Book: The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
Krishna
This book continues the Saxon Stories – This comes after the previous books, all of which we have reviewed before : The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman , The Lords of The North and The Sword Song.
Bernard Cornwell stories are short, packed with twists and intrigue, and enjoyable to read – he has found the sweet spot in historical fiction – how to entertain on the basis of real history without being boring, and how to keep it short so that you do not lose those readers who will not read a book that is more than 300 pages long. Nice!
This book continues the story of Uhthred, but really, the story of King Alfred and successors.
Alfred is now old and besieged on two fronts and Uhthred, much to his dismay, has not been called to defend the west. He has been sent to bribe a Dane, Haestan, to go away and takes two hostages, who both, Uhthred suspects, are fake.
Alfred finally calls him for help and Uhtred is thrilled. He captures Skade, his enemy’s girl and takes her to Alfred. He gives Alfred advice on how to defeat the Danish depredator Harold.
Alfred asks Uhtred to give his loyalty to his son Edward, as he knows he is very ill and may not live long.
Though much, including the central character Uhtred is fiction, you learn a lot of history through this series. For instance, Alfred was indeed sickly and pious throughout his life.
Harold recovers his girl Skade by threatening to kill a string of twenty eight Saxons in front of Uhtred if she is not released. Uhtred lures him into a trap and wounds him, perhaps fatally.
The priests conspire to enrage Uhtred and he kills a blind priest and his punishment is to lose all his wealth, (his wife is dead in childbirth) and have his children as hostage to Alfred and declare his fealty to Edward, Alfred’s son. He runs away to be a free viking. Back to the pillaging days? He goes to see Ragnar in the North and plans to attack and take back Northumbria, his old citadel usurped by his uncle.
He needs gold and he plans to get it from attacking Skade’s ex husband. He lures the Viking and kills him but Skade turns vicious and hates Uhtred. Alfred is sick and the Danes including Ragnar plan to invade Wessex.
Pyrlig comes and lures Uhtred away from Ragnar back to Mercia as Uhtred had given his oath to Ethelflaed, Alfred’s daughter, who was in trouble with her husband who was trying to murder her and had taken refuge in a monastery. Skade goes with Haesten but hates Uhtred and so she comes and burns the monastery when Uhtred with Ethelflaed, his entourage and with his children had left the place.
He goes back to Ethelred, and plans how to repel Haesten and his tribes. When he invades the fortress of Haesten, there is this fantastic scene where he attacks the Danes recklessly and is saved by Steapa’s forces arriving at the last moment to save him. He also learns that Skade is the one who is controlling the fortress and Haesten is away, plundering. He wins the fortress due more to luck than strategy but for the bigger, well defended fortress, he plans brilliantly using sails and beehives in an unconventional manner. He is the classic rebel, fighting Christianity, Alfred and his son Edward and the bevy of priests while he serves them all. Nicely done,
Skade’s end is poetic and is very interesting. A nice book to read.
8/10
– – Krishna (Feb 2018)