Book: The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell
Krishna
Another book in the Saxon series from Bernard Cornwell. This follows the earlier books – The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman , The Lords of The North. The Sword Song,The Burning Land and The Death of Kings.
Wow. This series is getting better and better. This book is spectacular. In addition to the usual dose of the historical events and fabulously tense war scene, there are twists and turns and intrigue that gets unraveled well into the book. Bernard’s ability to tell a story has never been better. The story continues.
Uhtred goes with his entourage to rescue a boy from the church and kills a head priest and a boy in the process. Uhtred the reckless, as always. All to rescue his elder son who was made a priest, just to throw him in a dung heap and disown him, and name his younger son Osbert as Uhtred.
Now his woman is kidnapped by Cnut and when he goes to find out why, he realizes that Cnut’s wife and kids have been kidnapped by someone who had flown Uhtred’s flag! When this misunderstanding is cleared up, they have food and wine together when Uhtred realizes that Hastaen has joined Cnut.
Cnut realizes that Uhtred had nothing to do with it and lets him go. Uhtred does not read the signs of treachery all around him.
The killing of the priest causes him to go on exile, again poor, again with just a handful of people. The scene where Ethelred comes with Finan to save him from being lynched by angry priests is classic Bernard Cornwell.
They then buy a ship and go towards Babbanberg, Uhtred pretending to be Ranaulf Wulfson, a Dane. They are forced to hide out until bad weather is there, which is needed.
When the weather finally turns bad, they go out and get a small fishing boat and erect a show for Aelfric to see of struggling sailors in a storm. He overcomes the force that came to investigate and his other part pays money to Aelfric and stays inside the fortress as ‘guests’.
His plans are foiled by dogs which recognized him too soon and he is surrounded by the army of the King’s son and he thinks he will certainly die that day. He ends up killing Aefric and getting the son and wife of the son Uhtred away. She, realizing that her husband hates her and that Uhtred (the ‘real’ one) is inherently a good man, opens his eyes to the plot between Cnut and Haestan to hoodwink her husband and attack Mercia. He goes to Aethelflad’s rescue. He just walks into Cnut’s fort as Cnut was away and the remaining men guarding the fort thought he was a Dane who had come to pledge allegiance. When the Danes refuse to go, he stages a killing of Cnut’s daughter to send them away
He captures the fort and then uses the hostages to release Ethelflaed who was besieged in another city. Then he goes pillaging and burning deep in Cnut’s territory and waits for Cnut to come back in rage.
The way he lures Cnut and stands against him near a ditch, in the completely hopeless situation of being outnumbered thousands vs less than a hundred of his men is fabulous. What he does to slow down the enemy is great and how, in true Bernard Cornwell fashion help arrives is told well. There is an amazing last scene when you think that the story has ended that makes this book irresistible to put down. Well done. The end is also stunning.
9/ 10
– – Krishna