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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