Item: The Last Kingdom
Rating: 4.00
Author: elysium

by Bernard Cornwell

The first book in a brand new series, The Last Kingdom is set in England during the reign of King Alfred.

Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred's fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault.

The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred's growing up. He is left uncertain of his loyalties but a slaughter in a winter dawn propels him to the English side and he will become a man just as the Danes launch their fiercest attack yet on Alfred's kingdom. Marriage ties him further still to the West Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the chaos of the Danish invasion, Uhtred is driven to face the greatest of the Viking chieftains in a battle beside the sea. There, in the horror of the shield-wall, he discovers his true allegiance.

The Last Kingdom, like most of Bernard Cornwell's books, is firmly based on true history. It is the first novel of a series that will tell the tale of Alfred the Great and his descendants and of the enemies they faced, Viking warriors like Ivar the Boneless and his feared brother, Ubba. Against their lives Bernard Cornwell has woven a story of divided loyalties, reluctant love and desperate heroism. In Uhtred, he has created one of his most interesting and heroic characters and in The Last Kingdom one of his most powerful and passionate novels.

Uhtred is the heir to Bebbanburg in Northumbria but after his father and brother is killed he is taken by the Vikings that killed his family. In time he comes to see Ragnar, his Danish captor, as a father figure and learns to fight with them. While he loves the Danish way of life, he dreams of retaking his lands from his uncle who usurped them after Uhtred’s father died.

The story is told from first person perspective but it works here. It balances nicely young and rather arrogant Uhtred with the older and wiser one who remembers back the events.

I’ve read one of Cornwell’s books before and didn’t finish it so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this. But I liked much more than I thought I would.
I haven’t read much about this era and I spent some time googling and I had some trouble keeping all the strange names in order.

I haven’t read books about Alfred so I can’t say much about him but I had some trouble with the portrayal. He is portrayed as a weakling who spends his time womanizing and then praying for his sins and too devoted to church. I do hope he changes because I really don’t see a man anyone could call “the Great”.

I had one issue with Uhtred because he kept flipping between Danish and Saxons; first he’s Danish, then he’s Saxon, then he’s Danish again… Just make up your mind! Doesn’t make me wanna follow someone who can’t commit to either side. But I enjoyed the battle scenes and how those were written.

I’m looking forward reading the next book and seeing how these characters develop. I hope we meet more the women in Uhtred’s life since now we just met them briefly but never got to know them.

The Last Kingdom (The Last Kingdom, #1)

by Bernard Cornwell

Reviewed by elysium on Apr 7, 2013

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