The Empty Throne

When I saw the books title, I had assumed the empty throne would concern Wessex, the English kingdom around which most of the Last Kingdom series has centered. After the death of King Alfred the Great in Death of Kings, I had no idea how long his heir, Edward, would survive. But Edward isnt the subject of this tale. No, the empty throne belongs to the former kingdom of Mercia, and this time around Cornwell delivers his own version of a game of thrones.

At the end of The Pagan Lord, both Uhtred and his hated cousin thelred, the Lord of Merica, suffered terrible wounds at the battle of Teotanheale. Uhtred was stabbed in the side by Cnut Ranulfson, with his legendary sword Ice-Spite, and its unclear by the end of The Pagan Lord if Uhtred will survive. Of course, we learn in this novel the he lived, though he remains weak and wounded and spends much of the novel with one foot inside deaths door. That said, however, he ends up doing far better than thelred.

It turns out that thelred is dying without a male heir, so the nobles have summoned a Witan to decide Mercias future. thelred leaves behind only his teenage daughter and his estranged wife, the Lady thelflaed, one of the heroines of the last several novels and Uhtreds former lover. Uhtred wants thelflaed on the throne, but the thought of a woman ruling Merica does not sit well with many of the nobles, especially the Ealdorman thelhelm of Wessex.

thelhelm is not only King Edwards father-in-law and the second richest man in Wessex, but he also has designs on controlling Mercias throne. His pawn in the game is Eardulf, the slick and mischievous commander of thelreds household guards, but Eardulf isnt noble, and the only way he can claim the throne is to marry a woman of royal blood. Uhtred is prepared to ensure that never happens, and his attempts to prevent the marriage propels the novel into a thrilling adventure, with plenty of intrigue and battles of the kind that Cornwell so masterfully writes.

This novel is a bit unique among the series because Uhtred is basically too injured to fight, forcing one of the great warriors in fiction to rely even more on his mind than his battle prowess. But it also forces him to rely more on others, which makes The Empty Throne a family affair, Uhtred style. In the last book, we got to know Uhtreds son Uhtred, who has grown in a warrior like his father. And in this book were introduced to his resourceful daughter Stiorra, a spitting image of Uhtreds late wife Gisela, who has inherited some of her mothers gift for prophecy. Stiorra is quietly pagan, genially natured, and fierce when crossed, which quickly made her one of my favorite characters in the series.

In addition to its game of thrones intrigue, the novel offers plenty more, including a new and unexpected love interest for Uhtred, a new and dangerous Viking threat, and even a quest to find Ice-Spite after a priest tells Uhtred that if he finds the sword, the wounds it caused will finally be healed. Overall, The Empty Throne turned out to be one of my favorite books in Cornwells series. My only hope is that The Last Kingdom on BBC America lasts long enough to bring this book to life.

What more can hero Uhtred of Bebbanburg suffer? How many more Saxon lives can he save? How many more Danes will fall to his sword? Well, perhaps as this 9th century warrior has reached his mid-forties and is still recovering from the grievous wound he suffered from Cnut Cnutsons sword Ice-Spite, we can expect his feet to move less swiftly, his sword to parry a bit more slowly, and his luck (wyrd bith ful arawd!) finally to run out. Yes, those things happen, and he even makes tactical mistakes now! (Double wyrd!) But after all, he still has Finan and company to ride with, and now his son Uhtred Uhtredson and daughter Stiorra give him a better chance of surviving the betrayals and schemes of the Christian nobles, priests, and bishops out to exert their will over the kingdom (almost) of Mercia. Wessexs King Edward, son of Alfred, wants to unite the two kingdoms over the reluctance of the Mercian nobles to yield any of their power to the men of Wessex, and the whole thing gets super-complicated as a Wessex noble attempts a scheme to discredit and kill Edwards son Aethelstan, to kill Uhtreds lover Aethelflaed (the wife of Mercias ruler Aethelred), and place his grandson, eventually, on the throne of Wessex. Its complicated, but the solution involves hero Uhtreds clever political savvy, as well as plenty of those excellent battles we found in the previous seven of Cornwells Saxon Tales.

When I first started reading this series, my idea was that I would wait until the end to review it — a plan I have since abandoned for other series. That, however, left these 13 excellent books by Bernard Cornwell unreviewed, so having finished “War Lord,” the final volume, I will use this review for all of the books.
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Uhtred is a pagan on the isle of Britain in the 10th century. At the time, there is no such thing as England or Great Britain, and the battle between Christianity and the Norse pantheon is still in full swing.

The Last Kingdom series covers all of Uhtred’s long life, which spans a key period in British history: The beginnings of the idea of England. Uhtred is a fictional character, more or less, whose home is Bebbanburg, on the east coast of Great Britain north of York. He is carefully crafted by Cornwell as a fully believable warrior of the Middle Ages, bound by warrior codes but still cruel, ruthless and bloodthirsty as the occasion demands.

Over the course of the series, Uhtred’s maturity changes his outlook, but the shape of the books remains the same. There are battles, of varying sizes, political maneuverings, religious issues and Uhtred’s changing relationships with his sons, various women and the rulers around him.

Though of course some volumes were better than others, on the whole this is one of the most consistent, and consistently enjoyable, series I have read. Uhtred is a complex, intelligent protagonist thrust into the maelstrom of Dark Ages’ England, and his adventures have the ring of truth — for example, there is no glorification of battle or hero-worship.

If you like historical fiction and 10th century England holds any interest, The Last Kingdom is for you. I’m just sorry it finally ended.

I read book 1 – 8 of the Last Kingdom series back to back as if they were one omnibus through a wet and miserable January. I had seen the BBC 2 series which covered book 1 and book 2 and found The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman such good reads I was glad that I had not read them before seeing the series. I was impressed by the explanations of the internal struggle Uhtred has to establish his identity,, and the uniqueness into which he forges his experiences , philosophy and education into the warrior and man he grows into. I was also impressed by the historical integrity Conwell brought to the background of Uhtred’s adventures. Definite page turners all the way through. Loved every minute spent reading 1-8.
Although one should not bring 21st century thinking, morals and mores to 10th century life, one could not help thinking that ‘everything changes and nothing changes.’ Cornwell does encourage the reader to stop and think beyond the swashbuckling thoughout.
I am not sure whether Uhtred’s forewords are a good or bad thing – whether they telegraph the ultimate outcome of the scrapes and adventures or whether they enhance the enjoyment of the finer points of the tale…
I was disappointed at the Kindle price of book 9- Warriors of the Storm, which at the present time is more than the hardback edition. Although I am hooked enough to want to read it very badly, principle prevents me following on at this time.

Bernard Cornwell writes a gripping story. When I begin an ‘Uhtred’ book, I find it so hard to put down. Well-crafted descriptions set the tone for the story, bringing the dark ages environment to life. I can almost smell the meat roasting over the campfires, the sounds of men sharpening their weapons of wet-stones, the stench of the combined sweat of man and horse. This man can set the scene, ready for the political and romantic intrigues surrounding Uhtred. But enough of that, Bernard Cornwell writes great books of this time period, and if that’s what you’re into, you won’t do better than Mr Cornwell.

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