Death of Kings was published in 2011, and I just got around to
reading it. It is the sixth novel of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon
Tales series, a series that I have enjoyed immensely. The story
continues to follow the Saxon warlord Uhtred of Bebbanburg who keeps fighting
against a new Danish invasion of Wessex and Mercia. All of the
tales are historical fiction, researched by the author.
This story is to me a rehash of previous plot, just with the change
of King Alfred the Great is dying and we have Viking Warlords threatening once
again. The previous novels in the series are much better than this
one, but I still enjoyed the book and it still has the interesting characters
that I have grown fond of. If you have not read any of the Saxon
Tales, the novel is written as a first person narrative told by Uhtred the main
character who is reflecting on his life story, a very violent tale, as basically
the sword that is wielded by Alfred and eventually his son who becomes king.
Uhtred is one of those Saxons who likes the Danes and their
religion, dislikes Christianity, and struggles as a pagan in the Christian Saxon
world, almost always being mistrusted by Alfred’s followers.
The novel was also published with a family tree of Alfred the Great
and a historical note from the author regarding his research of the
period. I must say that I did not know a lot about this period
until I started reading this series of novels, the very first of which really
hooked me. Since reading them in order, I’ve developed a desire to
further study the period and especially the Vikings that invaded what was then
England from that period. In the past I’ve generally been someone
only really interested in the Roman periods and the Crusades. This
has also lead into my current army build of Danish Vikings, and I
am glad for that has been a tremendous amount of fun, and something that I will
definitely be expanding upon in the future with some Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns
and with their forth coming plastic Dark Ages miniatures.
So if you are like me and you are looking for some good historical
fiction novels to read, I suggest giving the Saxon Tales a
try.
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