The execution of Charles I is remembered every year on 30 January with a service in the Banqueting House. After going to the oracle himself (and experimenting with shrooms and sex), Uhtred decides to set up his own shrine and have a few Christian virgin maids (allegedly) promise victory to the Saxons and doom to the Vikings.

Alfred gives Uhtred a rich estate in Mercia at Fagranforda, finally rewarding him for his many invaluable services, but presses Uhtred into swearing an oath of loyalty to his son and heir, Edward, before dying. There are recurring themes and the structure of each book is generally the same, but it's a highly engaging, entertaining and surprisingly educating read. Uhtred, now reinforced by warriors led by Steapa and Aethelflaed, pursues the larger Danish force to find out where the main invasion is taking place. The battles rollicked back and forth and their bloody descriptions were gory and violent and frightening.Cómo siempre, el autor lo mete en todos los fregados, de forma magistral, hasta concluir con una gran batalla, que pone fin a este nuevo intento de invasión, la batalla de Holme, confuso episodio histórico, que el autor resuelve de la mejor manera posible y con unas dosis de acción altamente disfrutables. The Saxon Chronicles are at the top of my preference list, together with his Arthurian epic (The Warlord Saga). Cornwell's plot is enlivened by passages of clear beauty as he describes the natural world in which such horrors take place: "The current drew the trailing willow fronds downstream. Uhtred begs King Edward to come and attack, but he refuses and commands Uhtred to retreat to Lundene where his army is gathering. Other than that, although this is slower-paced compared to the previous books, I still find the topics and character’s development absolutely enjoyable.

Two men succeeded in reaching us, despite the smoking barricade, and one of those two fell to Wasp-Sting coming up from beneath his shield-rim. Speeches are littered with wonderfully beleivable curses about pig shit and whelps and bloodthirsty blah blah blah-ing, Uhtred's weaponry is oddly, yet perfectly believably, personalized.

Many watching were aghast, with one witness commenting 'There was such a groan by the thousands then present as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again’. 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. In this book, we get to see Uthred’s relationship with Sithric, Steapa, Aethelflaed, Alfred, and Edward deepens again.

Dived into this sixth instalment in The Saxon Stories, soon after finishing the previous book in the series, so that I can then enjoy rewatching series 3 of the adaptation, The Last Kingdom. El edificio que ha construido para resistir los embates daneses parece que empieza a tambalearse, ante las dudas que genera el heredero Eduardo: los sajones que están en la órbita de Wessex, pero que no son sajones del oeste empiezan a dudar y a plantearse escenarios alternativos, Kent, la Mercia Sajona, un antiguo sobrino de Alfredo, Etelwoldo, relegado en su ascenso al trono empieza a moverse y buscar aliados en el Danelaw, donde tienen nuevos caudillos, que afilan sus cuchillos esperando la muerte del rey y el caos previsible para abalanzarse sobre una presa tanto tiempo anhelada.In the centre of the blackened and sanded floor stood the axe and a lower quartering block of a kind used to dismember traitors.

Of course, more is happening than Uhtred realizes and don't worry because there will be fighting with Danes. His battle lieutenants, Alfred’s bastard son Osfert and the Irish ex-priest Finan, are wonderful new characters in this book that I would like to read more about.

With a title like death of Kings, and a series that is overrun with Kings, you find yourself wondering which of the many Kings shall be meeting an untimely ending, and how many of those at the hands of Uthred's sword. The man with the crushed face was holding my ankle and I stabbed at him as the blood spray from Cerdic's ax blinded me.