Death of Kings (The Saxon Stories #6) by Bernard Cornwell

Death of Kings (The Saxon Stories #6) 

 by Bernard Cornwell 

BLURB: 

The master of historical fiction presents the iconic story of King Alfred and the making of a nation. As the ninth century wanes, England appears about to be plunged into chaos once more. For the Viking-raised but Saxon-born warrior, Uhtred, whose life seems to shadow the making of England, this presents him with difficult choices. King Alfred is dying and his passing threatens the island of Britain to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son, Edward, to succeed him but there are other Saxon claimants to the throne as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north. Uhtred's loyalty - and his vows - were to Alfred, not to his son, and despite his long years of service to Alfred, he is still not committed to the Saxon cause. His own desire is to reclaim his long lost lands and castle to the north. But the challenge to him, as the king,s warrior, is that he knows that he will either be the means of making Alfred,s dream of a united and Christian England come to pass or be responsible for condemning it to oblivion. This novel is a dramatic story of the power of tribal commitment and the terrible difficulties of divided loyalties. This is the making of England magnificently brought to life by the master of historical fiction. 

 MY REVIEW 

 Action Action Action 

There are so many awesome scenes in this book. Uhtred still remains my hero - LOL Here are a few notes I took that I found interesting and some of my thoughts and comments regarding them.

Once again the christian Priest and their saints deeds that made them saints crack me up and some of the gifts King Alfred sent to these Lords was just bizarre- I mean seriously, they made this stuff up as they went along.

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"Who was Rumwold?" "A Child?" "A baby,"he said, sighing as he saw where the conversation was leading, "a mere three days old when he died."

"A three-day-old baby is a saint?"

Willibald flapped his hands. “Miracles happen, lord,” he said, “they really do. They say little Rumwold sang God’s praises whenever he suckled.”

“I feel much the same when I get hold of a tit,” I said, “so does that make me a saint?” 

LOL, I couldnt help myself, I about bust a gut laughing at that.

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“And Alfred sent a gift for Eohric,”
The gift was encased in a box of silver studded with precious stones. The lid of the box showed a figure of Christ with uplifted arms, around which was written “Edward mec heht Gewyrcan,” meaning that Edward had ordered the reliquary made, or more likely his father had ordered the gift and then ascribed the generosity to his son. Willibald lifted the lid reverently, revealing an interior lined with red-dyed cloth. A small cushion, the width and breadth of a man’s hand, fitted snugly inside, and on the cushion was a fish skeleton. 

It was the whole fish skeleton, except for the head, just a long white spine “That fish,” he pointed a quivering finger at the bones, “was one of the two fishes our Lord used to feed the five thousand!”

“The other one must have been a damned big fish,” I said. “What was it? A whale?”

LOL Uhtred's sense of humor matches mine.

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The part about the sorceress was very intriguing. What she did to Uhtred was plain crazy and her granddaughter the mute - beautiful but silent.

“Ælfadell?” “She knows the future, Uhtred,”
I had heard rumors of Ælfadell,
She was ugliness in human guise, the galdricge, the aglæcwif, Ælfadell.
northern sorceress could speak with the gods.
“And what does the old woman say?” Sigurd grimaced. “She says no son of Alfred will ever rule in Britain.”
“Seven kings will die, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, seven kings and the women you love. 

Well I found it amusing because Uhtred is pretty clever when he creates his own sorceress to give a new prediction that had the Danes going crazy - loved it!

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The set up with Sihtric blew my mind as I was reading and I could hardly believe it but later in the book when everything was revealed I was relieved because I couldnt believe Uhtred would kill a battle buddy that he had fought side by side with in the shield wall.

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King Alfred finally dies and his son Edward becomes King. Alfred was finally generous to Uhtred. I could hardly believe I was reading it.

“This is for you,” he said, and I heard Ælswith’s sharp intake of breath as I took the newly written parchment from her husband’s feeble hand. “Read it,” he said.

It was a charter.
It granted me land, and the grant was not conditional, Instead it conveyed the land freely to me and to my heirs or to whoever else I chose to grant that land, and the charter laboriously described the boundaries of the land, and the length of that description told me that the estate was wide and deep. orchards and meadows and villages, and a hall at a place called Fagranforda, and all of it in Mercia.

“You know what I want,” Alfred said.
“The land is given freely,” 

 LOL Nothing is given freely - He wanted Uhtred to swear to Edward and of course we know how honorable Uhtred is.

“Give something back to me, Uhtred,” he said, “give me peace before I die.” 

I did what he wanted, and what I did not wish to do, but he was dying, I went to Edward and I knelt to him, and I put my hands between his and I swore the oath of loyalty. 

King Alfred, who had ruled in Wessex for twenty-eight years and was in the fiftieth year of his life, died.

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I loved the Uhtred's view of the Danes:

The Danes did not fight for a cause or even for a country and certainly not for a creed, but only for themselves, and when they suffered a defeat their armies vanished as men went to find another lord who might lead them to silver, women, and land. 

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BOY, HOW TRUE THIS IS - EVEN IN OUR OWN TIME AND AGE. 

Peace is a fine thing, but we only have peace when our enemies are too scared to make war.

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The plot and drama thickens now with the new King Edward - he fell in love with a girl Alfred refused to let him marry but what Alfred didnt know was that Edward had secretly married and got her pregnant and she died giving birth. So now there are twins that may or may not have a right to the thrown.

Ecgwynn produced twins, a boy called Æthelstan and a girl called Eadgyth, but the poor mother died that same night.”

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Lady Æthelflaed is still married to the Lord of Mercia but she lives in her own lands and has become Uhtred's lover and everyone knows they are but keep it hush hush.

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Kings and Lords that were Killed: 

King Eohric of East Anglia
Æthelwold, King Alfred's nephew
Sigelf
 Sigebriht of Cent
Beortsig

 Only Haesten, Cnut, and Sigurd remain alive.

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There is just so much action in this awesome book to describe it all but I really have enjoyed every detail and every character in this series. Yes Uhtred is my favorite character but his friends and buddies have grown on me too. In this book he loses his friend Rypere. Osferth, Finan, Sihtric, and Steapa still live to see more wars. Serpent Breath and Wasp Sting continue to rule the day.

I highly recommend this awesome series, Looking forward to diving into the next book - The Pagan Lord

Excellent Read!