These acquired loyalties are constantly at odds with the deeper ties of blood and history that bind him to his Saxon heritage. Afterward he is captured and raised by a Danish warlord named Ragnar, a surrogate father who instills in Uhtred a fierce affection for the freebooting life of the warrior and an abiding belief in the pagan mysteries that suffuse the Viking universe. This is the overarching story that Cornwell addresses in these novels, and he presents it through the conflicted perspective of a Northumbrian nobleman (and natural-born warrior) named Uhtred.Īs a child, Uhtred watches while his father is killed by a party of Viking raiders. At the same time, he began the complex process of uniting these fractious, independent realms into the single nation ultimately known as England.

Together, these novels showcase Cornwell’s substantial gifts as historian and storyteller, recreating, with great immediacy, one of the defining periods of English history.Īlfred (849-899) was the only British monarch to be designated as “the Great.” His first major achievement lay in protecting his kingdom (Wessex) from falling to the hordes of Danish Vikings that dominated the surrounding kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. Cornwell’s latest, a multi-volume work-in-progress set in the 9th century in the embattled England of Alfred the Great, began in rousing fashion with The Last Kingdom (2005) and continues in this equally compelling sequel, The Pale Horseman.

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell