as such, but they're absolutely fantastic, rollicking, gung ho stories that sweep you up and keep you galloping along to the last page and beyond.  The atmosphere Mr Cornwell creates is amazing and it's hard to visit any location mentioned without trying to imagine it all those centuries ago.  A bit of escapism does us good once in a while.

This isn't everyone's idea of historical fiction - this is blood-and-guts rather than cloak-and-dagger or romance-and-royalty - but boy is it good fun!

'The Burning Land' is part of a series and, as such, does feel a bit of a stepping stone, but that's not really a problem.  Because you know there are more books to follow, it just makes you wonder what waits in store for Uhtred and how long it will be until he makes a final play for his hereditary home.  Although it is carefully structured (lead up to battle, battle, trouble, adventure, lead up to battle, battle), this book is not filler, it propels Uhtred's story forward and takes him into a different direction with a whole new set of possibilities. I can't wait to see what this means for him in 'Death of Kings' and just published 'The Pagan Lord'.  After all, there's no smoke without fire.

Admittedly, Uhtred is not the nicest of characters - he's petulant, grumpy, thuggish and, at times, driven by his less than noble passions.  You may not want to be mates with him, but he's a hero, has a spark of intelligence and a sense of justice and it's hard not to cheer him on as he joins another shieldwall or fights another battle.

Overall, if you want to escape from the daily grind of more cuts, bland characters and the first gloomy signs of autumn, here's a ring of fire you might enjoy diving into.

Now, the newly published Jung Chang or some more Saxon sword clashes?

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