The Last Kingdom

As a child growing up in Northumberland and a frequent visitor to Bamburgh - Bebbanburg in the book - and its wonderful wild and vast expanse of beach, I was fascinated by tales of the Viking invaders and Norse mythology, so a novel about Northumbria and the Vikings appealed. Later in the novel, I was rewarded with more connection to where I lived for several years - by the shores of Poole Harbour, described as 'The Poole' in the book. It’s the first Bernard Cornwell book I've read. Without doubt the novel is entertaining but there’s much graphic violence, which I’m not a fan of. There are thirteen book in the series and I doubt I’d read that many. It's historically informative and he uses the Saxon names for locations. There’s a glossary at the front which I had to refer back to remind myself where places were. Snotengaham, the old name for Nottingham made me smile. The narrative moves along at a fast pace and there’s lots of action. However, having just read a couple of novels by Sharon Penman, who writes about England in medieval times, I didn’t find Cornwall’s book quite as compelling. Her books are, in my view, superior - much less explicit violence, more intrigue, more complex characters, and not just told from one character’s point of view. If I could give her more than five stars I would, but Cornwell deserves five too and I can understand why he has a huge fan base.

If you have seen the TV series, it is still very much worth reading the books, since the plots vary significantly and the novels have far more detail. In some ways, the TV series is more polished and sophisticated, as Book 1 has a fair amount of repetition ('Destiny is everything') and more space is devoted to crude attacks on Christianity and its adherents, notably the piety of King Alfred. However, there is more historical background and the pace is more sinuous: in the novel we are not rushing pell mell from one battle to the next. There is slightly more interiority to our hero Uhtred in the book. We read of the youthful warrior's uncertainties, not least about his English-Danish identity, his delight in committed battle, and his overriding concern with his reputation. However, his relationship with women comes across as fairly basic, more so than in the TV series. Doubtless, it is difficult now to portray any hero on screen as simply in it for the bonking. We are told that Uhtred’s relationship with his wife is tender, but the novel does not show this (in contrast to the TV portrayal, which manages to convey some complexity). Above all, Book 1 is great fun, a light and compelling read, which does tell one something about the origins of the English state, forged (and nearly killed) by the hammer of the Danes and the anvil of the 'last kingdom.' The fight scenes are particularly well done, very practical when it comes to describing cuts and thrusts and how (physically) difficult it is actually to kill an adversary. Cornwell writes very well, direct and clear, albeit with little subtlety and a deliberate abandonment of any sense of beauty. The reader is convincingly transported into the mind of a forceful ninth century warrior, who (without psychological currency) avoids becoming brutalised by the bloody mayhem in which he lives. Civilians are treated, by and large, with contempt, but without hostility, as long as they are not true Christians, in which case there is a rancorous edge of righteous hate - which seems credible to me, if ultimately shallow and lacking compassion. But then, these novels are not the place for humane attitudes or a profound appreciation of how Christian values immensely improved life for the majority.

Big fan of the TV series. Book is a great read

When young Uhtred's father is killed during a battle with the invading Danes, Uhtred is taken captive by the Viking Ragnar, who is amused and impressed by the courage the boy had shown in the fight. Ragnar treats him more as a son than a captive, though, and Uhtred, whose relationship with his own father was somewhat cold and distant, comes to love Ragnar, and quickly takes to the freedom of the Viking life, far from the tedious lessons in reading and Latin forced on him at home. But Uhtred knows that one day, when he is a man, he wants to regain the castle and land of his forefathers, which is currently being held by his uncle who in his absence has usurped him as Ealdorman of Bebbanburg. The story takes place in the late 9th century, when the Danes were in the process of amassing territory and control throughout what would later become England. By the time Uhtred is old enough to become a full-fledged warrior, the Danes have control of three of the four old Kingdoms and only Wessex is still fully independent. But in Wessex, a young leader is set to become King – Alfred, a man very different from Ragnar and the Vikings, but with perhaps just as much steely determination under his pious exterior. Odin and Thor may be helping the Danes, but Alfred has a newer God on his side, one he believes in fervently. This will be a battle over competing religions as much as disputed territory. There's quite a lot of humour around early religious practices, especially on the Christian side – at this point in his life, Uhtred finds the warrior-like Norse Gods much more appealing than the moralistic Christian one as presented by the ubiquitous priests, and loses no opportunity to shock and provoke them. Eventually Uhtred will find himself torn between loyalty to Ragnar's house or to his native countrymen, serving both in turn, and always with one eye on which side is most likely to help him regain Bebbanburg. I don't read a lot of this type of sword and sandal epic so am no expert on the genre. But this one seems particularly well written to me and feels grounded pretty accurately in the history and attitudes of the time. There is a great deal of extreme violence, including a lot of rape and pillage and some pretty gory battle scenes, but Cornwell manages to achieve a sense of the true brutality of the time without lingering gratuitously on the details. The book is excellent on the depiction of Viking life – brutal and bloody – but they are not shown as the berserker savages they are sometimes portrayed as. These invading Danes are more than raiders – they want to settle the territory they have won, often maintaining control by allowing existing local lords to continue to rule as their clients. In fact, Uhtred himself is the only one who comes across as any kind of berserker. He is no reluctant warrior – he revels and glories in the killing, and doesn't much care which side he's on. But he's telling the tale in retrospect from when he is older and there is the occasional tiny hint that he may also have become wiser. Perhaps. In truth, I enjoyed Uhtred's character but didn't like him much. His lack of full commitment to either side makes him more credible, I think, than some of the single-minded heroes of fiction, but it doesn't make him very admirable. And (this may be a girl thing) his crazed love of slicing bits off people at every opportunity didn't endear him to me over much, fun though it was to read. As he grows into manhood, Uhtred discovers women or, to be more accurate, the joys of sex. Again, happily, the details are largely left to the reader's imagination. Cornwell doesn't make a big feature of the lowly and subordinated place of women in this early society, but nor does he whitewash Uhtred into some kind of anachronistic 21st century “new man”. He makes it clear that rape was a commonplace of life, and that the Danes were not the only perpetrators. Women are objects, possessions, used either for sexual pleasure or as breeding machines, and often raped as a kind of declaration of victory in war. However, Cornwell manages to sneak a strong female character in, again not making her feel anachronistic, and there are hints that Uhtred may replace lust with love at some point as the series progresses. This was my first introduction to this hugely prolific author and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Along with all the action, there's lots of excellent descriptive writing – I especially enjoyed the sections relating to long-boats and sea battles, where Cornwell makes full use of the power and fury of sea and storms. I'm looking forward to reading more of Uhtred's adventures in the future.

