The Burning Land

Thank goodness I was warned to keep going after the first book. It’s slow, and I’m not patient. However, Bernard Cornwell needed Book 1 to establish the people, cultures, and relationships to proceed with clarity. Worth the patience! The action, firmly based on real history, shot into turbo almost immediately! I loved every book. Plus, Cornwell made the immense tangle understandable Thanks to this riveting series, I NOW understand some of tv series (all those Tudor and Viking types, for instance) and nonfiction features better!

Brilliant series! I reread passages in every book just from the pure pleasure of it. Even his battle scenes left me breathless. I read the last book with crushing disappointment. More please?

Brilliant!

Another great installment into this series seriously Just Brilliance. The drama and the war continues as the Danes try to take Wessex or plot to take over all of Britain over and over throughout this series. The only thing we can know for sure is that without Uhtred, Wessex wouldnt have existed. Which brings the thought into my mind why Uhtred continues to stay loyal to Alfred or Alfreds daughter. Its like he is trapped due to his oath keeping morals UNTIL, Alfred and his monks take it too far with their goading and insulting of Uhtred. Well at least in this story we see some rebellion and I have to say that I would of loved to have read that Uhtred killed every monk in Alfreds court. Sorry to say but Christianity totally made me sick to my stomach during this time period. I literally wish everyone of them Monks and their stupid ideologies would have been wiped out of existence.

VENT HERE: Jesus Freakn Christ! The drama and cruelty Uhtred endures will drive the reader crazy. I have a hate for Alfred like you wouldnt believe. Uhtred loses his wife and Alfred allows a POS Monk to dishonor her with their blasphemy of witchery and hatred of her pagan ways in the Kings Court. After that, I dont blame Uhtred for going Viking I just wished hed killed every one of those idiots before he left.

ANYWAY LETS GET TO IT:

This amazing story shows the deceit and back stabbing of the Monks, the laziness of the Kings Son-in-law, the dedication from the Kings Daughter towards her father and his kingdom, and the ignorance of the King himself which makes you hate him even more for listening to the Christian Monks. Lets not forget the explicit blood bath and gory detail of the war with Jarl Haesten and his sorceress Skade who curses Uhtred brutally but beautifully described.

Here is Uhtreds description of Jarl Haesten:

Jarl Haesten,
“I had saved his life once, which was a bad days work, and ever since that day I had been trying to kill him, yet he always managed to slither away. He had escaped me five years before and, since then, I had heard how he had been raiding deep inside Frankia.”

Im not gonna retell the story, no instead Im gonna share with you some interesting points and admirable statements I found worthy of sharing.

You can drill a man for a year, practice sword craft and spear skills forever, but he will learn more in just five minutes of battle.

I was without a lord. I was outcast. I was free. I was going Viking.

Making an oath is like steering a course, but if the winds and tides of fate are too strong, then the steering oar loses its power. So we make oaths, but we are helpless in the face of wyrd.

Christianity is a disease that spreads like a plague. We have to stop it.

We seek the future. We stare into its fog and hope to see a landmark that will make sense of fate.

When talking about Alfred, Uhtreds opinion

He wanted to improve the world, while I did not believe and never have believed that we can improve the world, just merely survive as it slides into chaos.

NOTEWORTHY CHARACTERS:
Some of my favorite characters in this series are Osferth (Alfreds bastard son) and Finan (companion who survived their enslavement together), Ragnar the Fearless, and Rollo. I liked Uhtreds take on his companions here is one that describes two of them.

Osferth had rebelled against that destiny, becoming one of my house-warriors instead. He was not a natural fighter, not like Finan, but he brought a keen intelligence to the business of war, and intelligence is a weapon that has a sharp edge and a long reach.

Overall, this series is addicting and I couldnt wait to jump from this book right into the next. I highly recommend reading this series in order. This series definitely gives you a good Viking Fix and highly recommend it to all those Viking lovers.

Excellent Read!

This is the fifth book in Cornwell’s Saxon Series. I’ve enjoyed all the books in the series, which looks like it’ll be at least 13 books. If you love historical fiction, this is truly enjoyable reading. If you’re a history buff, remember this is fiction and expect Cornwell to take liberties with timelines and relationships. This is pretty standard in historical fiction but Cornwell does it well and it’s less distracting than it could be. This series is an insightful journey into life and times in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Written from the perspective of Uhtred, son of a Northumbrian nobleman raised by Vikings, Cornwell paints a portrait inclusive of all the diverse peoples and cultures in 9th & 10th Century Britain and tells a riveting tale of the birth of England. Great reading.

Well, Book #4 (Sword Song) did not cover all of Season #3 of the Netflix series. That’s not to say Book #4 was a disappointment – far from it – but I felt like the diary of events was incomplete. So, back to bed with Book #5. I’m glad I don’t have to explain to my parents anymore why I’m compelled to buy a book, because Cornwell’s Saxon tales are just plain compelling.

Well worth the buy, too. We find Uhtred – as usual – investigating and pushing away Danish activity on behalf of King Alfred while wishing he was focused on his own interests. Of course, one Dane in town means there’s ever more Danes, and that new rather unhygienic Dane, Bloodhair, brings with him a seer, Skade, who, aside from being somewhat amoral, is just plain trouble. Although Uhtred is capable of dealing with just about anything Danish, King Alfred comes up with something new that Uhtred can’t deal with: an oath that would bind him for yet another generation of the Saxon cause. Uhtred, fed up with oaths and more pagan accusations (like he hasn’t heard THAT before), flees Saxon territory and believes he is free of Alfred and the Saxons forever. As if that could ever be true.

Just like the last book, “The Burning Land” ranges far afield from the TV series, so there’s a surprise in every chapter, from what battles were fought to how the battles were won. I wish I had an ancestor like Uhtred that I could evolve from supporting cast to leading character on the ship’s prow. Cornwell is historically interesting, accurate enough to keep me from getting annoyed, and thoroughly entertaining. After five books, I’m still with him, and that’s longer than most relationships.

Bernard Cornwell is always a good read , but with the Saxon series for me it is always like revisiting and catching up with old friends. The characters that populate his pages are mostly fully fleshed out with believable motives and plausible consequences. This is important to me, because even though I know it is mostly fictionalized, it still has a feeling of realism and not pure fantasy. Yes I know it follows a familiar formula of Uthred being down and almost out, only to come out on top, but is how you get there that is so enthralling. I will say that, though the fig leaf of historical accuracy demanded it, I do miss having King Alfred around. His interactions with Uthred were definitely a highlight of the series for me and no other character engages Uthred in quite the same way.

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