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Death of Kings

by Bernard Cornwell

 

Reviewed by Coral


With Alfred nearing death, it seems as if his dreams of a united Britain will die with him. More Danes have come, with the armies of Sigurd and Cnut ready to join with the tattered remains of Haesten’s army. And, Uhtred believes, they can convince even those Danish Kings who have converted to Christianity to take up their swords against the Saxons once more.

But the Danes are not the only enemy.

There are Saxon lords in Mercia and in other parts of Alfred’s country who dream of a return to the days when Kings ruled their own lands.

And then there is Alfred’s nephew, Aethelwold. Denied the throne that was rightfully his because of his youth at the time, Aethelwold knows that this may be his only chance to take it back.

While the country waits for Alfred to die, Uhtred is left with a very familiar decision: does his loyalties lie with Edward or will he join the Danish armies?

I am glad that not that much time was spent on Uhtred’s crisis of loyalty, because I feel like it has been touched upon more than enough over the course of the series.

I still wish there were fewer moments where our narrator, future Uhtred, throws out comments about events that will happen years from where we are in the narrative. “I should have paid more attention to the gossip,” “the boy would grow dear to me,” etc. I know the premise is that he is an old man looking over his life and the comments make sense in that regard, but I think it detracts from the story. What seems to be a meaningless comment is now highlighted as something we know will be important later on, instead of being surprised by it later.

I admit to not being as familiar with this time period, so I don’t know how much of what the author writes is historically accurate and how much is artistic license, but I felt like I had to suspend too much belief in how things unraveled for the Danes. I tried looking up the history, but a lot of it seems to be unknown. If true, I think the author could have given better reasons for how things unfolded as they did.

Considering the importance that future Uhtred put on the Scots in the last book, I am impatient to see what unfolds with them and was disappointed that we didn’t have any resolution in this book.

Grade: B