I don’t have enough words to describe this book. Although English is not my first language, it was super involving and easy to read. I read in one week because I couldn’t help my self. It’s more than worth the reading.

This series, The Saxon Stories tell the tale of Alfred the Great and his descendants through the eyes of Uhtred, an English boy born into into a brawling noble family in Northumbria, who lost his heritage to a rival. This is my favourite of Cornwell's several series. He really brings to life the period with terrific historical detail and numerous characters who feature in actual history. There is Cornwell's usual, perhaps excessively detailed violence, but it is great to read someone who pulls no punches and shows how gristly and desperate fighting and killing can be. The plotting and betrayals, alliances and schemes that are part of the shifts in power, are shown convincingly, and the battles and battle sites draw from the historical record. You clearly see the role of superstition and ancient superstitions in this world, and how Christianity inveighled its way into British life and power. The vanished Romans are also a presence. Uhtred frequently wondrs about these past people who built so much better than any in his time, and whose paintings and mosaics show a life that accepted pleasure in ways suppressed by Christanity For me, this is a excellent way to learn history, by first giving a personality to many of the figures, and showing this world through the eyes of an active, if fictional, protagonist.

Interesting and unique voice--unmistakeably Uhtred. Told from his perspective after the events have passed, the simple, Polysyndeton flavored text is sprinkled with old English and Danish words, which are easily understood in the context. The matter-of-fact style doesn't go deep into emotions or physical descriptions of the events, rather into the character motivations with a general, political overview, fitting to the protagonist's viewpoint. The explanations end with powerful backloading (which repeats throughout the story) leaving the reader with strong emotions despite the fact that the narrator barely describes or mentions them. I admit it took me some time to read into this character, but once I did, I couldn't put the book down. It is very well written and a joy to read.

Lo consiglio a chiunque voglia leggere i libri senza passare attraverso a traduzioni, che per quanto ben fatte, a mio dire distorgono un po’ l’opera come è stata concepita. Come livello di complessità della lingua, in rapporto anche al numero di pagine del romanzo, lo trovo abbastanza leggibile per chiunque abbia un livello dall’upper intermediate in avanti. Persone con un livello di padronanza scritta pari ad un A2 potrebbero leggerlo, secondo me, ma più per un crocevia tra apprendimento e piacere della lettura (trovo che la grammatica non sia complessa di per sé, ma sono presenti idiomi e in generale lemmi non proprio di base). La storia in sé non penso abbia senso commentarla perché esistono già molte recensioni in italiano che possono delucidare il potenziale lettore circa la qualità o i temi del testo. Posso solo dire, come da titolo, che il romanzo contiene tutti gli elementi atti a rappresentare bene i temi comuni un po’ a tutta la fascia del periodo altomedievale dell’Europa.

I bought this after an Achilles tendon injury forced me to binge endlessly on Netflix - so I spent an interesting day plus watching the "Last Kingdom" series. (A far better day than some of the other binge-watching I did).) I enjoyed the series, but thought there might be something more in the novels on which the series was based. As usual, I liked the novel much more. I've never read any Bernard Cornwell before - apparently I've been living under a rock - but I really enjoyed the adventures of Uhtred. Cornwell's writing is easy to read, the novel is fast-paced and based on historically accurate happenings (credit to him for using the contemporary names for English locations - a nice touch and I thought the evolution of the names was quite interesting). I don't know who doesn't like Viking stories these days (if it's not Vikings, we're all excited about pirates or Tudors - it's a great time to be alive). Uhtred is young (easy to picture as Alexander Dreymon), sometimes he's on the side of Vikings, sometimes he's on the side of King Alfred, but since he's writing his story in retrospect he's appropriately humble about pointing out his errors (many of which allow him to take us to interesting places). It's exciting, about an obscure part in history for those of us in the U.S. (let's face it, most of us can point out the errors in Tudor stories now but this is something new!), and you just want to keep reading. Cornwall has created a dynamic, and viable, character in Uhtred, and Uhtred's somewhat one-sided perspective on his enemies makes for interesting situations. Great read, enjoyable picture of early Great Britain; looking forward to getting the next book in the series.