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- The Last Kingdom
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- Author: Bernard Cornwell
- Reviewer: Sonali T. Sikchi
- Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers, New York
- Format: Adult, Fiction, Hardcover, 352 Pages, 2005, $25.95
- ISBN: 0060530510
- Rating: * * * * Quills
- www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0060530510/scriquil
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- Bernard Cornwell is a masterful storyteller, combining history, war strategies, romance, political intrigue, bloody battles and unforgettable people with such verve, intricacy and attention to the smallest telling details that the reader remains mesmerized throughout the tale and cannot forget it long after the book is finished.
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- The story is set in Northumberland in northern England, in the second half of the ninth century: the time of the Danish Vikings and King Alfred, the Great. The Last Kingdom is as much a war story for the kingship of the entire country of England, as it is a story of Uhtred, the ealdorman of Bebbanburg (present day, Bamburg, located on the shores of the North Sea, not far from Lindisfarne island), and his transition from childhood to adulthood. This is also a story of deeply rooted paganism versus early Christianity.
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- Uhtred is ten when he is captured by the Danes, who kill his father and his older brother. He spends his adolescence with the Vikings, learning how to become a skillful and ruthless warrior. He fights in battles against the English and would prefer to be considered a Dane. However, destiny has other things in store for him: It puts him under the command of King Alfred. His loyalty to Wessex is sealed with his marriage to a West Saxon woman named Mildrith. Uhtred comes into adulthood through the trials and tribulations he undergoes as commander of the king's new fleet of ships and their battles with the Danes. The death of all three Lothbroksons through Uhtred's cunning strategizing and superb swordsmanship, brings victory for Alfred and a time of peace for Uhtred to spend in his hall at Defnascir, with Mildrith and their son Uhtred Uhtredson by his side.
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- Uhtred is born Pagan, but his early childhood is marked by continuous attempts by the Christian priests to stamp out all traces of his beliefs. His later childhood, after his capture by the Danes, is spent renewing and reinforcing his pagan beliefs, for the pagan Angle god Woden was none other than the pagan Norse god Odin. His marriage to Mildrith and his acknowledgment of King Alfred as his overlord in his early adulthood, cause him to come once again under Christian influence. But however much he outwardly proclaims to believe in the one true God, his core belief remains with Odin, Thor and Valhalla.
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- Cornwell's battle scenes are powerful, with no two alike in strategy, mayhem or emotions. His wizardry with words takes the reader there — right on the battlefield — to personally witness the carnage, smell the fear and triumph, hear the swords and shields clashing, listen to the cries of dying men and the whinnying of terrified horses, and to behold the sheer bravery, glory and devilry.
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- Few English writers have ever painted the Vikings as anything but godless people, intent only on raiding, warring and savaging. With Uhtred relating this story, we see the Danes as human beings, having a deep love of family, loyalty to friends, and a code of honor and integrity far stronger than any beheld before in the lands of the Angles, Saxons and Celts. "Men die," they said, "but reputation does not die." The Vikings believed that "strength, generosity, hardness and success" are the true mark of a man.
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- "Destiny is everything." And so ends this story. Having visited Bamburg and the surrounding areas and having a special interest in King Alfred made this story especially memorable for me. I look forward to following Uhtred as he faces the challenges life chooses to throw at him in the upcoming sequel.
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