If we were to use a baseball metaphor, we would say that the master of historical novels just hit another homer! It is masterful and intriguing! The author skillfully integrates actual historical figures with his fictional characters. Few authors are able to this as well as this author does ... book enthusiasts who have not read any of the books in this series will not only enjoy reading this book, but in all likelihood will check out their local book store or go online and purchase the first volume, The Last Kingdom ... an exciting tale with many twists and turns ... Cornwell is a master craftsman.
What keeps The Saxon Tales fresh? Bernard Cornwell does. He is simply a gifted writer and a mack daddy, master storyteller. It is as if every word he puts down on paper is the right word to advance the story. Cornwell's prose is vivid and evocative without being lavish. His plots are familiar but formidable. His settings are epic; even when Cornwell places his characters under a grove of trees for the night, it feels as if that is the place where legends are made. If Cornwell replaced Lord Uhtred with Bob Newhart, his books like War of the Wolf would still have a strangle-hold on the reader's imagination. In War of the Wolf, someone uses the term, 'lord king,' and I like that. So I will say that Bernard Cornwell is the 'Lord King of historical fiction.'
Once again, Cornwell has placed his irascible and cunning hero in the midst of personal and political conflict and provided another exciting story ... For those who enjoy their historical fiction told with verve and imagination.
In War of the Wolf, Uhtred is essentially playing diplomat... But once the time for diplomacy ends, and the time for revenge arrives, Uhtred is back where he belongs, in the shield-wall, and telling the story of fame and heartbreak, blood and tears, sword against sword. Whether you believe it all or not is up to you; the good news is that Cornwell, once again, makes it easy to do so.
The climatic battle once again demonstrates Cornwell’s unparalleled skills at writing such scenes, and readers are assured a pulse-pounding and thrilling experience. Cornwell excels at conveying the brutality, ferocity, and sheer terror of warfare in the early Middle Ages, when warriors stood face-to-face in shield walls armed with swords, spears, and axes ... Among longtime Cornwell readers, Uhtred has attained the same level of affection as his other renowned warrior, Richard Sharpe, of Wellington’s army. The author follows in the tradition of a long line of British adventure writers that stretches back to Scott and his Waverly tales. No one currently plowing the same field does it better than Bernard Cornwell.
...a rousing, bloodthirsty tale of tumult in early-days Britain ... The story has marvelous details ... A Christian man laments that 'my god weeps for Englaland…my god wants peace.' Alas, that god gets no satisfaction in this grand adventure. Great entertainment for fans of historical epics.
