Leave 'Em Wanting More

So, my first book of 2015 was 'The Empty Throne' by Bernard Cornwell, the latest novel in the bloody marvellous Saxon Stories series.

'The Empty Throne'
by Bernard Cornwell
(HarperCollins, 2014)

The future looks bleak for Mercia.  Its ruler, Aethelred, is dying without a male heir and too many people want to fill the soon-to-be-empty throne.  Nobles at home and abroad are manoeuvring themselves and a coup seems inevitable.  Yet the candidates are all politicians, not the warlords Mercia needs to defeat its Danish invaders and prevent them taking over the whole country.  Although Aethelred's wife, the formidable Aethelflaed, is a proven warrior and inspirational leader, no woman has ever ruled and her greatest supporter, Uhtred of Bebbanburg is wounded.  So is this the end for Mercia?

There's little I can say here that I haven't said before about other Bernard Cornwell books.  That sounds like a bad thing, but it's actually a compliment.  His work is consistently absorbing, energetic, interesting and enjoyable, so that really only the action and locations change.  It's like reading one book in instalments rather than a series of books over a number of years.

In a way, the fact that this book is part of a series is its weak spot.  The story, while gripping and eventful, feels like a bridge between one plot point and another rather than a destination in itself.  Even so, it still gives Uhtred fans all the things we've come to expect - treachery, battles, political machinations, sea voyages, a quest and a wonderful sense of time and place.

But because it feels like a stepping stone, it really leaves you wanting more.  Not just more from different characters, but literally what happens next because it feels half done.  I'm like an excitable youngster in a shieldwall, held back by a more experienced commander who knows when it's best to strike.  I'm sure Mr Cornwell knows what he's doing, but, goodness, the next couple of years will feel a long wait!  Just as well I have plenty of other things to read in the mean time!

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'Sword Song' by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Story Four)

'The Burning Land' by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Story Five)

'The Death of Kings' by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Story Six)

'The Pagan Lord' by Bernard Cornwell (Saxon Story Seven)