I’ll admit, I’m excited for the release today of Death of Kings, the sixth novel in Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Tales series. I wrote about the first book in the series, The Last Kingdom, back in September. For those unfamiliar with the novels, they’re about the Vikings’ attempt to conquer England in the Ninth Century. These books are full of memorable characters and driven by action-filled plots, making them really hard to put down.
Here’s a description of the book from Amazon:
As the ninth century wanes, Alfred the Great lies dying, his dream of a unified England in danger and his kingdom on the brink of chaos. While his son, Edward, has been named his successor, there are other Saxon claimants to the throne—as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north.
Uhtred, the Saxon-born, Viking-raised warrior, whose life seems to shadow the making of England itself, is torn between his vows to Alfred and his desire to reclaim his long-lost ancestral lands and castle in the north. As the king’s warrior, he is duty-bound, but Alfred’s reign is nearing its end, and Uhtred has sworn no oath to the crown prince. Despite his long years of service, Uhtred is still loath to commit to the old king’s Saxon cause of a united and Christian England. Now he must make a momentous decision, one that will forever transform his life . . . and the course of history: take up arms—and Alfred’s mantle—or lay down his sword and allow the dream of a unified kingdom to fall into oblivion.
As I noted in my first post on this series, these novels are among the finest Viking tales I’ve ever read. They also cover a critical period of English history, for folks interested in that topic. I’ve already ordered my advance copy of Death of Kings and expect I’ll be reading it soon!