More than my part, for at the battle’s end, when the great Ubba Lothbrokson, most feared of all the Danish leaders, had carved into our shield wall with his great war ax, I had faced him, beaten him, and sent him to join the einherjar, that army of the dead who feast and swive in Odin’s corpse hall. We had made a great slaughter and I, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, had done my part. We had fought the Danes beside the ocean, where the river runs from the great swamp and the Sæfern Sea slaps on a muddy shore, and there we had beaten them. Which is why, after our victory at Cynuit, I did the wrong thing. In short I was arrogant, stupid, and headstrong. I had fathered a child, fought in the shield wall, and was loath to take advice from anyone. These days I look at twenty-year-olds and think they are pathetically young, scarcely weaned from their mothers’ tits, but when I was twenty I considered myself a full-grown man. His writing would have been good course requirements for any History major. I wish that Cornwell had been writing back in the days when I was studying history at Uni, or when I was living in England for part of that course of studies. It's a time in history that fascinates me.

This book is is the second book in the Saxon series focusing on England essentially before it was England.

Though I was initially disappointed he did not read this particular version of the book, the voice actor was really good. He also spends part of his year up in New England, where he participates in Summer Stock. I'm not a blood and guts sort of girl, but these battles are fascinating to me.I've heard Mr Cornwell fo readings, and know that he is a skilled actor as well as a gifted writer. I remain amazed at Cornwell's amazing skill at depicting a battle, with accuracy and intricacy, holding this reader's interest for each slash and parry.

This is no dry history book, but vibrates with earthiness that I have no doubt is grounded in reality of the time.

While I never particularly really liked the main character, or any of the others, I still followed the story with great interest. You know it's been a first rate tour if your carriage is thus blessed.Cornwell once again brought the sights, smells, and sounds to life from the days of Alfred the Great, when the land was torn by war. In fact, carriage tour guides look forward to driving by his house, as he sometimes throws things from the windows as he creates his scenes. If you time it right, you can walk along one of our Charleston streets, and hear a madman ranting in an attic room - only it's not a madman, it's a literary wonder named Cornwell, ranting and raving in the creation of a scene for whatever novel he's working on. Bernard Cornwell lives part of his year here in Charleston.

The pale horseman