Bernard Cornwell's fictional take on the history of Anglo Saxon Britain and the efforts of Alfred the Great and his descendents to create a united Britain out of the quareelsome fiefdoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and finally, Northumbria. Cornwell continues his tale of the fictional warlord Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a follower of the pagan gods unwilllingly sworn to the service of Alfred, and now Alfred's daughter AEthelflaed, who rules Mercia with the support of Uhtred's sword after the death of her husband.
But the peace Aethelflaed and Uhtred have achieved is tenuous at best, with Danish warriors just across the border in Northumbria, and the Norse warrior Ragnall Iverson abandoning his holdings in Ireland to seek a greater kingdom in Britain. Accompanied by an Irish warband, and recruiting more warriors in Northumbria, Ragnall can field a formidable army, while Uhtred tries to convince Aethelflaed and her brother Edward, King of Wessex and East Anglia, that they can no longer wait to strike the Danes in Northumbria.
When Uhtred discovers that his own daughter, married to Ragnall's brother Sigtryggr, is at risk in this savage game of swords and crowns, he must find a way to uphold his oaths of fealty to Aetheflaed at the same time he is disobeying her commands, to destroy Ragnall and preserve his daughter --- and to grasp what may be his last chance to wrest back the heritage that was stolen from him so many years ago.
A fine addition to the series, and not yet the final appearance of Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
Click HERE to read the Kirkus Review of Warriors of the Storm.
No comments:
Post a Comment