Death of Kings (The Warrior Chronicles, Book 6) (The Last Kingdom Series)

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But he knows that if he deserts the King's cause, Alfred's dream - and indeed the very future of the English nation - will very likely vanish. But he knows that if he deserts the king's cause, Alfred's dream - a single kingdom encompassing all English speakers ("Englaland") - might vanish. But they don't attack right away and this puzzles Uhtred so he goes off exploring into Dane territory as well as seeking the input from a witch. It is a cleverly written account of an incredibly violent period in british history known as the Dark Ages when the safety and security of the Roman ascendancy had long passed and the harsh moulding of the Norman Conquest or the glory of the Plantagenets was a still a long way in the future. He manages to face a much larger Danish force led by Sigurd, a powerful Danish jarl, at a narrow bridge over the River Use.

Once again, pagan though he is, Uhtred defends the Christians of Wessex against his brothers the Danes.

But by December 1916 he had been conscripted into the 9th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, and sent to war. Characters live in their long abandoned villas, statues from their temples are seen being bastardized for use in Churches and convents and the ruins are razed to the ground when more stone is needed.

Uhtred, the King's warrior, Viking born but Saxon bred, wants more than anything else to go and fight to reclaim his stolen Northumbrian inheritance.

As a result of this the battles and the times when Uhtred seems down and out and finished through his being captured or surrounded or doing something desperately dangerous were a bit flat; not the writing which was excellent but just the fact of his being the breathless relator of his own will i, won't i survive story. Uthred again thrills us a great and prolific warrior, and again through his witty repertoire shows his contempt for the church and his preference for the old pagan religion of the Saxons. He must prize Alfred’s son away from the churchmen or the kingdom will most certainly fall and with it Uhtred. Charles inherited his father’s belief in the Divine Right of Kings, a doctrine upheld by the entire Stuart dynasty, one of the most powerful families ever to have ruled Scotland. After a little pause, the King stretched out his hand, and the axe fell, the executioner severing his head in one clean blow.