Another Viking Tale: “War of the Wolf” by Bernard Cornwell

It’s been more than a year since I finished reading War of the Wolf, the 11th book in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales series. For some reason, I never got around to writing a review. Perhaps it was the pandemic, which broke out right about the time I finished this book. But as they say, better late than never!

War of the Wolf is another solid entry in the Saxon Tales series. With his main character, Uhtred, having finally captured his ancestral home of Bebbanburg, I thought the series might have ended with the previous novel, The Flame Bearer. But now I’ve realized, this series is not so much Uhtred’s tale as it is the story of how a united kingdom of England (called “Englaland” in Uhtred’s day) came to be.

The novel sets the stage for the final two books in the series. Æthelfllaed, Alfred the Great’s daughter and Uhtred lover throughout much of the series, is now dead. Even more, her brother Edward, King of Wessex, has taken control of Mercia and declared himself King of the Angles and the Saxons, ruling every kingdom but Northumbria. Edward, however, is not a young man, which fuels the game-of-thrones-like conflict that began in The Empty Throne. Edward’s presumed heir is his second son, Ælfweard, who is also the nephew of Uhtred’s enemy, Æthelhelm. But Uhtred knows that the true heir is Edward’s first-born, Æthelstan, whom Uhtred raised like a son. The conflict between these rival heirs simmers in the background of this story.

The real enemy, however, like so many others in the series, proves to be a Norseman named Sköll Grimmarson. Sköll has a fearsome sorcerer and an army of berserkers, making him a bit different from the other Viking foes Uhtred has faced. Sköll also has designs on ruling Northumbria. Naturally, this drags Sigtryggr, Uhtred’s son-in-law and the current Northumbrian king, into the conflict.

There is plenty of action and harrowing battle scenes throughout the book, and Sköll is a formidable opponent. There is also the death of a significant character—one of my favorites from the prior novels—that makes this story somewhat bittersweet. On top of that, Æthelfllaed is also dead, removing another of my favored characters from a series that genuinely feels as if it’s nearing its end.

War of the Wolf reminded me a lot of The Burning Land, which places it in the second-tier of the Saxon Tales series, in my view. But even the second-tier of Cornwell’s novels are better than most. Overall, War of the Wolf stands out as a worthy chapter in the story of Englaland!