The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwall

The Empty Throne: A Novel by Bernard Cornwall --- 296 pages

The eighth book in Cornwall's Saxon Tales series continues to look at Anglo-Saxon Britain through the eyes of the pagan lord Uhtred of  Bebbanburg, warlord in the service of Alfred of Wessex and his dream of a united Saxon kingdom of Englaland.

Alfred is now dead and his son Edward rules Wessex, while his daughter AEthelflaed was wed to AEthelred of Mercia to secure the alliance of Mercia to Wessex. While Edward is an indolent king, content to allow his powerful father-in-law, AEthelhelm, to rule in his name, AEthelflaed has endeared herself to her Mercian subjects by her piety, her canny leadership, and her success in fending off Viking raiders. In this last AEthelflaed is ably assisted by Uhtred, the leader of her warriors and her sometime lover.

Now AEthelflaed's dispised husband, AEthelred, is dying with no direct male heir to succeed him, Ambitious men are vying for his throne, ignoring the Viking threat hanging over Mercia. And Uhtred, suffering from a wound that refuses to heal, seeks to persuade the Mercian witan to do the unthinkable and accept AEthelflaed --- a woman! --- as their ruler.

Historical fiction with the blood and mud immediacy that makes Cornwall of master of the genre. The same British television company that produces Downton Abbey is now filming Cornwall's The Last Kingdom, the first book of the Saxon Tales.  Let's hope it's as good as  the television series based on Cornwall's Richard Sharpe, which catapulted Sean Bean to fame and fortune in the 1990s as the British rifleman who against all odds rises through the ranks during the Napoleonic Wars.

Click HERE to watch the trailer for The Empty Throne.

Click HERE to read the Kirkus review.

Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell

Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell --- 320 pages

Sixth volume in The Saxon Tales Series about Alfred the Great's forging of England out of the maelstrom of tribal factions in ninth century Britain. No one writes this kind of historical fiction with more aplomb than Bernard Cornwell.  In this series he creates a tale about his own remote ancestor, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and inserts him into the fabric of English history to flesh out the bare bones of what historians can tell about Alfred's reign.

Saxon born but raised by Danish raiders when his uncle usurps his place as the lord of Bebbanburg Keep in remote Northumbria, Uhtred survives by his warrior skills, worships the old gods of the North, and nurses one burning ambition: to avenge his father's death and regain Bebbanburg. To gain the men and treasure to achieve his goal, Uhtred becomes the reluctant leige man of the Christian Alfred, who needs a warrior to lead his forces and assert his claim to the kingship of Wessex and Mercia. Alfred is beset with tribal rivalries, while Danish raiders sweep down from the north in search of plunder, slaves and land. Yet Alfred too has a dream: he seeks to unify all the Saxon tribes into one Christian kingdom of Angleterre --- England.

In this volume, Alfred is dying, his dream of a united England slipping from his grasp. His son and chosen successor, Edward, young and untried, needs an experienced war leader he can trust. But he is surrounded by counselors who cannot seem to agree on anything --- except their dislike and distrust of Uhtred. The fragile web of tribal loyalties binding Wessex and Mercia to Alfred's crown is fraying under the pressure of rival claimants, and the Danes, smelling opportunity as power changes hands, come ravening like wolves in winter.

Will Alfred's dream and Uhtred's life survive this lethal knot of divided loyalties and treacherous secrets?

To find out more about Bernard Cornwall's Saxon Tales and other great series, click HERE to go to his web site.