NOOOO!!!!! 6 months wait for the next book. This was GREAT!,Book three in the Saxon Chronicles is the best book by Bernard Cornwell that I have read. I had read his "Grail Quest Trilogy" before coming to this series, which I thought was a trilogy, but now know could go on much longer (it will be at least 4 books and I certainly hope for more)."Lords of the North" continues the fantastic, emotional tale of Uhtred, the fictional Saxon-born, Dane-adopted and raised warrior, that is fated to fight for England and a king that he does not like, Alfred.Uhtred lost his family when he was a boy and was adopted by a Danish Viking warrior, Earl Ragnar, who he loved as a father, and from whom he learned of the pagan deities, especially the spinners, the three mythical creatures that weave the fate of every man; hence his repeated statement through the entire series, "Fate is inexorable".Uhtred, after assisting Alfred the Great with the defense of Wessex against the Danes, marches north to regain his birthright which was taken by his uncle when Uhtred's birth father died in battle. But fate has other plans for Uhtred, including assisting another king, killing priests, killing Saxons, killing Danes, loving a woman who becomes a nun, loving another woman who is betrothed to another, betrayal, slavery and revenge. Not bad for six months in the life of a Saxon/Danish warrior in the ninth century.The author admits in his historical note at the end of the book that this tale is more fiction than fact, mainly because not much is known about the history of the Northumbria, the northern Saxon province. Using the name of the king, Guthred, and the characters he created in books 1 & 2,(which I highly recommend you read before coming to this; not because you need to in order to understand this book, but because the entire series is fabulous and why skip the salad and appetizer to get to the main course when the entire meal should be savored?) to weave a more fictional tale that is still most definitely anchored in fact, so far as the customs, trials, dangers, life, religions and battles would have been in the ninth century; that is to say that, despite the fact that none of the characters are real (except Guthred of whom not much is known) the entire story is told in accordance with the period and should be taken as an authentic description of fictional people. The world which Cornwell writes is wonderful, historically accurate and vivid.This book is the best of the "Saxon Chronicles" by far and I eagerly await the release of book 4, "Sword Song" which is slated for release early 2008.
I've heard a lot of people gripe about the fact that Cornwell sticks to a somewhat formulaic pattern with his books; a lot of people don't like it, but I do. I do enjoy when authors have a lot of dynamics and changing styles, ideas, plots etc. from book to book, but I also sometimes just want to read something where I know what I'm gonna get and I don't have to adapt or really face any challenge with new facets of an author's work. That's not to say that it's boring or stale, though; he's great at coming up with new places and plights to stick Uhtred in.Although I haven't read that much of his stuff when I opened this one I had a hunch I was gonna get a lot of his stuff he does so well; vivid and immersive setting, entertaining characters, and gruesome, gripping battles. Within the first few chapters I knew I was right. The best part with Cornwell is that I don't put down the book having been only entertained and not educated; my knowledge of this part of the dark ages has seriously increased since I got into this series.The one thing I did notice about this entry in the series is that the actual historical events take a backseat in favor of advancing the stories of the fictional characters. I was a little disappointed by this, but this period of time was apparently somewhat of a lull in the intense struggling between the different factions that were fighting over Britain so Cornwell had to fill it with something interesting. He did that admirably well and the story is so entertaining that I can't bring myself to deduct that precious star.I also have to say I was pretty pleased with how much Uhtred is reigning in his douchey, selfish, macho murderous impulses. There were a couple of his actions in The Pale Horseman that really made me bummed out and disturbed at the fact that I was rooting for this person, and his moral code is still kinda fluid in this one but I can really see him slowly turning to being an honorable, honest person and I dig it. I do like some good anti-hero action but I don't wanna hang out with a guy for 6+ books who's prone to doing that kind of stuff.Lords of the North was another great entry in this series and I didn't hesitate to order Sword Song from Amazon. My Cornwell addiction is blossoming so much that I'm probably gonna start on Agincourt tonight. Usually after a few books in a row from an author I'll start to get a burned out feeling that forces me to pick someone else up until I feel refreshed enough to come back, but that's not the case so far.
What do You think about Lords Of The North (2007)?
I enjoyed this very much, although I wonder just how wise it is to drive suburban streets while listening to graphic descriptions of people hitting each other with sharp swords. Having listened to the previous book in this series, it was very interesting to hear differences in the styles of the two readers - having become used to Tom Sellwood's more restrained style for The Pale Horseman, it took me a little time to get used to Richard Armitage's more vigorous narration for this book (ah, but he has a lovely voice...) Annoyingly, my local library doesn't have the audio version of the last book in this series (read by yet another person), so I shall have to resort to the old fashioned method of reading for myself.
—Darkpool (protesting GR censorship)
The third book in this series of Saxons and Danes is more of the same: A chunk of the life of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is not real, bouncing about in the 9th century of the land that is today, and has been for over a thousand years, the united England. He encounters people who were real with some frequency, like the future King Alfred the Great, who is for now just King Alfred of Wessex. As he goes about searching for a way to recover the earldom that is his birthright, he is once again caught up in a key part of the plan to ultimately unify England. In this case, up in Northumbria, he tries to rally allies to his banner and rid himself of enemies, serving Alfred wittingly and unwittingly.Uhtred is surrounded as usual by a colorful cast of characters, if not especially deep or dynamic, as he goes to settle these old scores with the likes of Kjartan the Cruel and Sven One-Eye - a man who is known as One-Eye because Uhtred caught him doing something very bad to an earl's daughter years ago and that was the punishment. His task is to take a seemingly-impregnable fortress, which if you think is going to discourage him, you don't know him very well.He is not an especially nice guy, nor are any of the characters of the time, including the pious like Alfred, who, as you might expect, can carry out all kinds of unpleasant stuff as long as he can justify it as being for spreading his chosen religion or punishing some pagan heretic. It's a ruthless world, one that brings to mind Thomas Hobbes from centuries later, discussing why man needs some kind of political community: Because in the state of nature, man is in "continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, nasty, poor, brutish, and short." It is all of those things in this lawless English frontier time, not much better for either Saxon or Dane.The series is a fun read - adventures spanning large parts of the known world at the time. I'm sure Cornwell fudges a bit on the history here and there, which he even admits in the postscript to each book, but hell, it was over 1100 years ago, so who's really to say that he's all that wrong anyway?
—Mark
Cornwell does it again. I keep thinking after reading so many of his books of the same genre I should be feeling guilty like I'm reading Star Trek or romance novels or something... but they're just so damn good.Not every one is great, and none of them have lived up to the Warlord trilogy but this series is pretty spectacular and the narrator's voice is perfect for the story. Hearing it is like visiting an old friend. I thought that this would be the last book of Utred because in the middle somewhere he started talking as if he was an old man telling you of his story and that in the end he would end up being in the present day as an old man. But then that went away (which is kinda lame if you think about it. Almost like he forgot to take that part out) and we're left with an afterword that promises more adventure with our favorite Saxon cum Dane.I'm not sure I'll ever get sick of this format of revenge, heroics, gritty, realistic battle sequences, and a slight touch of the possibly mystical all on top of a well researched historical background.
—Shane
