What do You think about Sword Song (2008)?
Given to me to read by HMcD. The author is a neighbor of hers. Even though this is part of a series (kind of like skipping to the end of a book to see how it ends) I found it not a problem at all to jump into this take of England during the time of Alfred the Great (9th Century). From what I've gathered, half Saxon,half Dane Uhtred was done out of his inheritance, raised by Vikings and is now sworn by oath to Alfred. In a time when Vikings and Saxons are at war (as well as Christianity and Paganism) Uhtred's warrior skills are of great service. The main part of the tale revolves around the battle for the city of London. The battle scenes are some of the best I have read, clear and grittily (is that a word?) realistic, extreme attention to detail. (I've recently read some really crummy battle scenes, so the difference was quite apparent.) There are plots and subplots (a man arises from the dead to help convince Uhtred where his loyalties need be, friendships, family ties, the complexities of marriage, and love) woven around the battles. Uhtred manages to keep both his integrity and his oaths, even when the two conflict. A good tale.Loved the USA Today quote on the back of the book: Bernard Cornwell ranks as the current alpha male of testoterone-enriched historical fiction....This satisfying tale leaves you hungry for more of Uhtred's adventures."
—bookczuk
Cornwell still hasn't let me down with this series. The villains are still easy to hate and there were even characters I wholly liked (Pyrlig is great.) The relative lack of major events in Lords of the North made it a slower read for me than The Pale Horseman, and although this one seemed still primarily focused on the smaller stories of Uhtred and Æthelflæd there was a ton of action and purposeful movement.I have to say that I'm proud of Uhtred. A whole 300+ pages and he didn't commit a single brutal murder of a defenseless person. Either he's getting soft in his old age of twenty-eight or that spark of developing character I saw in the other books is slowly coming to fruition. Either way it definitely makes me like him a lot more and thusly I get a lot more invested in his story and ultimate fate.Cornwell's writing still surprises me with not only its vivid depiction of day-to-day life and war in 10th century Britain but its devotion to describing the beauty and detail of the island. I never thought that I would enjoy in-depth descriptions of estuaries and inlets and that kind of thing but I definitely did while reading this book. He obviously has a strong affection for Britain and it shows with these books.After four books in a row I'm still enjoying them a lot and I'm excited to start the next one but I have to say I'm not sure how Cornwell's going to keep them so entertaining. I enjoy his formula but only because he manages to mix up the situations, characters, areas, etc. within that formula. With each passing book I'm sure this is going to get harder and harder, but he hasn't let me down yet. Onto the next one and I'll see how he pulls it off.
—Nate
Uhtred has now become the Lord of War. He has earned his reputation and his wealth; he is beyond tried and tested; he is the master of his craft; he is the mighty Uhtred and he is a war lord."My helmet was a glorious thing, polished to an eye blinding shine, inlaid with silver and crested with a wolf’s head. The face plates were decorated with silver spirals. That helmet alone told an enemy I was a man of substance. If a man killed me and took the helmet he would instantly be rich, but my enemies would have rather taken my arm rings, which, like the Danes, I wore over my mail sleeves. My rings were silver and gold, and there wearer so many that some had to be worn at my elbows. They spoke of men killed and wealth horded. My boots were of thick leather and had iron plates sewn into them to deflect spear thrusts that come under my shield. The shield itself, rimmed with iron, was painted with a wolfs head, my badge, and at my left hung serpents breath and at my right Wasp-sting, and I strode towards the gate with the sun rising behind me to throw my long shadow on the filth-strewn street. I was a warlord in all my glory, I had come to kill, and no one at the gate knew it."The book opens in a brutal hanging that is just another necessity of war. Uhtred has learnt that a man must be brutal if his enemies are to fear him; he has learnt that in order to maintain his warrior reputation he must be merciless. Men must fear him or his reputation is ruined. Through serving Alfred he has realised that he will never receive the deserved glory for the services he has provided to him. In this book his king has ordered him to be an advisor to his cousin, which means Uhtred will do all the fighting and his weak cousin will get all the rewards. Uhtred must bide his time in service to Alfred because one day he will be able to reclaim his family home. The familiarity of these novels really gives the series a sense of cohesion. When you pick up the next instalment, there is absolutely no doubt as to what you are going to get: more Uhtred. You are going to get another chapter of his life; you are going to get the next stage of his development; you are going to see the narrative change as he comes closer and closer to the retrospective Uhtred that is telling the tale.I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of reading this series; I could read twenty books on this character. You’re more than likely to get tired of seeing my reviews of the Saxon Stories before I get tired of reading the series. This is the fourth in the series I’ve reviewed now, and I’m sure eventually I will have reviewed the rest.
—Bookworm Sean
